My wife's friend was the backup women's goalie at Pitt who has multiple knee surgeries .
She ran the Pittsburgh marathon after jogging for a month and made good time .
Way faster than I did after training 5 months.
My only anectdote on that topic .
OT:Womens World Cup ratings Out do Final 4
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She ran the Pittsburgh marathon after jogging for a month and made good time .
Way faster than I did after training 5 months.
My only anectdote on that topic .
Great team. She's a great player. I can say that without knowing who she is. They all are. I love the way that team plays. A little direct at times...but they outwork their opponents, attack from everywhere and keep the ball in the attacking 3rd. That team has created quite a buzz this year. I think they drew last year's National Champion and runner up in their group at Nationals, but it wouldn't shock me if they came out of their group. They've been doing it all year.
I've seen them a couple times. They are good. A lot of girls on that team will be playing D1 soccer in the coming years.
They played the team in their group at nationals from Eastern PA that was the national runner up last year a couple of months ago and beat them. I think they've only lost twice all year, and both of those were in an event where they had two players get seriously hurt. They didn't give up a goal at the regional championships. I think they are up to fourth in one of the rankings, although I don't know how seriously you can take those things.
Sounds similar to hockey, purists don't want to tweak the rules while casual fans do. Get rid of the blue line, more space behind net, widen ice, all talk about making game more exciting while old school types in Canada scream to leave their game alone. Its fine but with the way the game is, soccer, your game will never be mainstream and will remain niche. You either " sell out" to the general public and tweak rules for a more entertaining game or keep it as it is and be well behind NFL, mlb, NCAA football and basketball,NBA, PGA, nhl, and women's tennis
Yep. I was going to say that. My daughters team is undefeated this year and I think the U16 only lost twice, and those losses were in the aftermath of losing a couple players to major injuries and having to sort things out. Otherwise they may be too. That said, our league schedule was a bit softer than theirs. they are up to around 14 D1 commits. I think our team has around 11.
One last thing about the Pittsburgh thing. There is a bias that still remains. I talked with a D1 coach at Disney. He said that the Beadling teams changed how he perceived western PA soccer. Watching our team there two years ago and then watching the 16's this past year changed the way he recruits (not to mention our U17 team was the defending Rwgion 1 champs this year). It was cool to hear him say that. Additionally, we played our Regional Final against the Virginia state champs last week. Their roster was loaded with girls commited to Kentucky, LSU, Virginia Tech, Villanova, etc, etc. Our roster has our share of D1 players, but the bulk are MAC, A10, a few D1 mid majors and a few D2 players. The Virginia team could barely get into our defending 1/3rd. And that's not an exaggeration. Their first and only corner kick was in the 85th minute. I think where you play has a lot to do with the offer you receive.
In the USA, in 99% of the rest of the world, it's mainstream sport #1, with basketball a distant 2nd, and baseball and American football are the niche sports, competing for a wrung between curling and cricket. I'm not even sure soccer's behind PGA, nhl, and women's tennis in the US? I'd have to see the numbers on that?
I've seen many polls and each one is vastly different. I literally saw one with soccer 2nd and most others, soccer is well behind every sport you could possibly imagine. I did see one though that soccer is behind only NFL with ppl under 20, a good sign I would have to guess. I am not a fan but silly to root against a sport. It would be cool to see usa mens soccer be more competitive on a global level and that of course starts out at the youth leagues.
