MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I'll be "telecommuting" for a long lunch today (thank God for free wireless at restaurants).

I know it would be silly, but since it is World Cup season, I'll pose the question.  Would it be too hard for us to convert to the European naming system for sports and avoid the whole "football" controversy?

We could let real football be football as it is all over the world and call our american version "Gridiron" like they do over in Europe.  Isn't gridiron such a cooler name to begin with?  I'm all for this change.

[dogtired]

I have tried watching soccer and I will watch at least some of the US match today. But I do not count myself as a soccer fan in any way.
The lack of scoring is a problem. But what bothers me even more is how few times there are even legitimate scoring opportunities. If the ball isn't near the net, I find soccer about as exciting as watching a car drive around a track. Sorry NASCAR folk, I don't get the attraction there either.
This is the United States, so the World Cup is soccer and the NFL is football.

[diehardfan]

Martin Luther is a D-III school in Minnesota.

That I saw Wheaton play a few years ago on a trip in MN before they were DIII (I think). Wheaton absolutely crushed Martin Luther, by 40, using reserves on that trip. They were a last minute replacement for a team that backed out. I'd be surprised if they are THAT much better three years later.

http://www.d3hoops.com/school_info.php?school=Wheaton%20(Ill.)&team=m&year=2004

[Pat Coleman]

They aren't that much better. Nobody in the CCIW should have any trouble with Martin Luther.

[diehardfan]

Pat, I was thinking that Martin Luther was scheduled to be a easy first round game for Whitewater, since they are a West region team. It seems that the hosts also did the same to a lesser extent for IWU. Does that sound right?

[Pat Coleman]

Perhaps. If I were scheduling myself for a tournament I would play the #3 team instead of the #4 team, though.

Wrote a Dose piece on tournament pairing theory last September to this point: http://www.d3hoops.com/dailydose/?p=62

[diehardfan]

Well I think I basically agree on that point, but it seems like that's not how they did it....

unless they didn't schedule the tournament with regional games in mind at all, which seems unlikely anymore, but you never know. 

[emeritusprof]

Someone want high scoring?  Really high scoring?

You can come watch me golf.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Someone want high scoring?  Really high scoring?

You can come watch me golf.

That's worth +k.

[David Collinge]

For me, the biggest difference between scoring in football and in, well, football, is that in "gridiron" a 21-0 game is a reasonably decisive game, whereas in "fussball" a 3-0 game is an embarrassing blowout.  Just ask the USA national team. 

There are new soccer discussion boards available on this site, moderated by the esteemed Hiker Jim.  Included is one devoted to the World Cup.  Soccer discussers, come join us!

[proudofLU]

Someone want high scoring?  Really high scoring?

You can come watch me golf.

That's worth +k.
[/quote


You know what they say, "shoot to get hot, shoot to stay hot!"

[cardinalpride]

For me, the biggest difference between scoring in football and in, well, football, is that in "gridiron" a 21-0 game is a reasonably decisive game, whereas in "fussball" a 3-0 game is an embarrassing blowout.  Just ask the USA national team. 

There are new soccer discussion boards available on this site, moderated by the esteemed Hiker Jim.  Included is one devoted to the World Cup.  Soccer discussers, come join us!

Please!!!

[Gregory Sager]

Despite the long and rambling answer that Greg gave,

Always play to your strengths, I say.

a 21-14 football game is still a 3-2 game, no matter how many different ways you can score. Your answer that college football games are more high scoring comes from several decades of watching teams like Tennessee play the UNLV's of the world and win 66-0. Riveting!!!!

I hate football blowouts as much as the next guy. My whole point was that your soccer goal = football touchdown premise doesn't redeem soccer's scoring problems. A 3-2 soccer match is a high-octane offensive display; a 21-14 football game is a low-scoring defensive slugfest.

I know it would be silly, but since it is World Cup season, I'll pose the question. Would it be too hard for us to convert to the European naming system for sports and avoid the whole "football" controversy?

Weren't you alive for that whole government-sanctioned change-to-metric movement a couple of decades ago? That went over really well with the American public, didn't it?

I don't see this as a controversy at all. We say soccer, they say football. We say football, they say gridiron or American football. Tomato, tomahto.

We could let real football be football as it is all over the world

I'm reading your words, and I'm hearing my mother's voice and that speech of hers about my friends jumping off a cliff and would I do it, too?

Isn't gridiron such a cooler name to begin with?

Sure, if you eat at Waffle House.

[markerickson]

Instead of comparing soccer scoring to football's, constrast soccer to hockey by using a 1:2 scoring ratio.  A 3-0 soccer blowout is equal to a 6-0 drubbing in hockey.  Also, the on-field action is similar, and the players are relative unkowns who have surnames not common in the Midwest.

Markkanen, Samsonov, Nedved, Rosicky, Galasek.  Huh?

If one wants to make a football to soccer comparison, evaluate Team USA soccer against NPU football:  optimism sparked by futility.

[The Roop]

But aren't there more soccer injuries each year than football injuries ??