Best soccer player

why no rooney? or lampard? or gerrard?

 any of these 3 should be on there instead of beckham IMO, much better players.

 in 1 or 2 years, rooney will be the best in the world

Manunkind wrote: Drew wrote: The best soccer player is one who never plays- because its more exciting to watch someone sitting than playing that horrid game! Oh come on, American football is not only about sitting... there's also a lot of standing with perched buttocks involved...

You know, I've never understood why "American" football hasn't really caught on elsewhere.  It's not for lack of trying - the highest attendance ever at an "American football" game was actually in Mexico, and there have been games with more than 100,000 spectators in Japan and Europe as well.  Tryouts in the European league routinely draw thousands of prospective players.  The National Football League Hall of Fame has enshrined players from Bavaria, Guatemala, Norway, Italy, Honduras, Mexico, and of course Canada (where a very similar style of football has been played for over a hundred years).  I don't hear lacrosse, baseball, or basketball referred to as "American" sports, although all of them originated over here as well.

I think it must be all the padding - people who haven't played the game just don't get that.  Frankly, a lot of the various pads have come about over they years as a reaction to the number of players who were paralyzed or killed playing without them.  It's still a very dangerous sport - my beloved Green Bay Packers have fully one-third of their roster injured this year, and there are still three games to go in the season.

Ah well, I'm going to go settle in with some popcorn (hmm, another American convention) and a Coke (hmmm), and watch some big guys in pads beat the hell out of each other now - San Diego Chargers and the undefeated Indianapolis Colts should be a good one to watch.

ClemofNazareth wrote: Manunkind wrote: Drew wrote: The best soccer player is one who never plays- because its more exciting to watch someone sitting than playing that horrid game! Oh come on, American football is not only about sitting... there's also a lot of standing with perched buttocks involved... You know, I've never understood why "American" football hasn't really caught on elsewhere.  It's not for lack of trying - the highest attendance ever at an "American football" game was actually in Mexico, and there have been games with more than 100,000 spectators in Japan and Europe as well.  Tryouts in the European league routinely draw thousands of prospective players.  The National Football League Hall of Fame has enshrined players from Bavaria, Guatemala, Norway, Italy, Honduras, Mexico, and of course Canada (where a very similar style of football has been played for over a hundred years).  I don't hear lacrosse, baseball, or basketball referred to as "American" sports, although all of them originated over here as well. I think it must be all the padding - people who haven't played the game just don't get that.  Frankly, a lot of the various pads have come about over they years as a reaction to the number of players who were paralyzed or killed playing without them.  It's still a very dangerous sport - my beloved Green Bay Packers have fully one-third of their roster injured this year, and there are still three games to go in the season. Ah well, I'm going to go settle in with some popcorn (hmm, another American convention) and a Coke (hmmm), and watch some big guys in pads beat the hell out of each other now - San Diego Chargers and the undefeated Indianapolis Colts should be a good one to watch.

American football must be fun to play with its long periods of tension interspersed with ultra-intense moments... unfortunately I could never appreciate these elements as a spectator.