Soccer really sucks, doesn't it?

[Al B. Sure!]

The point is, they're better general purpose athletes than marathon runners because they're mid-distance runners. For some reason, Serb, in his supposed defense of the sport, wants to marginalize the athletic abilities of soccer players by associating them with long-distance runners. I've tried to demonstrate the inadequacies of long-distance runners in other sports but he seems to not understand what many of us intuitively know, stating that long-distance runners somehow have an advantage in 'endurance' sports (which I already admit they do since they are freaking endurance athletes! but that's the extent of their advantage which is a small aspect of the entire domain of human sport). So I referenced interval training and the tabata protocol to show that the sprinter's body of work leads to him being a fair endurance athlete as well (not to mention the fact that he is more developed elsewhere in his body and has significantly more strength and power making him superior in other sports relative to the marathoner).

Oh yeah and the energy systems of soccer players resemble that of hockey players but differ from long-distance runners... so there's that.

[a.kitman]

it is in any case retarded to judge the merit of a sport based on how well there participants does in other sports. i would say lance armstrong is an helluva better sportsperson then a regular decathlete.

[MikeH]

But potentially not a better athlete, by Albert's system.

[MikeH]

It's all pointless anyway, as well as speed and stamina football players have to have skill. Although both are increasingly important in the modern game, to some extent the skill can still mitigate a lack of the other two.

[a.kitman]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athlete

its the same i just used a word that will confuse people less

[Al B. Sure!]

I am admitting that, but then, only Basketball is fun of the big American Sports

American Football is fun, but is around the world seen as a pansy version of Rugby, Rugby is for real men, American Footbal for fat people with shoulderplates

And even if Football/Soccer is boring, those guys are still the best athletes on earth. Football/Soccer has a talent pool of billions of people, the best soccer players are the best athletes out of billions of people who play soccer, all other sports are ants in comparison to soccer, no matter how boring soccer may be.

That is what started it.

It is my contention that they are not at all the best athletes on earth, by anyone's reasonable measure (ie- how well they can do in all domains of human physical activity/sport)... though they are better than marathoners.

[Serb]

The point is, they're better general purpose athletes than marathon runners because they're mid-distance runners. For some reason, Serb, in his supposed defense of the sport, wants to marginalize the athletic abilities of soccer players by associating them with long-distance runners. I've tried to demonstrate the inadequacies of long-distance runners in other sports but he seems to not understand what many of us intuitively know, stating that long-distance runners somehow have an advantage in 'endurance' sports (which I already admit they do since they are freaking endurance athletes! but that's the extent of their advantage which is a small aspect of the entire domain of human sport). So I referenced interval training and the tabata protocol to show that the sprinter's body of work leads to him being a fair endurance athlete as well (not to mention the fact that he is more developed elsewhere in his body and has significantly more strength and power making him superior in other sports relative to the marathoner).

Oh yeah and the energy systems of soccer players resemble that of hockey players but differ from long-distance runners... so there's that.

Oh great, yada-yada protocols again. So, explain to me please, how the f*ck similarity in energy system of soccer and hockey players proves that soccer players have more in common with the sprinter than the marathon runner?

[Serb]

Serb said football players were like 10K runners... and somebody else said it earlier but I forgot (maybe Ben Kenobi).

I've said they run over 10km during a game.

Serb has also said that soccer players are closer to marathon runners than sprinters, taking contention with my point that they are closer to sprinters.

Bullsh!t. I've said that your point about football players being closer to sprinters is bullsh!t. I've never said they are closer to marathoners, just noticed they are not closer to sprinters. It's different from stating they are closer to to marathoners. Football players need both stamina and speed they are somewhere in between sprinters and marathoners. But stating that players who run over 10km during 90 minutes of the game are closer to sprinters than marathoners is just pure refined BS.

[a.kitman]

did a sprinter kill your family or something serb? i dont know what you have against them.

[Serb]

Nothing. But football players are not sprinters. They do not look like sprinters and run much greater distances during the game.

[MikeH]

But the best of them can run at sprinter like speeds.

[Alexander's Horse]

the only reason football is the world game is you only need a ball to play it

[dannubis]

in fact, intelligence is not only not required, it is frowned upon...

[MikeH]

the only reason football is the world game is you only need a ball to play it

Unlike Rugby? Oh.

[MikeH]

The big thing about Soccer is that compared to any other major team sport you get much more 'upsets', so it's much more unpredictable. A really crap team can beat a really good one on a given day. This makes every match, potentially, interesting. I will see if I can dig up the research that proved that.