What if America's Best Athletes Played Soccer?
44 replies
HardKoreXXXNew MemberOPBoomer and I have had this discussion before, and he'll probably disagree here, but this is a pretty well written article. They take some of the best American athlete's in the major sports to comprise a starting team.
I have said for years that IF the US wanted to dominate Soccer, we would. Granted, some of our other sports would not be filled with some of the Superstars they are, but you can't dominate every sport at once, no matter awesome and badass your country is. Soccer in this country is proof of that.
Here's one excerpt, but definitely check out the whole piece here:
Desean Jackson/Percy Harvin LS
We could choose either one of these guys as a starter, and we'd be in pretty great shape. Still, let's look at the credentials here: Harvin was used in a variety of ways at Florida, and excelled at pretty much everything. And then last year, as a rookie, he pretty much took the NFL by storm, unfazed by migraines and/or persistent marijuana use. Throw in his absurd speed and ability to make defenders look like idiots, and Harvin would be a perfect fit up top.
As for Desean Jackson, he earns the nod for all the same reasons as Harvin, plus: He sure seems like an ornery little bastard, doesn't he? Not in a bad way, either; but he's got a serious case of the Napolean complex, and we can use that our advantage.
You think Desean Jackson is going to take sh— from some uppity Italian defender? Bitch, he's from COMPTON. Desean will wreak havoc on whoever the Euros throw at him, and he'll do it while talking endless amounts of trash, cheap shotting on every header, and whining to the refs like a seasoned pro. Come get some, Italia. — Sharp
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BigDogsHuntNew MemberWhat about 7on7 Rugby (ok, he's from Aus, and plays Rugby but could make it in NFL)
http://www.rugbybuzz.com/?p=301
Word has been leaked that the Buffalo Bills and the Denver Broncos are interested in having Australian rugby league all-star Greg Inglis try out as a linebacker or kick returner, an either/or combination of positions I’m not certain has been seen in the NFL since the days of . . . well, ever.
Inglis: Looks like a linebacker, but can a rugby player make it in the NFL?
Inglis is 6-feet-5 and 238 pounds of Ozzie beef, just 23 years old and last year won the Golden Boot award as the “best rugby player in the world.” He plays all over the backline for the Melbourne Storm, positions which call for fast hands, fast feet and fast thinking.
JETS have joined the discussion http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/189470-jets-interested-in-aussie-rugby-star
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HardKoreXXXNew MemberMy favorite is they have Patrick Willis, Ron Artest and Troy Polamalu on the back line.
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Tone_EsubscriberYou can't compare apples and oranges.
So Percy Harvin is fast. Can he place a soccer ball anywhere he wants? Can he run with a ball that fast?
He can cut on a dime, but can he do it with a soccer ball between his feet?
It is a skill set, and one that comes more naturally to people like all others. What I mean is, take the worst NFL and NBA players and they have an equal shot at being better at soccer than the best players in the NFL and NBA.
Just because they are good at one sport it doesn't mean they will be equally good at another.
Tone_Esubscriber"HardKoreXXX wrote:
My favorite is they have Patrick Willis, Ron Artest and Troy Polamalu on the back line.
Sure, put Ron Artest a 6'9" lanky mofo on the back line. I'd love to see skilled players school him with deaks and cuts. Maybe as a goalie....maybe.
HardKoreXXXNew Member"Tone_E wrote:
You can't compare apples and oranges.
So Percy Harvin is fast. Can he place a soccer ball anywhere he wants? Can he run with a ball that fast?
He can cut on a dime, but can he do it with a soccer ball between his feet?
It is a skill set, and one that comes more naturally to people like all others. What I mean is, take the worst NFL and NBA players and they have an equal shot at being better at soccer than the best players in the NFL and NBA.
Just because they are good at one sport it doesn't mean they will be equally good at another.
Read the piece dude. It's for fun, but they pose a hypothetical. They're not saying Percy Harvin could play in the World Cup this year, but if he played Soccer his whole life.
The piece points out that many kids in this country play soccer at a young age, then play something else when they get older. What if they didn't switch to something else? That's the debate.