Don't need a poll. Soccer is not and will not (ever) be a Top 4 sport. In fact, my ranking (which most experts would accept) are as follows:
1.NFL Football
2.MLB
3.College Football (could be no. # 2)
4. NBA
5. NCAA Hoops
6.NHL
7. High School Football
8. High School Basketball
9. NCAA Baseball
10 World Cup Soccer (moves up to No. # 4 for 3 weeks every time USA mens' or womans' teams play in World Cup)
11. NCAA Hockey
12 NCAA Womans' Hoops
1.NFL Football
2.MLB
3.College Football (could be no. # 2)
4. NBA
5. NCAA Hoops
6.NHL
7. High School Football
8. High School Basketball
9. NCAA Baseball
10 World Cup Soccer (moves up to No. # 4 for 3 weeks every time USA mens' or womans' teams play in World Cup)
11. NCAA Hockey
12 NCAA Womans' Hoops
Everyone says younger generation dislikes baseball but watch a mlb game and all i see is high school kids and young adults. I work in north shore area and on game days, ball park is littered with young people. Ppl falsely portray baseball as an older generation thing but I don't see the old heads at the games, I see ppl in their late teens and 20s
Yeah, so what? I hate baseball, I consider it the most boring damn thing there is, I have a hard time sitting through a single at bat on TV. But I go to games too, it's a social thing. I do like to sit far away, it's dangerous to sit close to the field if you can't pay attention.
You hate baseball but you go to games? Alright well I guess there are all types out there and I'll go out on a limb and say most people who go to baseball games do NOT hate baseball.
You're probably right. But going to games doesn't mean you have any great passion for it or are deeply into it. Bseball is a very social sport, I go with freinds sometimes, my office has an annual game where a lot of us go, it's like a picnic, go there, drink beers, bs with your friends, half way watch the game. Last year I watched 2 games total, I went to the Pirates vs. Orioles at Camden Yards in April with my coworkers and then watched the Pirates lose the Wild Card game, that was it. This year, in all likelyhood I won't attend any games, but seems like the Pirates will be in the playoffs, so I'll watch those. I've actually watched a lot of baseball this year by my standards, Pirates have been on TV 5-6 times in my area, I might have actually watched as much as 2-3 innings total! I watched 2 at bats last night before I got bored.
Of course, could care less about some third world country who's economy is based on exporting cocaine and coffee
I've never heard of Wambach.
So a couple of questions: Is she the best player on the team? Why was she benched?
One question about the team: Is this a young team?
She was basically Jerome Bettis during the Steelers super bowl run in his last season. To play her more than sparce minutes was stupid. Jerome stepped aside for Willie Parker, while Wambach, once group play was over, stepped aside for the rest of her team. Although I am not convinced Wambach did it happily.
While comparing Wambach to Bettis this year may be a good comparison, comparing them for their careers is not. Both are icons. Jerome is a Steeler icon. Abby is an icon to her sport. One of the best three to ever play.
Abby was physically superior and stronger than everyone else. And she is much taller and very dominant in the air. So the tendency was to play a style in which to play her ball after ball, instead of playing a creative team oriented game. So the style with her in the lineup was never good, but it was effective.
The goal I linked above was one of the greatest moments ever. And it's a perfect example of what Wambach could do. The ball Rapinoe played to her was perfect too.
But to answer your question, her best days are behind her and the team must look to the future. They did it in the last few games of the World Cup, inserting the youngest player on the team into the line up and she was brilliant in a supporting role. But they still need to get a bit younger IMO. Our advantage here is we have the largest sports organization in the world by numbers acting as a feeder system, while most of the rest of the world is playing catch up to us. The talent is out there but our national team has to start integrating the younger players into the program. The Olympics are next year. It's an odd scheduling quirk on the women's side. So hopefully they will ride this attention into the Olympics in Brazil. I am hearing Wambach wants to hold on for one more year. I am not sure what to think about that.
While comparing Wambach to Bettis this year may be a good comparison, comparing them for their careers is not. Both are icons. Jerome is a Steeler icon. Abby is an icon to her sport. One of the best three to ever play.
Abby was physically superior and stronger than everyone else. And she is much taller and very dominant in the air. So the tendency was to play a style in which to play her ball after ball, instead of playing a creative team oriented game. So the style with her in the lineup was never good, but it was effective.
The goal I linked above was one of the greatest moments ever. And it's a perfect example of what Wambach could do. The ball Rapinoe played to her was perfect too.
