17 sons of immigrants rewarding France with the most prestigious of international trophies. France should be proud. They would not have won without them. The trophy would have gone to Croatia, where everyone's last name ends in the sound "itch" .
you are a secret soccer geek. You pretend to hate it but know more than a hater should know. And you love to talk about how much you hate it. Only a lover would be in such denial.
With the constant barrage of info on the 24/7 news cycle I can't help but know about a lot of things I don't give a shit about. I wonder if our brains will ever be full to capacity with useless trivia. By then I hope we can upgrade to a bogger hard drive and more ram.
Imagine if there were no NFL, and these days with the way they're softening the game to make it safer, that's a real possibility down the road. How many current NFL players would be pros at other sports? Certainly some could be professional soccer players right now. I think the most easily adaptable position (other than kickers, obviously) to make the transition would be defensive backs, because of the emphasis on footwork. What would USA soccer be like now if, 20 years ago, guys like PatPete, Marshon Lattimore, Marcus Peters, Josh Norman, Aqib Talib, Ty Mattieu, Jalen Ramsey, and Xavier Rhodes concentrated on soccer? Throw in Antonio Brown, Julio Jones, Michael Thomas, OBJ.....
OBJ would be great at any sport. He is an athletic freak. But if I was his age and still played a lot I would beat him at ping pong.
I've been a legit soccer mom for over a decade now. My daughter is a USSF Certified Grade 8 referee so I've had to sit through those games even though she's reffing and not playing. I've been going to Galaxy games for a long time and now they practice and host a few games at the Great Park, just 15 minutes away. I've been through it all. AYSO to ESL to Club and watching the launch of Academy for girls. Cal South is one of the biggest and most successful regions in the country....Blues, West Coast, Arsenal, Surf. They just keep building soccer fields out here but even with all that, participation has fallen off quite a bit. Kids are spending more time indoors on the computer, burnout from constant travel, and the ridiculous cost for playing club is killing the sport in America. More parents should learn early that club/Academy soccer is a sham, designed to play on your belief that your child is "that good" when in fact, most kids are identified very early and encouraged through ODP. I bet 95% or better of the kids currently playing and paying for club/Academy are not going to get college scholarship money nor will they make any money playing the sport. Club coaches lie through their teeth to keep players coming back and the money coming in.
If parents of kids playing any sport other than football or basketball think theor kid is going to get a paid for education they are deluding themselves. Those are the only sports that can give out full scholarships. Even college baseball is limited to 11 schollys to be divided among a 35 man roster. Their kid might be a great soccer player but his folks are still going to have to shell out some serious money to pay for college.
Do you know if TAF or other boosters can donate additional money to be used for baseball scholarships?
I don't know but I doubt it. All that Title IX shit and the NCAA would likely prevent any money donated to be allocated for that purpose. If they could do it LSU would get enough donations to give all 35 players on the roster full rides. It would be a great competitor advantage.