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finyank13New Member"HardKoreXXX wrote:
Boomer and I have had this discussion before, and he'll probably disagree here, but this is a pretty well written article. They take some of the best American athlete's in the major sports to comprise a starting team.
I have said for years that IF the US wanted to dominate Soccer, we would. Granted, some of our other sports would not be filled with some of the Superstars they are, but you can't dominate every sport at once, no matter awesome and badass your country is. Soccer in this country is proof of that.
Here's one excerpt, but definitely check out the whole piece here:
I disagree, we are making strides but we wouldnt dominate soccer if we wanted to.....because we cant, we already are trying to dominate soccer...with pitiful results....
If thats the case why cant we dominate skiing like Austria does?? Or why doesnt America dominate hockey, we are good at hockey, but we certainly don't dominate right, however as a major sport here in the US, certainly we are trying no?? There are enough people in America to play everything....for as much as foreign soccer players, would rot playing basketball, baseball, and football, Jeter, Kobe, and Lebron would get embarrassed on the pitch....quickly...
“If you told me A-Rod flew on a spaceship from Mars to here, I wouldn't be surprised."--thephins.com poster Ray Finkle on A-Rod
finyank13New Member"Tone_E wrote:
Sure, put Ron Artest a 6'9" lanky mofo on the back line. I'd love to see skilled players school him with deaks and cuts. Maybe as a goalie....maybe.
Arrest is the worst at defense so that wouldnt work...hahaha
“If you told me A-Rod flew on a spaceship from Mars to here, I wouldn't be surprised."--thephins.com poster Ray Finkle on A-Rod
HardKoreXXXNew Member"finyank13 wrote:
I disagree, we are making strides but we wouldnt dominate soccer if we wanted to.....because we cant, we already are trying to dominate soccer...with pitiful results....
If thats the case why cant we dominate skiing like Austria does?? Or why doesnt America dominate hockey, we are good at hockey, but we certainly don't dominate right, however as a major sport here in the US, certainly we are trying no?? There are enough people in America to play everything....for as much as foreign soccer players, would rot playing basketball, baseball, and football, Jeter, Kobe, and Lebron would get embarrassed on the pitch....quickly...
Well, like I said: A) You can't dominate every sport in the world at the same time and B) This is a hypothetical piece on IF those guys played Soccer their whole lives. America isn't even the biggest country in the world and we still dominate 2 of the major sports and we're pretty damn good at Baseball and Hockey.
Now, American Football isn't played worldwide, but even if it was it would take YEARS for other countries to catch up. And that would be at the cost of them sacrificing their best athletes in other sports, like say, Soccer. :shifty:
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HardKoreXXXNew Member"finyank13 wrote:
Arrest is the worst at defense so that wouldnt work...hahaha
He's been a DPOY in the NBA.
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finyank13New Member"HardKoreXXX wrote:
He's been a DPOY in the NBA.
not this year....he isnt that good this year for some reason....
“If you told me A-Rod flew on a spaceship from Mars to here, I wouldn't be surprised."--thephins.com poster Ray Finkle on A-Rod
Tone_Esubscriber"HardKoreXXX wrote:
Read the piece dude. It's for fun, but they pose a hypothetical. They're not saying Percy Harvin could play in the World Cup this year, but if he played Soccer his whole life.
The piece points out that many kids in this country play soccer at a young, then play something else when they get older. What if they didn't switch to something else? That's the debate.
Of course it is, and I'll agree that if the US had the infrastructure that most other countries have you guys would be a lot more competitive. But to say you would be the best in the world is a stretch. Essentially you would be competing against countries that have the exact same system and players playing all throughout their youth and beyond. Your system would be on par with other superpowers like Brasil, Argentina, England, Spain, Germany, Italy, etc. And that would be it, on par. Heck, even lower ranked countries have only one national sport, and they aren't superpowers, like Poland, Ukraine, Columbia, etc, etc. It is possible, but unlikely, that even if the US focused only on soccer that you could be within that ranked group as well.
Fun to think about though. Time will tell. Soccer is growing in the US. Interesting to see how much more received it is during this world cup in the US.
finyank13New Member"HardKoreXXX wrote:
Well, like I said: A) You can't dominate every sport in the world at the same time and B) This is a hypothetical piece on IF those guys played Soccer their whole lives. America isn't even the biggest country in the world and we still dominate 2 of the major sports and we're pretty damn good at Baseball and Hockey.
