64 Years Ago Yesterday - The Greatest Game Ever Played and Rutgers Connection

[ashokan]

Baseball was/is perfect for radio
Football was/is perfect for TV/films etc.
No sport has the variety of plays and highlights like American football
On a Monday after an NFL weekend there are amazing passes, runs, tackles, blocks, kicks etc
NFL films began in 1962, and those slow-mo clips with the military style music and Heston like Narration were amazing for popularizing the game.
The Super Bowls and Namath in particular really launched NFL into space

Soccer is a poor peoples game since all you need is a ball.
The local immies use sticks or small cones for goal posts
They play on grass, dirt, pavement, tennis courts, parking lots - almost anywhere
The game is well suited for smaller people without a lot of power
There would never be US football in Ecuador where 5'8" is tall
In UK rugby is the upper class game at Eton and such (with cricket on the side throughout the empire)
Soccer = hooligans.

 

[yessir321]

So if soccer is a pyramid would you agree the WC is the top with Euro, Champions, Copa, CONCAF, FA Cup, etc. lower?

As for Maradona, yep I’m wrong. Realized as soon as I hit send as I thought he was on the ‘78 squad. He sure aged poorly. I honestly thought he was much older.

And I find that interesting you feel that way about Messi not wanting/preferring another WC compared to the other ones.

I prefer City while my older boy follows Liverpool since as my Dublin cousin says they have the biggest following in Ireland. And I can remember watching ‘86 with the borders around the screen and listening to Andres on Telemundo. I wanted West Germany.

I would say that anyone who talks about goat status and reserves it for a 1 month tournament that takes place once every 4 years.

Why would Messi give up his cups from his ACTUAL squads for a second WC on the part time squad?

Again, it’s clear your a ‘once every 4 years’ soccer fan

 

[e5fdny]

I would say that anyone who talks about goat status and reserves it for a 1 month tournament that takes place once every 4 years.

Why would Messi give up his cups from his ACTUAL squads for a second WC on the part time squad?

Again, it’s clear your a ‘once every 4 years’ soccer fan

He solidified it with the WC.

 

[RUnTeX]

Soccer is a poor peoples game since all you need is a ball.
The local immies use sticks or small cones for goal posts
They play on grass, dirt, pavement, tennis courts, parking lots - almost anywhere

You're talking about pick-up games so replace soccer with football in the above and it would apply. Folks don't wait for a lined field with goalposts to get a casual game of football going.

Plenty of immigrants in earlier generations, particularly in urban locales, played makeshift football games on all manner of surfaces. That's in no way unique to soccer or even football.

 

[Section124]

You're talking about pick-up games so replace soccer with football in the above and it would apply. Folks don't wait for a lined field with goalposts to get a casual game of football going.

Plenty of immigrants in earlier generations, particularly in urban locales, played makeshift football games on all manner of surfaces. That's in no way unique to soccer or even football.

Basketball is the better comparison. Not football.

 

[RUnTeX]

Basketball is the better comparison. Not football.

Perhaps, but didn't think it was as much because aside from a ball, improvising for the goal would be harder. Mounting a basket or similar on the side of a wall isn't the easiest thing to do. The game might be able to be played without a backboard and hoop but not really. Of course, hoops with backboards are generally and readily accessible in all manner of school playgrounds and public parks. They also need a hard playing surface, since you can't get hoops going on a patch of grass.

Alternatively, stickball as a proxy for pick-up baseball doesn't need much more than a ball and some type of bat if improvising. Can basically field/catch a tennis ball without a baseball glove too.