File :-(, x, )
Anonymous
What the fuck kind of athlete is this? Skipping games, all of which COUNT and he's being PAID for, to go play in a friendly exhibition with the England national team?

Fucking flakey euro athletes. You wouldn't catch a north-american pulling this shit. You don't see fucking Evgeni Malkin taking the playoffs off to go play for Team Russia in the Worlds that are going on right now (and those actually count for more than a friendly exhibition). You don't see Kobe quit the playoffs to go train for Team USA/Olympics.

fuck i hate soccer. but i hate athletes with beckham's mentality even more. it's like he hung his shoes up ever since he signed the dotted line, and hasn't bothered taking them down since. I even feel ba for the LA Galaxy, who have had to deal with nothing but Beckham's bullshit since he signed with them.
>> Anonymous
>>98307
Beckham didnt wanna play, they pay him and they get just as much or more money back for the merchadising and the popularity they get from him.

Seriously, no one cared about USA football till Becks went there, and even now they just know it cause hes there.
>> Anonymous
david beckham is a faggot, and most europeans agree. gay americans got interested in soccer because of him, and stupid americans think he represents soccer

to be fair though to him though, an English national team friendly against Germany is more important than an MLS game. it's just a friendly in name- england v. hungary 1953 was also a friendly, and it was one of the most important games in the history of the sport.
>> Anonymous
>>98307
> You wouldn't catch a north-american pulling this shit.

BARRY ZITO MOTHERFUCKER, DO YOU SPEAK IT?
>> Anonymous
>>98344
Barry Zito is a fag.
>> Anonymous
Because in football, National Team > Club
>> Anonymous
MLS's fault for having a stupid schedule.

Oh and you won't find American athletes doing this because no one gives a shit about American sports. Will Kobe join Team USA?! Who cares, it's Basketball. No one is going to watch anyway.
>> Anonymous
>>98357
amerifags wouldnt know, since they just have their leagues and no one wants to play with them somewhere else.
>> Anonymous
>>98356
You're a fag.
>> Anonymous
>>98368
Americans don't like sports where people flop around like fish if you get a few centimeters to their foot in a game.
>> Anonymous
The only reason soccer is a popular sport is its tactics and officiating are fucking braindead, and there's barely any equipment involved.

The only more pervasive international sport is running and jumping for your life, aka track and field. All you need are shoes and the ability to pathfind around curves.
>> Anonymous
>>98384
they also don't like contact sports where you can't wear armour
>> Anonymous
why soccer will never be popular in the states

http://youtube.com/watch?v=86AJje3ElDc
>> Anonymous
Beckham is sexy, all stfu.
>> Anonymous
MLS is bottom tier. International friendlies hold more importants than the Galaxy's fate.
>> Anonymous
>>98390
Probably couldn't get to grips with the the offside rule even if it hit him in the face.
>> deleted
Evgeni Malkin is north american?
>> Anonymous
Your country before your club. That is the way it goes.
>> Anonymous
>>98390
>fucking braindead

lol, this coming from america, when the NBA playoffs are going on? You mean to say apes like lebron james and kevin garnet are smart?

football tactics: You throw your fat body in front of these guys, you run exactly this way, you take the ball and run forward. DON'T TRY TO DO ANYTHING CLEVER
baseball tactics: hit the ball
basketball tactics: set a pick or keep running around and passing until you're open (basically soccer but with less teamwork and the players are tall and strong instead of fast and intuitive)

kobe is class though
>> Anonymous
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>>98307
OH HAY GUYSE! ILL JUST TAKE THIS MONEY AND BENCH SOMEWHERE ELSE IF YOUR GONNA BE LIKE THAT!
>> Anonymous
everybody liked roger clemens at one point, and not only did he cheat, but he fucked around with a kid

wait till you find out beckham didn't just sign on to play soccer for a huge contract but also because he wanted to be a member of NAMBLA in it's home country.

also, he loves teh cock, loves it. wait till that comes out you bandwagon beckam posh fags
>> Britannian Anonymous !4bbKDTSEQc
The USA should bring its league into line with the European schedules, i.e. have it run from August to May with a winter break or Christmas games depending on what people want. Having it in the summer is stupid as it clashes with the FIFA international schedule.

