Driver2165

Were you watching the game tonight? Did you see the crazy guys run around the field and get tackled by the Red Sox bat boy or did they not show that on tv? Inquiring minds want to know.

i once heard soccer explained as "the only sport where, if nothing happens, it's being played correctly." that sums it up pretty well.

Yeah that was sweet. did the guys turn out to be from Boston? Jack Morris and Dan Gladden had money on it

The difference between soccer and baseball is that in baseball, the nuances happen while nothing is actually happening in the game - should he hit and run, what pitch is he going to throw, etc. In soccer, the clock keeps running from the time the game starts all the way to the end of the half, so the nuances are happening while everyone is running and knocking each other around. Just like baseball fans can get excited about a homerun after the players have been walking around for two hours, so we get excited after a goal... but even more so, because goals are so rare and the stakes for each goal are so much higher.

Come to a Minnesota Thunder game sometime, and you'll get it. Plus I hear they always have free beer at the tailgate.

(As for the media - I'd be fine if they'd just be quiet about the World Cup too, because most of them don't understand soccer at all, either, and just end up making everyone cringe.)

We're on the right track there, but i'm thinking even more specific. Like I want the soccer equivalent of why pitchers throw a fastball on a 3-1 count, and why you take the first pitch, and the Ted Williams shift

I think comparing soccer to baseball just doesn't work, just like comparing hockey and baseball.

I think soccer is a less planned out game than baseball, so the nuances are harder to articulate.

The nuances are there though. Do you center the ball or keep heading up the sideline? Do you catch the ball, if you are a goalie, or hit it with your fists? Do you slow down play, or speed it up? Is it worth getting a penalty to stop a goal? I guess I don't know the answers, but I'm sure a great soccer player/fan does.

The nuances are there, just like in baseball, they are apparent unless you really understand the game.

Hey, fellow bus driver!! The good news is that those stupid chirping walkie talkies are not allowed on the bus. Notice the new aisle signs that say that speaker phones are not allowed. I always tell them to save it until they get off the bus. That chirping is just TOO annoying!! See ya on the road!

By the way, in case you didn't recognize me in blogworld here...I chatted with you at the garage the other day. I started the bus driver stories site at www.pickingupstrangers.com . Check it out!

you guys are all full of it. Baseball looks like an idiotic sport if you haven't watched it enough to understand it too. You have to invest some time in soccer to understand the game. And it's not the equivalent of the WWF in the Czech Republic. The WWF is the equivalent of the WWF in the Czech republic.

you guys are all full of it. Baseball looks like an idiotic sport if you haven't watched it enough to understand it too. You have to invest some time in soccer to understand the game. And it's not the equivalent of the WWF in the Czech Republic. The WWF is the equivalent of the WWF in the Czech republic.

You're misunderstanding my complaint. I'm not complaining that I don't know about soccer, I'm complaining that the media is more obsessed with talking about which famous people like soccer and the announcers are less interested explaining the nuances than baseball announcers. Watch any baseball game, and you'll walk away learning a new small strategy you'd never thought of. For example, just the other day, I learned that not stealing second when you've got a batter trying to hit a groundball to right field (like giambi or mike redmond) is better because it creates a gaping defensive hole in that direction. Every soccer announcer I've seen just states the obvious (name of player and body part that touched the ball)