Funny stuff. Very funny. But not funny as in "guffaw", but funny as in weird or odd.
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/opinion/columni
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/opinion/columni
Ann Coulter doesn't like soccer, I guess
- Thread starter BoilersRock
- Start date
This is saying a lot, but that might be the single most ignorant piece of writing I've ever had the misfortune to read.
I happen to be an American whose Great-Grandfathers were all born in the United States, and I watch soccer.
I happen to be an American whose Great-Grandfathers were all born in the United States, and I watch soccer.
I don't really like Ann Coulter at all, but I agree with her that soccer is lame. Really, I don't care - I don't like it - but those who do are so sensitive to criticisms (both real and exaggerated) of the sport that I can't resist ribbing them about it. In the time you've taken to read this, I can guarantee that absolutely no one in any soccer "match" anywhere in the world has scored a goal.
Since I can "dish it out", I'll leave myself open to "taking some" - I like baseball. I also secretly like the NBA.
P.S. All my great grandfathers were also born in the US - let this study continue (I think it deserves some federal funding
).
This post was edited on 6/27 8:02 AM by indyogb
Since I can "dish it out", I'll leave myself open to "taking some" - I like baseball. I also secretly like the NBA.
P.S. All my great grandfathers were also born in the US - let this study continue (I think it deserves some federal funding
).This post was edited on 6/27 8:02 AM by indyogb
I really don't care for the game of soccer either. However, I don't like many other of the popular sports either but I fully appreciate the athleticism of the players as they can do some pretty amazing things at their "craft." Especially, hockey players!
My son's HS team finished 2nd in the state in soccer last year. Our family went to the championship game to show our school support, the only game we went to. The game (or is it a match?) was at a stadium that really wasn't very big, and even with both teams sitting on one side of the field, the stands were only 1/2 full. That's demonstrates the popularity of soccer. Fwiw, my son's HS is roughly 45% hispanic so the fan base potential is there...
Ann Coulter was just trying to irritate those people who wouldn't like anything she would say anyhow, and it worked.
My son's HS team finished 2nd in the state in soccer last year. Our family went to the championship game to show our school support, the only game we went to. The game (or is it a match?) was at a stadium that really wasn't very big, and even with both teams sitting on one side of the field, the stands were only 1/2 full. That's demonstrates the popularity of soccer. Fwiw, my son's HS is roughly 45% hispanic so the fan base potential is there...
Ann Coulter was just trying to irritate those people who wouldn't like anything she would say anyhow, and it worked.
can't disagree, a number of soccer fans seem to overreact and make things personal when the sport is criticized.
Anything for clicks
It'a amazing that someone as well known as she is would stoop so low. It's almost as if she were auditioning for Chicks on the Right, who are equally unfunny to most Americans.
And the ignorance and failed assertions in the article are rampant. Did she even get the memo on how many people watched the USA-Portugal match on TV?
It'a amazing that someone as well known as she is would stoop so low. It's almost as if she were auditioning for Chicks on the Right, who are equally unfunny to most Americans.
And the ignorance and failed assertions in the article are rampant. Did she even get the memo on how many people watched the USA-Portugal match on TV?
It's supposed to be satire, but Ms. Coulter is no good at it; it would seem that she is taking satire lessons from Andy Borowitz.
Here is how satire is supposed to work
That column is pathetic. Most of it doesn't even make sense. Football is better because there is a higher risk of serious injury? Her general thesis is that risk makes the sport better.
The only decent point she made was that soccer fans try to force it on everyone else. That is the most annoying thing about soccer. I don't mind the sport (I kind of like it, but that may just be World Cup fever), but I don't need someone telling me that I have to love it or I'm just a stupid American.
The only decent point she made was that soccer fans try to force it on everyone else. That is the most annoying thing about soccer. I don't mind the sport (I kind of like it, but that may just be World Cup fever), but I don't need someone telling me that I have to love it or I'm just a stupid American.