Now, American Football isn't played worldwide, but even if it was it would take YEARS for other countries to catch up. And that would be at the cost of them sacrificing their best athletes in other sports, like say, Soccer. :shifty:
Agreed brother kore....however if foreign soccer players tried to field an American football team, they would be small.......:lol:
tell them boys to eat and do roids!!
“If you told me A-Rod flew on a spaceship from Mars to here, I wouldn't be surprised."--thephins.com poster Ray Finkle on A-Rod
Tone_Esubscriber"HardKoreXXX wrote:
Read the piece dude. It's for fun, but they pose a hypothetical. They're not saying Percy Harvin could play in the World Cup this year, but if he played Soccer his whole life.
The piece points out that many kids in this country play soccer at a young age, then play something else when they get older. What if they didn't switch to something else? That's the debate.
Yeah, and read my response. I'm saying that if P. Harvin played soccer all his life, he could still be a worse player than Ted Ginn if he played soccer all his life. Even though PH is the better NFL player, it won't be directly correlated into soccer. See what I mean? It is too hypothetical.
HardKoreXXXNew Member"Tone_E wrote:
Of course it is, and I'll agree that if the US had the infrastructure that most other countries have you guys would be a lot more competitive. But to say you would be the best in the world is a stretch. Essentially you would be competing against countries that have the exact same system and players playing all throughout their youth and beyond. Your system would be on par with other superpowers like Brasil, Argentina, England, Spain, Germany, Italy, etc. And that would be it, on par. Heck, even lower ranked countries have only one national sport, and they aren't superpowers, like Poland, Ukraine, Columbia, etc, etc. It is possible, but unlikely, that even if the US focused only on soccer that you could be within that ranked group as well.
Fun to think about though. Time will tell. Soccer is growing in the US. Interesting to see how much more received it is during this world cup in the US.
So you would not agree that the US has the best athletes in the world? I mean PURE athletes. Or are our results in the Olympic Games over the last 100 years not satisfying enough?
Now obviously my argument is contingent on the fact that playing Soccer requires one to be a great athlete, or that great athleticism does not always equate to one being a great Soccer player. That's fair, but I think it would also be splitting hairs to an extent.
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finyank13New Member"Tone_E wrote:
Of course it is, and I'll agree that if the US had the infrastructure that most other countries have you guys would be a lot more competitive. But to say you would be the best in the world is a stretch. Essentially you would be competing against countries that have the exact same system and players playing all throughout their youth and beyond. Your system would be on par with other superpowers like Brasil, Argentina, England, Spain, Germany, Italy, etc. And that would be it, on par. Heck, even lower ranked countries have only one national sport, and they aren't superpowers, like Poland, Ukraine, Columbia, etc, etc. It is possible, but unlikely, that even if the US focused only on soccer that you could be within that ranked group as well.
Fun to think about though. Time will tell. Soccer is growing in the US. Interesting to see how much more received it is during this world cup in the US.
I think it will be record setting this year as far as viewership.....euro 2008 set a record here....as well as another game I forgot the US played were they went up quick on Dempsy's redirect...ahhh what game was that??
“If you told me A-Rod flew on a spaceship from Mars to here, I wouldn't be surprised."--thephins.com poster Ray Finkle on A-Rod
Section126luxury_box"Tone_E wrote:
Sure, put Ron Artest a 6'9" lanky mofo on the back line. I'd love to see skilled players school him with deaks and cuts. Maybe as a goalie....maybe.
LOL.
Ron Artest is everything BUT "lanky".
he is 6'-7" 260 pounds.
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HardKoreXXXNew Member"Tone_E wrote:
Yeah, and read my response. I'm saying that if P. Harvin played soccer all his life, he could still be a worse player than Ted Ginn if he played soccer all his life. Even though PH is the better NFL player, it won't be directly correlated into soccer. See what I mean? It is too hypothetical.