But to answer your question, her best days are behind her and the team must look to the future. They did it in the last few games of the World Cup, inserting the youngest player on the team into the line up and she was brilliant in a supporting role. But they still need to get a bit younger IMO. Our advantage here is we have the largest sports organization in the world by numbers acting as a feeder system, while most of the rest of the world is playing catch up to us. The talent is out there but our national team has to start integrating the younger players into the program. The Olympics are next year. It's an odd scheduling quirk on the women's side. So hopefully they will ride this attention into the Olympics in Brazil. I am hearing Wambach wants to hold on for one more year. I am not sure what to think about that.
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fk, I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying she's past her prime and the team plays better without her? Or shes not a good teammate? I guess I'm trying to understand how one of the best players (top 3) gets benched.
She's Past her prime as my last paragraph tried to explain. She can't do what she used to do so its time to move on. And for how good she was in her prime, the team didn't play a good brand of soccer around her. It's why some wonder if we would have won more world cups without her. She went to the bench in the World Cup and the team started playing better. And they should continue to play a better brand moving forward.
As far as Wambach as a teammate, I have no reason to think she wasn't a good one. But I do think she was a strong force within the program and got teammates to side with her when coaches tried to tweak their system through the years. Think about it. Tweaking the system meant playing a team game and taking some of the emphasis away from her. Coaches got fired. I have heard that there was a culture in which the players had too much power and ran the show.
As far as Wambach as a teammate, I have no reason to think she wasn't a good one. But I do think she was a strong force within the program and got teammates to side with her when coaches tried to tweak their system through the years. Think about it. Tweaking the system meant playing a team game and taking some of the emphasis away from her. Coaches got fired. I have heard that there was a culture in which the players had too much power and ran the show.
Now that the fun of the USA v the world is over this game will go back to drawing on average about what a Friday night HSFB around here draws..
Soccer is about the most boring game on the planet....for sure would rather watch Curling....or especially the fast growing sport of LaCrosse where at least the use of hands is an integral part of the sport.
The game will not anytime soon take over MLB here ; there have been thirty year reports of soccer overtaking the other major sports in the US and it's not happened yet especially among the big 3
It's ok for little kids with nothing better to do....thankfully though we have much better options available and more popular later on...
Btw calling this game better than the National Pastime is one of the funniest things ever.
Jmo of course
Soccer is about the most boring game on the planet....for sure would rather watch Curling....or especially the fast growing sport of LaCrosse where at least the use of hands is an integral part of the sport.
The game will not anytime soon take over MLB here ; there have been thirty year reports of soccer overtaking the other major sports in the US and it's not happened yet especially among the big 3
It's ok for little kids with nothing better to do....thankfully though we have much better options available and more popular later on...
Btw calling this game better than the National Pastime is one of the funniest things ever.
Jmo of course
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That's cool Paul. You are entitled to your opinion. You don't have to like the sport. You never will, but that's ok. You sound old. If a grandchild played it at a high level, and you had an interest in your grandchild, I'd bet good money that your feelings would be different.
The men played last night and there were times I thought it was boring too. I was flipping between that and the pirate game. When I was bored with the baseball, I flipped to soccer. When I was bored with the soccer, I flipped to baseball. The best thing to compare to HS football is the Riverhounds, but that's because they are soccers version of the Altoona Curve. They are in a 3rd tier American league, which puts them in the 200th best (I have no idea) league in the world? Last night the U.S. men played Haiti in Foxboro, and drew between 40-50K. Next month the U.S. women will play an exhibition at Heinz field vs Costa Rica. They had 30k tickets sold, and that was before they won the World Cup and in the first couple days that tickets went on sale. Maybe they get 50K now? 60K? But you are right. The women will go back to playing in front of 5000 people per night because they are in infancy stages of their league. And I do wonder if a women's pro league will ever draw. What does the WNBA draw? But let's not forget the topic of this thread way back when...it was just about the ridiculously high TV ratings that the women got. Since you reference baseball, it was Better than the World Series. And yes it was for one day in a game that's played once every four years. But it was still pretty cool.