This is simply what many media "personalities", for lack of a better and still message board appropriate word, have become today, people who want to keep their name in the headlines regardless of the reason. Soccer is extremely visible right now and if she would have wrote an article about it's enormous popularity it would have been lost in a sea of similar articles. Instead she writes a highly critical article with statements she knows will create an uproar and lead to massive media attention. I don't even think she believes much of what she writes, she just doesn't care. The media outlets and publishers will look at the amount of exposure she gets and want to bring her in for interviews or write more books/articles because people will focus on them, if only just to get pissed off about it.
It's sad because it seems like more and more people don't care to get exposure or recognition through positive acts or accomplishments, just recognition even if it's negative (there are countless examples of this in our culture, both domestic and internationally). The best thing people can do is ignore it because public interest (be it positive or negative) is what fuels more of these types of "personalities"
I personally do not like soccer by the way. ,
It's sad because it seems like more and more people don't care to get exposure or recognition through positive acts or accomplishments, just recognition even if it's negative (there are countless examples of this in our culture, both domestic and internationally). The best thing people can do is ignore it because public interest (be it positive or negative) is what fuels more of these types of "personalities"
I personally do not like soccer by the way. ,
"Most Americans?" Really? I would love to see your statistical data to back up those two statements. You might find data to support the second statement...might.
There is no chance you'll find evidence that even a significant minority actually agree with the hateful drivel in this piece of poorly written "satire." The fact that you think "most Americans" would agree with Ann Coulter demonstrates clearly that you must be a teabagger.
I fervently hope that the "Prof" in your name stands for anything other than "Professor."
WOW Pastor Joe, I'm amazed that.........
you would regress to personal attacks, being a man of the cloth and all! You do know what the term "teabagger" means, don't you?
This post was edited on 6/29 9:21 AM by boiler62
This post was edited on 6/29 10:00 AM by boiler62
you would regress to personal attacks, being a man of the cloth and all! You do know what the term "teabagger" means, don't you?
This post was edited on 6/29 9:21 AM by boiler62
This post was edited on 6/29 10:00 AM by boiler62
I put no stock into this. Coulter, like many people out there, makes her living off of getting a rise out of people. This is an "attention" piece that is nothing more than some fluff piece she wrote while chuckling that she'd get so much attention out of it.
Trust me, I don't bother paying attention to her and will have nothing positive to say about it. I put her in the same sense of a Kim Kardashian family - will do anything for attention (i.e. Kim's sex tape) and then reap the rewards from the fans.
Ann Coulter is obnoxious and disgusting; her basic premise that soccer is vapid, dull, and idiotic is correct; her manner of expressing her disdain for soccer is weak.
Her basic premise is correct? How? It's an opinion. You can say that you agree or that you think she's correct, but there is absolutely no way to objectively prove that soccer is "vapid, dull, and idiotic."
In fact, I could build a much stronger statistical case for the opposite, starting with the fact that so many other countries follow and cheer for soccer (unless you want to take American exceptionalism to its extreme and suggest that anyone outside of America does not really matter). I could also start with the fact that the TV ratings for the World Cup matches were routinely topping both the World Series and the NBA Finals.
Ultimately, though, I have to admit that my opinion is that soccer is a thinking man's game with much that makes it better than other sports (no timeouts, the card system, relegation and promotion) and some things that make it worse (diving).
Of course, I was giving my opinion on the issue. I'm not trying to be objective. However, I could counter your "statistical" argument by citing that so many of those soccer crazed countries are poverty stricken, whereby soccer's low cost equipment requirements of just a ball and an open field benefits its popularity.
The TV ratings are no doubt boosted by the game being a once-every-four-year phenomenon, with the World Series being played opposite both college and pro football, and NBA competing against the NHL. When MLS boasts similar ratings, then you'll be on to something.
One thing that is clearly factual is that soccer's scoring is radically low compared to most any other sport. The few goals that do occur result more from sudden capriciousness rather than actual planning. In fact, the scoring is so low that skill almost seems to be immaterial in deciding the outcome. Belgium was so vastly superior to the U.S. that the 2-1 result defied credulity. Every once in a while a hockey game is like that, where a goalie makes saves while standing on his head, but that type of inability to score happens so predictably in soccer. In short the difficulty of scoring evens the outcome into nothingness, no matter how skilled the player.
Perhaps I'm commixing opinion with empirical observation....don't really care to distinguish.
