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#1
08-05-2007, 11:27 PM
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Re: Without question, the worst Bill Simmons article ever.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] The Beckham part seemed rather accurate to me - well okay, both ends of the argument were poor, but soccer is not going to catch on in the US. [/ QUOTE ]He for some reasons thinks that soccer will just BLOW UP and suddenly become insanely popular, for some ridiculous reason. I mean, did the NFL just BLOW UP one year? No, it got to where it is over time. Simmons, you suck. [/ QUOTE ] Wow, did he really write something like that? [/ QUOTE ] No he didn't. TSC was leveling us. Here's what Simmons said: [ QUOTE ] Pro soccer can't become a major American sport when 99.7% of the quality players play overseas. It's a fact. . . . The fact remains: Americans will never care that Beckham is playing soccer in a league of half-decent guys, just like English people wouldn't care if they had a mediocre baseball league and the London team signed A-Rod. [/ QUOTE ] 
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#2
08-05-2007, 11:31 PM
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Re: Without question, the worst Bill Simmons article ever.
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Wow, did he really write something like that? Wow, how stupid. Soccer in the US reached it's zenith back when Pele came to the states, there's no goddamn way it's going to get any more popular in this day and age [/ QUOTE ] Actually, Tuq, he didn't. In fact, his exact comment from the article is on point and complimentary if anything: Every five years, people predict soccer could "take off" in America. Every five years, it doesn't happen. Why? Because Americans don't want to watch anything less than the best possible athletes. That's why the USFL and Arena Football failed as TV sports, that's why the CBA doesn't have a TV contract, and that's why ESPN2 doesn't show minor league baseball every night. Pro soccer can't become a major American sport when 99.7% of the quality players play overseas. It's a fact. He is pointing out a reason why soccer does not take off in the states, not belittling soccer or the MLS for failing to do so.
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#3
08-09-2007, 02:21 AM
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Re: Without question, the worst Bill Simmons article ever.
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He is pointing out a reason why soccer does not take off in the states, not belittling soccer or the MLS for failing to do so. [/ QUOTE ] He is pointing out why MLS hasn't "taken off", not how soccer supposedly hasn't "taken off." FWIW, I don't want to get in a soccer debate. Its been done before. However, when I read comments like that from Simmons, someone who makes his money off of being the "sports guy" and the "common man", it makes me realize that Simmons is no different than most Sports "journalist". He doesn't really have a clue about anything, he just writes his opinion.
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#4
08-05-2007, 08:08 PM
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Re: Without question, the worst Bill Simmons article ever.
Did you ever read the article in which Simmons proclaimed that AI would undoubtedly be the greatest soccer player ever, if only he had taken up the sport?
What a clueless, US-centric retard.
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#5
08-05-2007, 08:27 PM
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Re: Without question, the worst Bill Simmons article ever.
I really like his top 50 NBA players ranked by trade value.. those are always classic.
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#6
08-05-2007, 08:30 PM
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Re: Without question, the worst Bill Simmons article ever.
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Did you ever read the article in which Simmons proclaimed that AI would undoubtedly be the greatest soccer player ever, if only he had taken up the sport? What a clueless, US-centric retard. [/ QUOTE ] lol i totally forgot about that one
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#7
08-05-2007, 11:24 PM
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Re: Without question, the worst Bill Simmons article ever.
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Did you ever read the article in which Simmons proclaimed that AI would undoubtedly be the greatest soccer player ever, if only he had taken up the sport? What a clueless, US-centric retard. [/ QUOTE ] I'll agree that Bill Simmons can be US-centric. For instance he's trying to list sports stories from this summer that are upsetting, and he chooses to mention the possibility of Rosie joining the cast of a drama set around high school football, and yet he does not mention the scandal-ridden Tour de France from this year. However, in the article you mention he certainly did not claim "AI would undoubtedly be the greatest soccer player ever". What he did write (in this piece) was: He's an athletic freak. Iverson could have been an unbelievable soccer player. He could have been a world-class boxer and a remarkable defensive center fielder and base stealer. He could have picked his sport in track and field and competed for an Olympic spot. I can't fathom how much ground he could have covered on a tennis court. Hyperbole maybe, but not on the level you put it. And he is not limiting the comparison to soccer.
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#8
08-05-2007, 11:32 PM
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Re: Without question, the worst Bill Simmons article ever.
That's not the quote I think people were thinking of. I can't find it off hand, but he was talking about soccer specifically.
EDIT: In respect to AI.
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#9
08-05-2007, 11:38 PM
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Re: Without question, the worst Bill Simmons article ever.
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That's not the quote I think people were thinking of. I can't find it off hand, but he was talking about soccer specifically. EDIT: In respect to AI. [/ QUOTE ] OK, found it here. By the way, I've been watching the World Cup for four weeks trying to decide which NBA players could have been dominant soccer players, eventually coming to three conclusions. First, Allen Iverson would have been the greatest soccer player ever -- better than Pele, better than Ronaldo, better than everyone. I think this is indisputable, actually.
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