Has anyone been following all this typical Tevez non-sense? I thought you guys might appreciate this.....A guy on espn commented that basically the US is to blame for this behavior, look at the NBA. He also said that Tevez is "10x the athlete any jokers in American Sports claim to be." Reeeeeaaaallllyyyy???? I wasn't aware that Tevez was world renowned for his athletic ability. He is surely more athletic in every way than say......Andre Johnson, Lebron James, Chris Johnson. In fact, I think I will include a poll with this.
By guy on espn, I mean a regular Joe-Shmo commenting on the story, not like an ESPN analyst haha.....Had to clear that up.
I've had this convo THOUSANDS of times with my buddies. I watch a ton of Top Level Futbol, and there are very few soccer players I'd put in the same class as our LeBrons, Vicks, Adrian Petersons. As far as sheer athleticism, the soccer player I admire most is probably CRonaldo. Guy is a freak.
Yeah, I'm definitely not arguing that there aren't soccer players as athletic or more athletic than most American athletes. However, Tevez is no where near that list of soccer players and I found it comical that this guy suggested that. I also love when football fans suggest that soccer players are too small to play football. I think Micah Richards would make a hell of a football player.
yeah, if it wasn't for the crazy football fans that hate soccer before ever even watching it, and then the easily angered soccer fans there could be reasonable discourse on the sports. There is just no way the top level soccer athletes compare to top level NBA/NFL guys, those sports are driven by athleticism whereas soccer has a lot more to do with endurance and intelligence. I hate the people that can't enjoy a sport for what it is and instead want to prove their favorite sport is the best.
I was just about to write a comment about this, but I read Ryan`s post. That tells everything about it, and puts a stop on this discussion, I believe.
Yeah, I think it is a bit ridiculous to argue which sport is best because its all a matter of preference and if you haven't played both significantly, its hard for a person to make an argument. I agree with everything you say except the part about top soccer athletes comparing with football/NBA athletes. I would say that the majority of soccer players would not stack up but there are a select few who would be right there with NFL/NBA players.....As Blaza suggested, Cristiano Ronaldo would be right up there. In fact, there are dozens of Africans who played soccer most of their lives, came to the USA, playing football or basketball for a year or two and became very good players....Athletically, they competed just fine. I think Theo Walcott would be able to run with any NFL star. The list of soccer players would be pretty short though. Thierry Henry in his prime would have been with all of them too. Before he became a huge soccer star, they thought he was going to become famous by running the 400m for France in the Olympics.
This is completely off topic but Michael talking about Henry got me thinking.. Why the hell would he end his career in the MLS instead of playing for a top French club?? I mean a team like Lille, PSG or any French team for that matter I'm sure would love to have him. I keep forgetting about him seeing he's playing for the damn Red Bulls.
He's addressed this before and he said plan and simple that NYC is his favorite city in the world. Plus, overall he's making more here than he could attract in Europe.
if you had ever been around world class soccer players you would think differently..i have been on the field for both US mens national team training sessions and training sessions at Chelsea...i've also played with and been friends with multitudes of national team and professional soccer players......they are every bit as athletic as the NFL and NBA guys without question while playing at NC State i was also friends with guys that ended up in the NFL and NBA [and the US World Cup team]...world class is world class, doesn't matter what sport i don't care which sport is best or any of that garbage...i just know if you don't think the the top soccer players are comparable to top athletes in ANY sport you haven't been around enough professional athletes
I am going by the idea of athleticism that we use commonly, where brute strength/natural athleticism is the standard. But in terms of speed and agility I would agree that soccer players are on the same level or higher than NFL/NBA guys. But most people won't let you use that argument because that isn't "athleticism." I was always on that end of the argument when I played, our guys got no respect from other teams because we weren't out there benching 300 pounds.
To me, strength is strength. Speed, acceleration, agility, and jumping is natural athleticism. It's a lot easier to gain strength than it is to gain speed, acceleration, agility and jumping ability. You can't tell me that someone who runs a 4.2 and has a 40 inch vertical but only benches 150lbs and squats 250lbs isn't naturally athletic. I am not real big so I'm not tremendously strong but I am fast, agile, and can jump. I have picked up every sport I have ever played. I didn't start playing soccer until I was a junior in high school. I had primarily played baseball, basketball, and football my whole life and I was pretty decent at those sports. My senior year, I was the leading scorer on the soccer team and a few years later could play with D1/national team players. Is that not natural athleticism because I lack brute strength? To me, that kind of athleticism is ONLY referred to that in football where you have to be physically strong.
You can be athletic without being strong, but strength has to part of how athletic you are... speed, agility, hand eye, strength, etc. all have to factor in.
Chad Ochocinco somewhat proves that there really isn't a set attribute for natural athleticism haha. He's a very good football player, is strong because you have to be to play football, is fast and can jump, is agile, has good hand-eye coordination, yet he is garbage at soccer and plays like he's not very coordinated. haha