Serious question, why is using your hands imperative to be a viable sport in your eyes? couldnt it be argued that dribbling a ball with your feet around and through multiple defenders is more difficult that holding a ball in your hands and running around 280lb defensive lineman who are being blocked and impeded by your teammates? And couldn't it be argued that what Rapinoe did in the clip above, serving a ball 30-40 yards with her foot and putting it right on Wambachs head in the last 30 seconds of a game is pretty impressive in the same manner that what Roethlisberger and Holmes did with their hands in the last minute of the super bowl a few years ago?
Bending a ball with your foot around a wall of players and inside the far post and out of the reach of a goalkeepers hand to win a game in the 90th minute is just as impressive a feat (maybe more) as Mark Melancon throwing his cutter and striking out a Cardinal in the 9th inning of a baseball game. Both impressive. Different skill sets. Both are athletes. You and I? Different tastes. But both great sports.
The men played last night and there were times I thought it was boring too. I was flipping between that and the pirate game. When I was bored with the baseball, I flipped to soccer. When I was bored with the soccer, I flipped to baseball. The best thing to compare to HS football is the Riverhounds, but that's because they are soccers version of the Altoona Curve. They are in a 3rd tier American league, which puts them in the 200th best (I have no idea) league in the world? Last night the U.S. men played Haiti in Foxboro, and drew between 40-50K. Next month the U.S. women will play an exhibition at Heinz field vs Costa Rica. They had 30k tickets sold, and that was before they won the World Cup and in the first couple days that tickets went on sale. Maybe they get 50K now? 60K? But you are right. The women will go back to playing in front of 5000 people per night because they are in infancy stages of their league. And I do wonder if a women's pro league will ever draw. What does the WNBA draw? But let's not forget the topic of this thread way back when...it was just about the ridiculously high TV ratings that the women got. Since you reference baseball, it was Better than the World Series. And yes it was for one day in a game that's played once every four years. But it was still pretty cool.
Serious question, why is using your hands imperative to be a viable sport in your eyes? couldnt it be argued that dribbling a ball with your feet around and through multiple defenders is more difficult that holding a ball in your hands and running around 280lb defensive lineman who are being blocked and impeded by your teammates? And couldn't it be argued that what Rapinoe did in the clip above, serving a ball 30-40 yards with her foot and putting it right on Wambachs head in the last 30 seconds of a game is pretty impressive in the same manner that what Roethlisberger and Holmes did with their hands in the last minute of the super bowl a few years ago?
Bending a ball with your foot around a wall of players and inside the far post and out of the reach of a goalkeepers hand to win a game in the 90th minute is just as impressive a feat (maybe more) as Mark Melancon throwing his cutter and striking out a Cardinal in the 9th inning of a baseball game. Both impressive. Different skill sets. Both are athletes. You and I? Different tastes. But both great sports.
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"You sound old"??? Age relevance?? Or just a bit of youthful ignorance??
3 of my 4 girls played soccer.....at least a little bit. None had a burning passion for the game, which was a relief to me. Above ages 4-5, where the cute little scrums with everyone kicking ankles until the ball squirts out, only to set up anpther scrum.....very cute, very funny.....the games were snoozefests, with little action of consequence.
Easy to see why parents who DON'T live through their kids' activities are bored. I'm glad they quit on it.
Yes, I'm old.
Fair enough. NTOP. Perhaps for some it's an acquired taste, and if your kids played at any kind of a high level, and you gave it a fair try and still don't like it then it's just not your thing. Pretty sure you never been one of the guys to question whether it's a sport.
I've been involved with the sport with 4 kids. Probably met 1000 Dads and dozens of grand dads in the process. Most are just like me. Never had any exposure to the sport for 3/4 of our lives. I'd say 10% played the sport growing up. And probably 95% of them love the sport now.
