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What if America's Best Athletes Played Soccer?

Discussion in 'Other Sports Forum' started by HardKoreXXX, May 26, 2010.

  1. HardKoreXXX

    HardKoreXXX Insensitive to the Touch

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    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:

     
  2. BigDogsHunt

    BigDogsHunt Enough talk...prove it!

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    What about 7on7 Rugby (ok, he's from Aus, and plays Rugby but could make it in NFL)

    http://www.rugbybuzz.com/?p=301

    JETS have joined the discussion http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/189470-jets-interested-in-aussie-rugby-star
     
  3. HardKoreXXX

    HardKoreXXX Insensitive to the Touch

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    My favorite is they have Patrick Willis, Ron Artest and Troy Polamalu on the back line.
     
  4. Tone_E

    Tone_E Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    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.
     
  5. Tone_E

    Tone_E Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    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.
     
  6. HardKoreXXX

    HardKoreXXX Insensitive to the Touch

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    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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  7. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    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...
     
  8. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    Arrest is the worst at defense so that wouldnt work...hahaha
     
  9. HardKoreXXX

    HardKoreXXX Insensitive to the Touch

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    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:
     
  10. HardKoreXXX

    HardKoreXXX Insensitive to the Touch

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    He's been a DPOY in the NBA.
     
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  11. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    not this year....he isnt that good this year for some reason....
     
  12. Tone_E

    Tone_E Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    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.
     
  13. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    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!!
     
  14. Tone_E

    Tone_E Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    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.
     
  15. HardKoreXXX

    HardKoreXXX Insensitive to the Touch

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    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.
     
  16. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    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??
     
  17. Section126

    Section126 We are better than you. Luxury Box

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    LOL.

    Ron Artest is everything BUT "lanky".

    he is 6'-7" 260 pounds.
     
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  18. HardKoreXXX

    HardKoreXXX Insensitive to the Touch

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    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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  19. Tone_E

    Tone_E Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    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.
     
  20. HardKoreXXX

    HardKoreXXX Insensitive to the Touch

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    Fair enough, but I don't see how that invalidates the theory.
     
  21. Tone_E

    Tone_E Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    It is actually proving it, from both of our perspectives. :hi5:
     
  22. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    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.....
     
  23. HardKoreXXX

    HardKoreXXX Insensitive to the Touch

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    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.
     
  24. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    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...
     
  25. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    IMO he's not very good. Some will disagree with me but I just don't see it.
     
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  26. Tone_E

    Tone_E Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Well, he is a class act though.

    He got injured before this past season with AC Milan and was out all year. He just extended his contract from 2012 to 2013 for FREE! Although Milan advised against it, and didn't want to do that, Onyewu insisted and Milan took it as a nice gesture.
     
  27. HardKoreXXX

    HardKoreXXX Insensitive to the Touch

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    He looked horrible last night though. Yikes.
     
  28. Tone_E

    Tone_E Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    He's been out a year and is still getting into match shape. Maybe that's why?
     
  29. HardKoreXXX

    HardKoreXXX Insensitive to the Touch

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    Could be. I saw him get out-jumped by a white guy from the Czech Republic. So I seriously hope that's the reason.
     
  30. maynard

    maynard Who, whom?

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    i have no doubt that if every US kid's athletic dream was to play soccer, our national teams would be stacked with ridiculous talent

    soccer only requires average size, so some great athletes in the NBA and NFL would just be too big, but its also a boom to great athletes that toil in their other chosen sport but are limited by their size to advance

    not only would we be pulling from MLB, NFL and some NBA talent, but also all the great athletes that devoted all their time to those sports in college

    the NCAA is part of the reason our sports are played at such a high level. now imagine college soccer and MLS or whatever being the biggest sports. there would be great american players all over the world and our college teams would rival professional clubs
     
  31. Tone_E

    Tone_E Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Now, now, lets not get ahead of ourselves here. A lot of European Under 21 teams will smoke the MLS teams, so. . .
     
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  32. Section126

    Section126 We are better than you. Luxury Box

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    No.
     
  33. Tone_E

    Tone_E Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    You seriously believe that? I tend to disagree.
     
  34. maynard

    maynard Who, whom?

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    why? our college basketball teams beat other national teams. basketball is pretty big around the world now and teams have gotten a lot better

    basketball isnt even our most popular sport

    this is also a world where soccer reigns supreme here
     
  35. Tone_E

    Tone_E Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    But soccer is nowhere near your most popular sport. Under the assumption that soccer becomes the main sport in the US, then yes, your college teams will beat the MLS teams of TODAY, but if that is the case, the MLS teams under that same assumption will be a much higher caliber, even attracting world stars like the EPL, Serie A, and La Liga. But again, only under that main assumption that soccer becomes the main sport. And if so, today's MLS is irrelevant.

    My point is, top European and top S.American Under 21 teams (GER, ITA, BRS, ENG, SPN, etc) can beat MLS teams 6 times out of 10 games, today. Would you agree with that?
     
  36. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    I'm with you here.
     
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  37. Section126

    Section126 We are better than you. Luxury Box

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    You can disagree all you want..but Junior teams can't beat MLS teams.

    MLS teams have performed well against talented european teams before.
     
  38. maynard

    maynard Who, whom?

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    exactly. this whole thread is on that impossible assumption lol.

    MLS would truly be major league and nothing like it is now. heck only either 3 or 4 guys from MLS have been picked on our squad lol.

    its never going to happen. plus, us americans cant take everything :tongue2: the rest of the world can have soccer, though its nice to dream. its a little frustrating to have holes on our team like we do, but thats just the way it is. our depth looks really bad

    i might agree on under 21, i guess it depends on who played. bottom feeders for sure
     
  39. HardKoreXXX

    HardKoreXXX Insensitive to the Touch

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    I remember when we took Bronze in Athens in basketball. One of my friends at that time said "****, if we're gonna take Bronze in basketball, we may as well start kicking *** in Soccer."

    I agree though, we can't dominate everything. We'll concede soccer, as long as the other countries concede that we could kick their *** if we wanted to :shifty:
     
  40. maynard

    maynard Who, whom?

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    imagine the outrage if we took the world cup lol
     
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