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With football and baseball you throw a ball 30 yards to a moving target. With soccer you have to kick the ball while you are moving to a moving target. It is far more difficult than throwing a ball.
Most people can go out in their front yard right now and throw a baseball to another person just fine. However, hardly anyone could go out and start running with a ball at their feet, reach a swift pace and then accurately play it over to another person. Hell, most people can't pass a soccer ball to another person at all.
yes, soccer can only be mastered after years and years of practice, honing ones skills against top-flite world competition.
Bascially because we have football;baseball and basketball. Its like asking why football doesn't catch on like here in much of the world. Its the tradition passed on from father to son really in the sports world.Scoccer fans seem to thik its some kind of hate but its really just prference having seen scoccer personally.
Is that video suppose to mean something? If you would like I can find videos of kids playing basketball, football, hockey, or baseball at that age too.
The girl was simply faster than all the other kids. There is always a kid that seems to do that when kids play sports that age.
What's funny is that people either dont know or completely forgot that the NFL use to be considered a niche sport. Back in the 40s, 50s, and even 60s many did not take the league seriously and sports writers all over the country refused to even write about it. They didnt think it would last even though it had been around since the 20s. Many people considered it a joke compared to baseball.
It was considered way behind baseball, college sports, and even the Olympics. It wasnt until the mid to late 60s when Pete Rozelle had time as commissioner and he hired an army of sports writers to become a public relations team did the league really gain big time popularity. The AFL merger was a big part of that too.
The MLS is still very young and developing. It took the NFL nearly 40 years to even start becoming what it is today. The MLS is way ahead of where the NFL was at it's age.
The only reason Messi would struggle is height. Adoption of skill would favor Messi.
You do everything with your hands. You eat, brush your teeth, drive your car, wipe your ass, and whatever else you need to do. All you do with your feet is walk and fun.
That is why a basketball, football, or baseball players would not translate well. It is an entire different sent of skills.
With football and baseball you throw a ball 30 yards to a moving target. With soccer you have to kick the ball while you are moving to a moving target. It is far more difficult than throwing a ball.
Most people can go out in their front yard right now and throw a baseball to another person just fine. However, hardly anyone could go out and start running with a ball at their feet, reach a swift pace and then accurately play it over to another person. Hell, most people can't pass a soccer ball to another person at all.
You are talking strictly skills. Athletically, Messi on a NBA court or an NFL field, he wouldnt stand a chance. Skill wise, he's unreal. In terms of raw athletic ability...it isn't even close to the NBA/NFL guys. If you held a combine of all pro soccer, football, basketball, baseball guys....the basketball and football players would finish at the top. Speed, agility, power...I mean just look at the difference in physique between a Messi and Adrian Peterson.
Lebron/Adrian Peterson is the type of athlete where you could put him at any sport and he'd still find a way to be somewhat competitive. In terms of a blend of athleticism and skill- NFL skill position players and NBA players are the best overall athletes.
No, it is you that is mistaking strength and muscle for athleticism. Just because someone is stacked with muscle doesnt mean they are more athletic than someone who is thinner. Yes, strength is an ingredient to athletcism but it is one of many things that is needed to form an athlete.
Just look at cyclist. They are some of the most impressive athletes on the planet and they are all as thin as sticks. The Tour de France is the most grueling sporting event on the planet. The stamina and power it takes to just complete one stage of that race is something most people cannot even fathom. Despite their size, they have an extreme amount of power.
Female gymnast are the best athletes in the world and they are usually around 5 feet tall and a 100 pounds. Pound for pound they are the most powerful athletes in the world.
If you think NBA and NFL players are the best overall athletes, you are kidding yourself. Football isnt even played in most of the world and basketball is somewhat popular in many countries.
Track and field athletes, cyclist, swimmers, triathletes, decathletes, and many more are far better overall athletes than anyone that plays professional football or basketball.
The Sporting News did a study back in the 90s in attempt to determine which sport requires the most athleticism and football didnt even make the Top 10.
Endurance is a huge part of athleticism. While basketball players have it, many football players dont. Football is a 6 second play followed an average of 40 seconds of rest. How many players do you see on NFL sidelines sucking air at the end of a drive and taking oxygen?
The average football game consists of about 12 minutes of actual play. Studies show that the average NFL starter plays 4 1/2 minutes per game. That equates to 72 minutes of actual gameplay all season long. Think about that for a second, they only play 1 hour and 12 minutes of games all season long.
Taking soccer as an example, they run about 8-10 miles a game and it consist of stop and go running, cutting, sprinting, controlling a ball at your feet at an all out sprint, crossing the ball 30 yards while you are going at an all out sprint while placing the ball in reach of another player. It is basically like every player on the soccer field is a quarterback except they have to deliver the ball with their feet.
I played soccer for a long time and when I was in school, you know what practice other coaches including the football coach threatened to send their athletes to when they were acting up?
Soccer practice. We got the respect of every other athlete in our school because a lot of people end up coming over for punishment thinking it would be a cakewalk only to end up on the sidelines on their hands and knees heaving because of excursion their body was not use to.
In this country we have a huge misconception that people with the biggest muscles and most impressive physique equals the best athlete when that isnt the case. I have had a lot of friends who were star football and basketball players even in college and they couldnt even shoot a soccer ball in a net that is 24 feet wide and 8 foot tall. They would miss the ball completely, toe poke it over the goal, or stub their toe into the ball and fall on their ass.
As I said before, we use our hands and arms for everything we do. We are use to controlling and handling things with our hands and arms. So, playing with a ball using those limbs comes somewhat naturally. What doesnt come naturally is doing the same with your legs and feet. People have enough trouble running without having a ball. We use to have to run 3 miles while dribbling a soccer ball the entire course.
Regardless, each sport takes it's own unique skill set and a certain amount of athleticism. We can argue all day long which takes more but we will never agree on any of it.
You could have saved the anecdotes about your high school soccer practices. I'm sure a majority of my high school soccer team couldnt do 40 yards and back 10 times in full pads at full speed. But thats neither here nor there.
At the end of the day its really an endless argument...I just happen to find the athleticism of guys in the NBA/NFL as the most impressive and exciting.
Agree to disagree.
All the major sports require an insane amount of skill. But you're sweeping generalizations regarding football and basketball players are rather absurd.
But you're sweeping generalizations regarding football and basketball players are rather absurd.
What sweeping generalizations are you referring to?
There isnt a more absurd generalization that has been posted in this thread than this statement by you:
"In terms of a blend of athleticism and skill- NFL skill position players and NBA players are the best overall athletes."
If I have to pick a team of athletes to go through a course of different ahtletic type events and survival is dependent on it, I dont know that I would pick any NFL and NBA players.
While wearing pads presents a challenge, I think just about any high school athlete could complete that task. There are guys on most high school football teams that are rather small and complete those drills.
NFL games have, (according to the Wall Street Journal who did a study on it) an average of 11 minutes of actual action during a 60 minute game.
That means that if defence & offence spend an equal amount time on the field it would mean that each "athlete" is in action for a massive 5.5 minutes.
That's about the amount of time I take warming up before before going to the gym.
That's not a generalization, that's a fact.
Therefore NFL players are not good athletes. Got it.
*trys out for the Jets*
And let's be honest- there is a ton of standing around done on the soccer field. The guys that do the majority of the constant running are the midfielders.
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