Lacrosse defintely has its appeal. And it's definitely growing in participation. And don't ask me why this is true, but during its growth in this area (and Pittsburgh lags behind other areas), an overwhelming number of soccer players who were bottom of the roster bench players went over to Lacrosse and were instantly the best players. There are a lot of underlying similarities in the sports. But I find girls Lacrosse unwatchable because it's a no contact sport. Therefore, there is a whistle and a restart every time a player gets touched with or without a stick--which is about every five seconds.
And I keep hearing that it's been said the soccer is going to take over the USA for the past 30-40 years. I think maybe I heard this too in documentaries, but I am not sure and I wonder if it's also one of those lies that gets repeated over and over again that it becomes truth and people like Paul repeats it. Because I can't imagine who could have said that 40 years ago with a straight face. I am too young to remember the Pele/Cosmos days, but there was no cable TV, no coverage, no youth participation, no infrastructure, etc. in 1982, I knew what Australian rules football was because ESPN put the games on. But I didn't see my first outdoor soccer game until around the time OJ was speeding down a SoCal expressway in his Bronco. Times are different now.
Nah, it is different between soccer and hockey in a lot of respects in regards to "American" fans. For hockey, I don't want the rules "tweaked", I want them called as they are supposed to be by the rule book to increase space and allow stars to shine their skills. The Canadian mentality of the worker bee grinder checker should be protected while the stars be handicapped is ass backwards.
Soccer? I just one tweak. And that is if you go down and lay there for 30 seconds trying to draw a call then you must go to the sidelines and sit for at least 2 minutes. This prevents those ridiculous times a guy goes off on a stretcher and gets up and runs back into play. Oh, and lighted ball....
Okay, you don't like baseball. NTOP doesn't like soccer. Really doesn't make either of you right.
Soaps over sports, ehhhh. Now we know the depths of your depravity!! My wife & I enjoy watching the Buccos on TV, nothing much on TV unless we DVR "Days of our Lives" or "Search for Tomorrow"!!
If soccer is so popular... you would think it would have it's own board here but.... then again we are not talking about PITT soccer in this thread, right?
A heavy rating for one game does not make a sport. If it did, we would have boards for women's gymnastics. I am sure THEY got great ratings for the Olympics. AND, it was not they were the only thing in town (there were the other Olympic games going on at around the same time)... which was the case with this event.
A heavy rating for ONE EVENT does not make a sport. It was a world championship and a USA team was in it. Might just have drawn more in a rating than the entire sport for an entire year.
A heavy rating for one game does not make a sport. If it did, we would have boards for women's gymnastics. I am sure THEY got great ratings for the Olympics. AND, it was not they were the only thing in town (there were the other Olympic games going on at around the same time)... which was the case with this event.
A heavy rating for ONE EVENT does not make a sport. It was a world championship and a USA team was in it. Might just have drawn more in a rating than the entire sport for an entire year.
My God. And your definition of sport is?
This is a basketbal board right? You do realize that college basketball draws about a 1 or 2 share on a Big Monday, and then doesn't draw what the women's World Cup did until the Final Four...so by your definition college basketball isn't a sport.
This is a basketbal board right? You do realize that college basketball draws about a 1 or 2 share on a Big Monday, and then doesn't draw what the women's World Cup did until the Final Four...so by your definition college basketball isn't a sport.
The eye hand combination, for example in baseball, leads to many more skill sets than kicking a ball. And you get to run in baseball too. The hands are the quintessential component in any sport. It all begins there.
Save for soccer
I spent plenty of time with kids playing soccer , it was fun, for a few minutes each night.
But liking the game ---never.
Jmo it is a monumental bore
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The average attendance f o r women's Soccer in the US is what?
Maybe get the Burns documentary on baseball. The first episode gives a great explanation why it is the National Pastime.
It's not hard to figure out why kids get a little older and move onto better sports here in the good old USA....because we have them!
Hopefully the rapid growth of LaCrosse continues, that at least is worth watching v soccer.
