{"id":10671,"date":"2014-07-01T18:24:39","date_gmt":"2014-07-01T22:24:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=10671"},"modified":"2014-07-01T20:06:55","modified_gmt":"2014-07-02T00:06:55","slug":"football-1-soccer-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2014\/07\/01\/football-1-soccer-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Football, 1; Soccer, 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"soccermodernball_375\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>

Photo via Tigers.com.<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

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I’m going to argue here that we replace football with soccer as the number one field sport in the U.S. Before I give you my irrefutable and carefully researched reasons, let me share my credentials.<\/p>\n

I am a hardcore Yankees fan…at least post-season, or if C.C. is pitching.<\/p>\n

I watch some basketball but I miss the old days–before foul calls punctuated every five minutes of play.<\/p>\n

I love watching top level women’s sports–largely because it feels more authentic and less driven by commercial activity.<\/p>\n

I never watch golf…even back when Tiger was playing at the top of his game.<\/p>\n

I follow both winter and summer Olympics.<\/p>\n

I have personally completed five marathons…walking.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:\"<\/a>

Football (soccer) in Malawi. Photo: Francesco Veronesi <\/a>via Creative Commons, some rights reserved.<\/p><\/div>\n

Okay, now my soccer vs. football, pros\/cons.<\/p>\n

* Football is much more physically dangerous than soccer. Score one point for soccer.<\/p>\n

* The U.S. is basically the only country that plays football, making it very 20th vs. 21st century–it’s a global economy and a global sports world nowadays. Score one point for soccer.<\/p>\n

* Soccer requires greater athleticism and less equipment\/gear–go anywhere in the world with a soccer ball and it’s “game on!” within minutes. Score one point for soccer.<\/p>\n

* Aside from the “off sides” call, the rules of soccer are much less complicated. Score one point for soccer.<\/p>\n

* Football has tailgate parties. Score one for football.<\/p>\n

Like the title of this post says, football, 1; soccer, 4. Now go tune in a World Cup game.<\/p>\n

\"First<\/a>

First official US soccer team formation, 1916. Photo via Wikipedia<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n

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\nI’m going to argue here that we replace football with soccer as the number one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[14936,14935,44,14937],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10671"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10671"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10873,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10671\/revisions\/10873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}