Monday, December 05, 2005

Is Soccer Destroying America?

My Barbadian friends in the cricket club tell me that soccer, or football as they charmingly call it, is a game for anti-social youth and that soccer players are socially and morally inferior to cricket players by just about any standard. The soccer players think cricket is an “old man’s game” and unexciting. I did note that the proportion of anti-social dreadlock hairstyles was much higher among soccer players than cricket players. Moreover, cricket players were on average older than soccer players, something I attribute to the excessive demands of soccer on the human cardiovascular system.

I confess that I am biased toward cricket and find soccer to be little more than random movement in a meadow. Cricket is a much more complex game and requires a great deal of intelligence and discipline and awareness of the situation to play or even to enjoy as a spectator. It is a gentleman’s game.

Apparently anyone can play soccer, even little girls.

The Central American immigrants that played soccer in the park in Yonkers left the place a wreck, complete with human waste and tons of garbage. The youth soccer teams left the playing fields strewn with litter as well.

In contrast, West Indian and South Asian cricket teams left the parks cleaner than when they arrived.

Cricket fans are by and large a civilized lot, with the exception of a few riots in the West Indies in former days. I have never felt the least bit uncomfortable at a cricket match. I am given to understand that soccer fans are prone to hooliganism, although I have never attended a soccer game (what with not wanting to encounter hooligans and all).

It is disturbing to see the proliferation of soccer playing in America, and I fear that soccer is taking young people away from time that might be better spent practicing baseball. It is too much to hope that cricket will take off in this country, and baseball is the closest thing to a true character building sport that we have at present.

Perhaps I am too much of an alarmist. Youth with character will probably always be drawn to respectable sports.

1 comment:

redstars14@hotmail.com said...

" aparently any one can play soccer. Even little girls" rude. ride. rude. How do you think you can get really good at a sport? BY PRACTICING. you can even get really really good at a sport by starting out young.I guess since only a select group of people can play cricket i wouldn't fit the bill. HMMM... that is one reason why soccer is better than cricket. WE DON'T DISCRIMINATE.
If you are not so great at soccer we dont shun you we help and teach you. . . . . Also. just because a group of people left left litter on the field doesn't mean everyone does that. have you ever been to a baseball or american football field? their fields are twice as discusing than any soccer field. Your facts are skewed and you should think about researching a topic before writing about it next time.