Beckham needs to keep playing for England to try and keep his face high profile in Europe (lol do that playing for ENGLAND hahahahaha) but yeah, it's not like the MLS is good or even important. First step for MLS becoming more important? MORE TEAMS! Then split the damn thing into East and West PROPERLY so that New York don't play LA until the post-season play-offs you lot insist on having. This means that games are kept 'relatively local to encourage away fans to travel.
>> Anonymous
COUNTRY BEFORE ANYTHING.....maybe if NBA players gave a damn of the US jersey, they wouldnt keep loosing to argentina! and europeans!
>> Anonymous
>>98447
no way they'd move it, it would clash with the nfl and ncaa football too much and they'd lose viewership

also, la fans don't have to worry about him missing those euro 2008 games LOL
>> Anonymous
>>98447
more teams really is necessary, if only because the country is so damn big that it takes too long to travel for fans and teams
>> Anonymous
>>98394
obvious rickroll
>> Anonymous
>>98307
You don't play exhibition games with the national team ffs... its a friendly and they to into your FIFA world ranking count you cunt.
>> Anonymous
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>>98449
>also, la fans don't have to worry about him missing those euro 2008 games LOL

never gets old
>> Anonymous
Beckham is a walking billboard for soccer in the US. He's advertised it to the kiddies. AFAIC he can do as he likes.
>> Anonymous
>>98447
The fuck up thing is they have more teams. They have the whole fucking United Soccer League (which i think is 3 or 4 divisions) USL-1 is counted as the one under the MLS but because they are such idiots, they don't have promotion relegation.
>> Anonymous
>>98453
i thought it was too, but it was a gay referee, prancing about, with music added, no rickroll, just fucking strange
>> Anonymous
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Soccer_Pyramid

There's not shortage of teams
>> Anonymous
>>98472
it's because of the way the american media machine works - the powers that be fear that the 'lower-level' teams won't acquire any fans when they are promoted, while the teams that are relegated will lose all their fans.
>> Anonymous
>>98479
bandwagon fans suck in so many ways
>> Britannian Anonymous !4bbKDTSEQc
>>98452
>>98472
>>98477
Then the MLS needs to get its finger out and get these teams PLAYING in the top league. Split the USA & Canada into 4 with NW, NE, SW & SE leagues, then play a Champions League style tournament in the post-season to decide the Champions of North America. This encourages both fans to travel and experience the games, and kids to play for their clubs because their down the road and can become high profile.
>> Britannian Anonymous !4bbKDTSEQc
>>98483
To continue having read a bit of the wiki article. The ultimate 'problem' is the American Franchise System that means teams are created by the leagues, not by the local communities or sports clubs. This is WRONG, because it's just pushing a club as a fashion item and entertainment thing, the reason the Euro teams are attractive are because of the history of the clubs growth out of the community and the affection locals hold for them.
>> Anonymous
>>98472

Promotion/relegation would not work because of the lack of appropriate facilities for most teams, even those at the USL-1 level.
>> Britannian Anonymous !4bbKDTSEQc
>>98490
Sorry for the triple post. But I just read another thing about the USL and MLS problems 'travel costs and player payrolls' are apparently a major problem as to why teams are losing money and failing.

AGAIN, just make the damn leagues LOCAL! Why the fuck does a team from New Jersey HAVE to play a team from Texas in the regular league season???

Just play teams from the North East and then if you become champions of the North East you can travel and play the best teams from the other areas, which your fans will probably be willing to travel for! This means that you don't have to travel large distances until you are able to afford it and you build up local rivalries easily.
>> Anonymous
>>98432
> Do not post the following outside of /b/: Trolls, flames, racism, off-topic replies, uncalled for catchphrases, macro image replies, indecipherable text (example: "lol u tk him 2da bar|?"), anthropomorphic ("furry"), grotesque ("guro"), or loli/shota pornography.

You see that third one? Yeah.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>98391

>they also don't like contact sports where you can't wear armour

> where you can't wear armour

> armour
>> Britannian Anonymous !4bbKDTSEQc
>>98522
Yeah, we spell it PROPERLY with a 'u' like colour.
>> Anonymous
>>98483
>>98490
i kind of agree with you. unfortunately...

1) americans won't travel for soccer. depending on the team/sport, americans won't travel period. the only sport i know of that gets really great traveling fans (for some teams) is college football. at least some of that has to do with the fact that many fans graduate from a college, then move somewhere else, and simply go to "away" games whenever their team arrives in their new town.

2) it's the old catch-22 argument. soccer doesn't hold the economic potential (for players) in the usa that it holds for international talent (chelsea's payroll is a good 25% larger than the yankees, i believe). so the country's best athletes don't go into soccer. because of that, the sport remains relatively low-profile (which also discourages having the majority of athletic talent go into soccer). because the sport is low-profile, it doesn't have the revenues necessary to pay its athletes well. etc.

