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Good idea to get rid of soccer administrators....

The Vault

The Vault

Team Manager
May 9, 2003
2,203
85
48
Highpoints:

Soccer player is one of top ten favorite athletes in America for first time ever.

Why?

"When asked to analyze the reasons behind Messi's rise, Ader contextualizes it against last year's discovery that soccer has become America's second-most popular sport for those age 12-24, outstripping the NBA, MLB and college football."

Where is lacrosse in either metric? Favorite Lacrosse player? How about naming one? I can name the Gait brothers and that's about it. I'm not interested in bashing Lacrosse though. I'm fine with both sports being at Richmond and Lacrosse is sport that's growing rapidly too (though nowhere near as pervasive). Its just incredibly short-sighted to jettison soccer when the kids coming in the next five to ten years rate it so highly both from a participation perspective and as fans. Did they do any research at all? Any? It's stunning how stupid we look.

Also, I glanced at the top twenty of college soccer teams and saw a lot of Big East schools there. Hmmmm. Meanwhile Denver has parlayed their Rocky Mountain lacrosse program into a partial Big East membership (yet, there are still folks that STILL think Lacrosse somehow was a backdoor for a membership change. Let's just kill that ridiculous idea forever.)

http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/relegationzone/id/1452?cc=5901
 
careful Vault, making too much sense, you may need help, could possible be an anti-laxite. just hope that we don't get any board of trustees individuals with kids who play tiddlywinks or who ballroom dance......
 
Not a fair contribution Ulla. personally I feel we'll have soccer back at UR. I don't know when and it may be a long time but we will. And I'm a pro-lacrosse guy. It is a good, overdue fit here. So I stayed out of that fray for most part. I wished we could have kept soccer added lacrosse and figured it out with some other cuts, no cuts wouldn't have been realistic. I never liked it coming at expense of a mainstream sport and it is that, you only have to look at youth participation. It's not basketball, football, or baseball...for me. But here's what will happen. Football participation will drop at the high school level and lower. maybe not in all areas geographically like the deep south but it is already happening. even in football hotbeds like western PA you hear stories about it, numbers are lower & teams cant field JV teams. with the injury & concussion knowledge parents will continue to have more concerns and push their kids into other sports. I'm fine with my kids playing football but if they don't where will they and others go? They'll play soccer longer, they'll play other sports. demand will increase and it will flow up to college. One day someone will say holy cow all these kids are playing soccer in our recruiting base why don't we have that.
 
really good points and thoughts Killer but difficult to do the things a university might want to do based on title IX. seem to remember that football was at a crossroads back in the 80s, recall the maryland coach at that time saying that numbers were down, also think that is when basketball was hot in the ncaas, but now it seems with the bcs and so many football games on, it is king once again, particularly with the fans. certainly, the concussion and other injury deal is going to have an impact but if you ask any former or current players if they would quit, knowing what they know now, they say NO WAY and most say they will allow their kids to play as well. will be interesting to see how it plays out long term and if we end up with hardy ball instead of tackle football down the road. think most of us felt lax fit our school but also most of us did not like how it was implemented and at the expense of another sport as opposed to just adding the sport.
 
Spinner, disagree about parents not letting their kids play American football. Here in VA we are already seeing reductions in numbers of kids playing "little league" football. Some high schools that used to have freshman teams now only have JV and Varsity football. If you are in TX, like some of my family members, you might not be seeing it, given the religious zeal associated with football there. I read a blog posting on ESPN not long ago that more affluent, educated parents will refuse to let their kids play football in light of the Ray Easterling settlement and the increasing evidence of incidence of brain injury.

The post went on to say that football runs the risk of becoming a "gladiator" sport for the less educated and affluent classes. I think other sports like soccer will benefit indirectly from the declining football participation numbers.

And I agree that we will see men's soccer return as a varsity sport at UR someday, especially as we seek to expand admissions of international students, and as we grow our study abroad programs.
 
numbers are down here in TX as well, just heard a coach discussing it on local sports radio. when my son played at Douglas Freeman, we went to the inner city schools and they barely had enough participants then, 15 years ago, to field a team and the teams were terrible so a trend for a lot of reasons other than injuries. football already looks very different than it did a couple of years ago but it is so popular and such a money maker that think it will survive and if someone can cure the helmet problem, could make a nice comeback. think you will see what archie manning did, not allow his boys to participate at the younger ages but let them go in middle school when they knew what they wanted to play and were a bit more developed physically. maybe pop warner, et al, should bite the dust.
 
Go to schools where the kids have a choice between soccer and lacrosse, and you may be suprised.
Or just follow those that go with the force fed sport because its politcally correct and the little darlings
equipment is a lot cheaper.
 
I am a big football fan but I wouldn't let my sons play at this point. Oh well.
 
Saw a report the other day, lacrosse close behind football in concussion ranking.
 
This topic reminds me of the unfair but stereotypical nagging wife that just won't let things go. Fess up how many of you guys are wearing a dress or is it just manopause
 
College soccer is an abomination. Sure, the game is played the same way for the most part, but the rules deviate so much from FIFA rules (the rules adopted by every other soccer federation in the world) that the game is hard to watch, especially in the final minute. If the NCAA adopted FIFA rules, I would support it wholeheartedly.
 
sorry, do not mean to be offensive to anyone on here but when one mentions they know fifa rules, just hilarious. soccer may be a world sport and popular but it is the pits to watch unless it is the world cup or your own college team if you have a team. my kids played, they enjoyed it, i enjoyed watching them play, have been out to see both our men's and women's teams but it is a very boring, non-scoring game. sure, one could point out that watching the skills of the players is great but come on we love sports in this country and this sport has never caught on. have gone to a dynamo game here in houston, have been in the finals a couple of years now, good team but the sell out crowd is at least 95% internationals not americans. we just do not like this sport and no matter what espn does, like scrolling scores and trades of these weird, foreign cities, man u, for example, we are not going to buy into it. yes the internationals in this country will but not us. again 70, am not attempting to put you down because you know the fifa rules but you are in a huge minority and need to realize it. changing college rules to fit international rules only tells me that internationals like soccer. are you a player, an international? cannot be because you love the game............just kidding you
 
Originally posted by wr70beh:
College soccer is an abomination. Sure, the game is played the same way for the most part, but the rules deviate so much from FIFA rules (the rules adopted by every other soccer federation in the world) that the game is hard to watch, especially in the final minute. If the NCAA adopted FIFA rules, I would support it wholeheartedly.
Click to expand...
I'm not an international and completely agree with this sentiment. Its a different game at the college level.
 
don't think that college rules mirror completely the pros for football, basketball and probably other sports, not supposed to, does not have to.......amateurs/pros. american football and canadian football are different, college basketball if different than international basketball. just the way it is and don't think having our colleges mirror fifa will make the game any more popular here, not a rules thing, people here just don't dig nil to nil as much as our sports.
 
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