I think over here they popularize that Shinto sport where you ride a fifteen-tonne tree log down a steep incline. Ever see that shit? It is awesome. Blows that goofy Redbull faggotry out of the water.
The ABC (booze) stores in Virginia do tastings every so often. I caught one last night when I stopped in. I tried this Irish whiskey called 2 Gingers I believe. It was sooo good. She had it chilled and then poured it into a little cup. I was dying to slam it down and say "hit me again" but I didn't want to get thrown out. Someone upthread mentioned the Hitler retreat that he never visited because he was afraid of heights. The Eagles Nest. I was just telling my daughter about that place the other day. My parents and I went there when we lived in Germany in the 80s. They had special buses that would take tourists up the windy road to the top. I sat in the back like a goddamn idiot and suprised I didn't get sick. Very pretty view at the top. The guide pointed out Austria just over the border from where we were, and the mountain that is known as the one the Von Trapp family climbed up in the movie.
Nothing we say will matter cause you have the classic American anti-soccer bias built in, but... 1) you mean with more shootouts? Hockey people hate shootouts cause you're reducing a close game to an arbitrary coin flip. And even more so in soccer cause it's less 50-50 for goalie vs skater in hockey. Soccer is already 90 min, adding more overtime (done in 2 15 min halfs) will drain players over a season cause you don't have rapid and unlimited substitutions like hockey or basketball. I have no problems with ties when you're playing 40 games a season. 2) and soccer offsides currently is actually like eliminating two line pass. As long as you are onsides when the ball is played to you, doesn't matter where it came from. No offsides would be terrible, you would have cherry picking and flat out screwing the defense. That's like saying letting forwards chill in the offensive zone in hockey is cool. It would actually disrupt the offense cause for every close break called back for offsides now, you'd have more clogging around the goal cause defenders would be forced to hang back instead of push up. I actually agree with the last 2 points. Time keeping needs to improve, at least more transparency. The EPL has cut down on diving ALOT, more cards and you see players like Suarez who used to go to ground easily, fighting more. It needs to extent to the World Cup where teams from Africa and some in Europe use it excessively. There is just such an advantage to be gained, the only solution is harder penalties and punishment.
I just can't see soccer ever becoming truly popular in Canada. Yes, we have fans here, but this is hockey country. Was it 2007 when Duncan Keith played in the final game of the Stanley Cup? Here's a guy who lost SEVEN teeth due to a slapshot to the mouth, and not only does he finish the game, he doesn't even miss a shift. And if you asked any guy I know if HE would be willing to lose seven teeth if it meant he could win the Cup, they wouldn't even let you finish asking before they said yes. A game like soccer where they stub their toe and then sell it as dying, I feel, will never really get the respect of most Canadian fans.
Ok, let an old man add his perspective. Soccer has been 'the next big thing' in the US since 1978 when I was 6 years old. 36 years later, still not happening. If it was going to happen, it already would have. If you like soccer, good for you, enjoy. Seriously. It is a sport that requires an amazing amount of athleticism. These guys play their asses off. But it's fucking boring. It does not translate well at all to tv, and never has, especially compared to the sports we have in this country. Soccer is a fundamentally flawed sport in its design. There are way too many ties. Most of the game is a chess match. Again, I'm not knocking the athletes, it's a tough sport to play, and I've played it and had a good time. But as a spectator sport, it is incredibly dry. Most of the game is spent maneuvering into a position just to take a shot. While there's a lot of strategy and movement, it's tough to sit there and watch 'set up' for 58 minutes for 2 minutes of potential scoring. Soccer has always been in my lifetime 'the cool edgy' sport to like. Unfortunately, the mass public has never actually liked it enough to watch it. And this whole 'well if you saw good games, that would change.' Bullshit. With the amount of channels and tv coverage we have now, I can watch two yaks fucking on the downslope of the Himalayas. The US audience has soundly rejected soccer as a mainstream sport for at least the 36 years I've been aware of it 'being the next big thing,' and it's just not going to happen in this country for the foreseeable future.
This is the only reason I don't make more of an effort to watch more soccer than the occasional Sunday morning on NBC, the whole added time with no official end is just baffling to me. The official clock is out and yet the refs are the only ones who know when the match will actually end. EDIT: Unrelated but my idiot cousin just posted this update. Beautiful sunny day in Charlotte! Spending all day outside and loving every minute of this 70 degree weather! Gotta get that vitamin D while you can! Throw your sunscreen in the trash!
Leaps and bounds for a sport that's extremely popular already? I'm pretty sure none of these would happen.
I was under the oppression that Denver was a good tram. I was lied to. There's a guy behind me at the bar wonton Build me up countertop.
The need to stop with the Budweiser commercials proclaiming it Canada's hockey beer. Oh, please. Yeah, we get shitty commercials and it can't be avoided.
Though this is a typo, I actually agree Denver is being oppressed. I've been a die hard Denver fan for thirty some odd years. I actually went in the other room to practice guitar because this is way too painful to watch. Horrible. Denver doesn't look like they belong on that field. And frankly, they don't. Not with the way they're playing. If Seattle scores another 23, this could be the biggest blowout in Superbowl history. Yikes. Too painful to watch.