3) the way the american system is set up, none of the teams in any of the pro sport leagues spawn from local clubs. the talent is too closely-controlled for that.
>> Anonymous
>>98432

just watch Boise State

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNJhLsVG2Jk
>> Anonymous
>>98432

Obviously have never played or watched any American sport.

I am sure soccer has "tactics" but to someone watching it for the first time I would think it is kick the ball to the open guy, so he can kick it in the net.

Someone as ignorant as you would not have the brain power football anyways. Also I am sure any negro baskettball player is smarter then you any day.
>> Anonymous
Soccer, truly the worst sport.
>> Anonymous
>>98447

there's no way "soccer" could compete with "football" AND basketball as the sports that run during its schedule.
>> Anonymous
>>98530

No you spell is like a faggot Euro, gtfo
>> Anonymous
>>98543

It is not a sport, so I would say the worst is ballet.
>> Anonymous
>>98472
that's what I don't understand, with a promotion and relegation setup there would be some motivation to not suck fucking ass.
>> Anonymous
>>98483
which reminds me, we need our clubs to have an under 18 group as well.
>> Britannian Anonymous !4bbKDTSEQc
>>98532
The reason most Americans won't travel is because you have to travel halfway across the damn country to go to a game most of the time. If you split the country into 4 like I suggested above then you're at least cutting the regular travel time down to maybe 5-6 hours tops? I don't know US geography that well.

Abolition of the franchise system and promotion of local community based clubs might actually get US Football somewhere. But I doubt it'll happen, MLS crew want success NOW NOW NOW. Doing it the RIGHT way would take too long. maybe 10-15 years at least.
>> Anonymous
>>98432I AM A TROLLL

Yes Beckham is wack
>> Anonymous
>>98432

i love how he denounces KG and then licks kobe's dick. maybe if he licks it hard enough, he can taste the white wimminz cunt.
>> Anonymous
>>98606
well, obvs depends on how you travel. if you're talking via car/bus, even splitting the country into 4 pieces you're still looking at huge travel times (that's even ignoring canada like everybody else does lol). fr'example, los angeles to houston (both in the 'southwest') is like 20+ hours on the road. the usa is big. if you include canada (as you do in your first post), you're talking about a whole continent. even split into 4, each piece would be nearly the size of australia.

flying, pretty much any flight in the continental usa is 6 hours or less already anyway.

americans don't travel because they're just not that fanatical about sports the way that europeans are (raiderfags are welcome to interject here, heh). it's much more of a leisure pursuit for a lot of us - which in part, i believe, explains why there are so many pauses in american athletics (as much as i love the 'big three,' having a "60" minute game take 4 hours is absurd - at least baseball doesn't pretend to have time restrictions).

i mean, again, i agree with what you're saying in spirit, but it's extremely tough to work out in practice. it's easy to forget just HOW large the usa is - the state of california alone is larger than the whole of england.
>> Anonymous
>>98630
same person - i was reading the stats wrong (lol metric system vs miles)

hell, england wouldn't even be in the top 25 largest american states - just over 50k sq mi, slightly smaller than louisiana, the 30th largest state.
>> Anonymous
>>98538
>would not have the brain power football anyways.

unbelievably ironic
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>98510
thats not racist. lebron is a gorilla, straight up, no implications on race. vogue magazine agrees with me
>> Britannian Anonymous !4bbKDTSEQc
>>98634
>>98630
Yeah USA is HEUG. Well, I remember suggesting this in another thread once, but State leages would probably be the only way to get a Euro style system to work properly in the USA. The States are basically countries in themselves so this could work well I think. I mean, places like North and South Dakota/Carolina and the North Eastern States such as NY, NJ, Mass, etc could play in one league, but the rest would have their own leagues and then the post season would work like the Euro Champions League to decide a North American Champ. They and the runners up would be entered into the N&C America Champs League the following season I would assume.

Unfortunately, whilst this is the RIGHT thing to do, it would be unlike all the other Pro Sports systems in the USA (MLB, NBA etc.) and thus unlikely to happen.
>> Anonymous
Here's why Europeans do it
European internationals(incl. friendlies) >>>> MLS

Here's why Americans don't do it
Amercans playing in Euro leagues >>>> US friendlies
Americans in MLS go play for the national team
>> Anonymous
http://youtube.com/watch?v=86AJje3ElDc
>> Anonymous
>>98606
You don't get it Americans think soccer is gay and don't want it to be popular we are just angry Eurofags think they can do whatever they want after they sign a contract for millions of dollars to play games. The problem is the guy does not play the games and thats makes people angry. USA will never like soccer your just stupid for thinking about it.
>> Anonymous
>>98658
i kind of like this idea - maybe organize it by geographic size and population... so large states like california and texas get their own leagues, while some of the northeastern states are grouped together - obviously the midwest loses out a bit on this, but they don't really have much in the way of teams as it is, anyway.