Percy Harvin is one guy. Take your pick of any sub 4.4 shifty guy in the NFL. Would you not agree that if Soccer was the main sport here in the US at least a handful of those guys wouldn't translate?
I think that is being a little short-sighted. Bottom line is that Soccer here is what, the 5th or 6th most popular sport? And that is probably being generous. I don't think it's a stretch to say that if it were #1, we'd dominate.
Obviously it's hypothetical, and I cannot prove you wrong. I just love the debate. It'll be even more fun when Boomer sees it can starts calling me a stupid bloody yank.
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Tone_Esubscriber"HardKoreXXX wrote:
So you would not agree that the US has the best athletes in the world? I mean PURE athletes. Or are our results in the Olympic Games over the last 100 years not satisfying enough?
Now obviously my argument is contingent on the fact that playing Soccer requires one to be a great athlete, or that great athleticism does not always equate to one being a great Soccer player. That's fair, but I think it would also be splitting hairs to an extent.
Now you are operating under double standards. Aside from the US, what other countries have the infrastructure in place to develop athletes in the olympic sports? Maybe Russia and China, but that is it. If the rest of the world had your training facilities, paid scholarships, coaches, etc, would the US still dominate as much on the Olympic scale?
The rest of the world is in the same situation the US is in with soccer.
HardKoreXXXNew Member"Tone_E wrote:
Now you are operating under double standards. Aside from the US, what other countries have the infrastructure in place to develop athletes in the olympic sports? Maybe Russia and China, but that is it. If the rest of the world had your training facilities, paid scholarships, coaches, etc, would the US still dominate as much on the Olympic scale?
The rest of the world is in the same situation the US is in with soccer.
Fair enough, but I don't see how that invalidates the theory.
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Tone_Esubscriber"HardKoreXXX wrote:
Fair enough, but I don't see how that invalidates the theory.
It is actually proving it, from both of our perspectives. :hi5:
finyank13New MemberHere is the thing, the squad at World Cup is what 25-30 people on it?? Dont tell me that regardless of where this sport is in America right now as far as popularity, that we cant find 30...hell 40 people in the entire US to compete with these guys on a global scale.....AND WE CANT?!?!?!? That just tells me that we arent very good at it, getting better, but not as good as the power house countries....
I see the other side if the BEST athletes played soccer at 3yrs old instead of baseball, basketball, or football...who knows?? However some of America best athletes are playing soccer right now, and cant hack it.....
“If you told me A-Rod flew on a spaceship from Mars to here, I wouldn't be surprised."--thephins.com poster Ray Finkle on A-Rod
HardKoreXXXNew Member"finyank13 wrote:
Here is the thing, the squad at World Cup is what 25-30 people on it?? Dont tell me that regardless of where this sport is in America right now as far as popularity, that we cant find 30...hell 40 people in the entire US to compete with these guys on a global scale.....AND WE CANT?!?!?!? That just tells me that we arent very good at it, getting better, but not as good as the power house countries....
I see the other side if the BEST athletes played soccer at 3yrs old instead of baseball, basketball, or football...who knows?? However some of America best athletes are playing soccer right now, and cant hack it.....
No doubt we're not very good at it. I'm really not sure some of our best athletes are playing it though. I mean, outside of Altidore, would you consider any of those guys some of our best athletes? I wouldn't. Some good athletes, yes. Some of the best, no way in hell.
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finyank13New Member"HardKoreXXX wrote:
No doubt we're not very good at it. I'm really not sure some of our best athletes are playing it though. I mean, outside of Altidore, would you consider any of those guys some of our best athletes? I wouldn't. Some good athletes, yes. Some of the best, no way in hell.
Oguchi Onyewu is a very very good athlete....the kid is 6'4'' 210....and plays on a premiere international club, and is good....
hell I'd take him as our FS right now......lol...
“If you told me A-Rod flew on a spaceship from Mars to here, I wouldn't be surprised."--thephins.com poster Ray Finkle on A-Rod
"finyank13 wrote:
Oguchi Onyewu is a very very good athlete....the kid is 6'4'' 210....and plays on a premiere international club, and is good....
hell I'd take him as our FS right now......lol...
IMO he's not very good. Some will disagree with me but I just don't see it.
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