tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825798.post1078055963813066918..comments2023-06-30T05:06:42.335-04:00Comments on My Life, at 24 Frames Per Second: Football Vs. Football, or It's All About AnticipationKenji Fujishimahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10635553450551818306noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825798.post-40251447100316492302010-07-03T09:58:56.472-04:002010-07-03T09:58:56.472-04:00Ryan:
Good points, all. Guess I just had the good...Ryan:<br /><br />Good points, all. Guess I just had the good luck of catching a good soccer match last Saturday, because I was gripped by pretty much every minute of what I saw, enjoying the back-and-forth feel of the game. Sure, in between goals it's just players kicking a ball around...but every time one of them kicked or headbutted a ball to an opposing player, I held my breath; and every time a player got close to an opponent's goal, that anticipatory feeling intensified. Maybe being part of a crowd helped too.<br /><br />And of course all of this doesn't mean that I don't enjoy other sports any less. (I still think baseball is a sport that, for this particular layman, gains a lot from being seen up-close and with knowledgeable announcers—but then, it's been years since I've been to a ballgame, so maybe I need a refresher in the pleasures of seeing a baseball game live.)Kenji Fujishimahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10635553450551818306noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825798.post-67757145593033553862010-07-02T10:23:32.634-04:002010-07-02T10:23:32.634-04:00It's because I'm interested in what happen...It's because I'm interested in what happens between action that I <i>can't</i> get into soccer. I love sports, and I appreciate the athleticism and precision required for soccer, but when scoring isn't occurring in soccer (which is most of the time), how do you describe the action? That's what I love about baseball and, to a lesser extent, American football. Even when nothing is happening something is happening; that is, even if a team isn't scoring, you can still describe what happened. In baseball, if someone didn't score, they either made an out or didn't, put the ball in play or didn't, hit a single, double, triple, walked, struck out, reached on an error, grounded into a fielder's choice... and in American football, even when scoring isn't happening, a team gained/lost a certain amount of yards, the pass was incomplete, the quarterback was sacked, etc... you can quantify the games, and there's always a set purpose and a meaningful goal. My problem with Soccer - and it's the same problem I have with hockey and, to a much lesser extent, basketball (which I enjoy - but scoring <i>always</i> happens in basketball) - is that when a team doesn't score it's people running back and forth on a playing surface.<br /><br />Still, there's no denying a <i>good</i> soccer match is as exciting as anything you can name. But the game itself, I'm not so crazy about.Ryan Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18054550377681273142noreply@blogger.com