the difficulty is in the promotion of the sport, though. you'd be in for a lot of major short-term losses financially while you try to build up a fanbase. i mean, you've got a handful of, say, californian teams (of fairly low quality for the most part) and you can only market them realistically in california. meanwhile, you're fighting not only with other CA sports, but you're fighting with the national consciousness, at both the college and pro levels. i mean, i'd rather watch a college football game (probably my favorite sport) between LSU and georgia than one between two bottom-dwelling teams in the league my team is in, pretty much every time.

i think it would work if you could somehow skip past the 15-20 years it will take to build local fanbases. but that's where you'll struggle, is in financing the leagues during the early stages.
>> Anonymous
>>98651
By that token Giselle is fucking brainless ditz. Oh and she's ugly too

Beckham lol 250$ million for a has been! BEND IT INDEED!
>> Anonymous
>>98671
bullshit. i enjoy soccer for a number of reasons, but i only really watch the usmnt - mls games aren't very good (even the national team is... uhh, we'll say they're inconsistent at times), and i don't personally have any reason to care about the foreign leagues. i can appreciate the level of play, but as for a rooting interest, i usually can only get myself interested in team usa. that doesn't mean i don't enjoy soccer - it means i like to see it played well, and i like to be able to care about a sport emotionally as well as intellectually.
>> Britannian Anonymous !4bbKDTSEQc
>>98672
This is true of course. the MLS has lost mega-millions ever since it began, only now when purpose built stadia are coming in are teams making money.

In fact, heh, it could be JUST AS PLANNED by the MLS all along. As these teams begin to make money, they'll want independence to run themselves properly and so be sold completely from the MLS to private owners. Once the sport becomes more popular then more areas will begin to appeal for teams to be given to them, and the MLS will be less willing to interfere save maybe to stop a move of a team away from the locality. Football tends to be more 'local' in my experience than the other teams, baseball strikes me as being similar in this respect, as in teams don't move as much.

Football should be promoted more in US Colleges and the college game should be brought up to par with that of American Football.
>>98671
If you don't like football then why do you give a shit what Beckham does? Football (Soccer) is not gay. American Football contains big men in lycra and pads rubbing against each other and slapping each others arses every 5 seconds. Basketball is bearable, but still nothing really happens until the final quarter. Baseball is fun IMO, much better than cricket, though the 20twenty version could compete well I think. NASCAR....people who watch that instead of F1 or A1 need serious help. Ice Hockey actually is good too, but you can't see the damn puck half the time on TV or in the stands. I still don't understand why the USA has such an aversion to Football...it mystifies me.
>> Anonymous
>>98688
about college soccer - 'generation adidas' makes bringing up the level of the game rather tough, as it pulls the best talent out (college basketball was facing a similar potential dilemma, but the combination of FAR wider talent pools, as well as the new NBA rule preventing high schoolers from entering the draft stopped it quickly). it's a tough sell to convince a soccer player to say no to generation adidas, as they're given guaranteed scholarships if their professional soccer careers fail.
>> Anonymous
>>98677
Support your local club, faggot.

USMNT only gets better if American soccer players play competitive games.
>> Anonymous
>>98447
That won't happen for a long time. I wish they'd do it, but it's not possible. First it would conflict with football and basketball. And even with a winter break the weather in some places would be shitty in October/March and it's hard to get some cities fans to show up when it's 60 degrees out. Basically the sport is just going to have to wait until it is big enough to make the transition. Which may take decades, if ever.
>> Anonymous
If Beckham gets called up for the friendlies then he should go play. Oh yeah, the next friendly is with the USA, why don't you shit on our MLS players that are probably going to go.
>> Anonymous
What everyone seems to be missing is that US players in England have left their English clubs to play in US games. (Fulmerica players anyone?) In the football system, country before club.

And I just saw Beckham play RSL, and score two beautiful goals. The set piece bend into the upper left of the box showed he still has it. He's worth every penny.
>> Anonymous
>>98886
>He's worth almost half of what they paid.

fix'd
>> Anonymous
Fucking wanker. I thought he'd bring a level of class and prestige to MLS. I forgot that he's a stupid celebrity cunt.
>> Anonymous
>>98890
>He's worth almost 2% of what they paid.

Fixed Fix'd.