Nil nil
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Not insulting you Paul. We usually agree on things. We have a lot in common. Just because you are older than me, that's not an insult. I am older than my neighbor. I am not insulted by that.
You are not wrong with your opinion of soccer because it's your opinion. But your comment about soccer not being a sport and the need for hands is wrong. one can say that Lacrosse is not a sport because players need a net at the end of a stick to catch a ball and fling it into a net. If they were real athletes they'd use their bare hands. It sounds stupid and of course it is. Feet, hand, sticks, gloves....they are all sports and they are all athletes.
And your comment about athletes moving on to other sports is true, albeit a bit antiquated. You see, more kids are choosing soccer these days than were 30 years ago. I know plenty of Baseball, basketball, football and volleyball coaches who are frustrated with soccer because the sport is keeping more elite athletes. I live in an area in which the high school football coach looks out onto the soccer field and gets pissed off because the kids that he is watching, in his eyes, would help his football team. It's a different world we live in in the year 2015.
Soccer is getting kids from other sports. One being fb. In my area fb teams have less numbers than they did in the past. The first time I became aware of this trend was in the late 70s. I was attending a fb clinic at PSU. Of course one of the speakers was Joe Paterno. He said they'll have to recruit in the south more. He said FB was still King there. In the NE it was still King but not as much as before. HS's were losing kids to soccer. Here we are in 2015 and what he said is playing out.
What Grandpa Munster said 40 yrs ago...happened at a somewhat snail's pace WITH RESPECT to having any real impact on football.
My sense any amount of losing football or even baseball TALENT due to soccer has been little to NIL
Sure with 350m population v 200m more kids are playing soccer....But the best athletes in this country head probably still to the Big 3
...in those yrs since his remarks football, real football, has experienced a growth in popularity never dreamed of being possible .
Soccer, in this country , not so much.
What might turn the worm on football more than anything however is the concussions.
And other violent aspects.
FB needs to stay on top of that.
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Paul, that is simply just not true. You are mixing up popularity with participation. Last year in Pennsylvania there were 26,000 boys playing football in Pennsylvania and 20,000 boys playing soccer. That's exactly the kind of thing that Paterno was talking about. Relatively speaking fewer boys in Pennsylvania are playing football and more boys are playing soccer. How many people are watching the NFL on some Sunday afternoon versus how many people are watching an average MLS game doesn't have anything to do with what Paterno was talking about, because most of the people who are watching the NFL aren't playing high school football. It doesn't matter how many 50 year old men are watching the Stillers on Sundays, because none of them could play for Paterno on Saturdays.
If you don't think that over the last 40 years high school football has lost kids to high school soccer then I don't know what to say to you. Because it's hard to hold a conversation with someone who ignores the facts.
If you don't think that over the last 40 years high school football has lost kids to high school soccer then I don't know what to say to you. Because it's hard to hold a conversation with someone who ignores the facts.
The kids they get from football are the ones that are WIMPS and can't cut it in football.
Also, in soccer they use their heads to headbutt the ball... while in football.... have you ever seen a play call for the west coast offense? If not (even if you have), it would blow your mind.
Soccer is a nice participant sport (I played IM soccer in college), but otherwise just for wimps that can't cut it in football. Of course women can't play football so soccer is a nice sport for women.
I agree with you Zara about soccer being great for females. My appreciation for the sport grew out of my exposure on that side of things. But the rest of your post is so ignorant that I don't even know where to begin. I don't know if you live in western PA. If you do, check out a Peters/USC game or a Canon Mac/USC game. I assure you, it's not a game being played by the faint of heart. It's physical. It's intense. It's played at an incredibly fast pace. And it's played without pads. No "wimps"would ever see the field at that level. And then go watch a club game (soccers version of AAU ) and see it amplified x10.
When I was in college and played IM soccer, we looked down our nose at the real soccer players that we played against. Today? I respect the hell out of those kids.
When I was in college and played IM soccer, we looked down our nose at the real soccer players that we played against. Today? I respect the hell out of those kids.
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