It finally felt like summer had arrived on the West Coast this weekend as I indulged in several sports related activities – cheering on the home team at a baseball game, hoping for some straight shots at the driving range and staying in to socialize through the Spain’s successful soccer win. I’m a huge sports fan and I thoroughly enjoyed all of this weekend’s activities but one thing really rubbed me the wrong way in the World Cup final. And I think I should point out before I go on any further that I am not a huge soccer fan and, by no means, am I an expert on what is and what isn’t a penalty or how soccer should be played at its best. However, this year’s World Cup final saw a record 14 yellow cards given out by the referee – more than twice the previous record! I don’t think referees have an easy job but I also can’t get past the fact that some of the video replays we watched showed terrible displays of unsportsmanslike conduct as players tripped over the air in agony, giving the impression that a kick of the ball was actually a kick of their shins. And maybe these players were indeed too physical for the sport and should have backed off on their aggressive antics. Either way, fourteen yellow cards sure felt like a lot to me. Considering it was an edge-of-your-seat-until-the-end kind of game for most fans, it’s unfortunate that yellow cards can beat out gold cups when it comes to grabbing headlines.
Any soccer fans out there? Was it bad officiating or just bad play?
4 comments:
I was so annoyed, during all of the soccer games this year, at how the guys would fall over & writhe around on the ground when clearly there was no need for it. Ridiculous!
As a fellow soccer-fan-in-passing, I too was super frustrated with the terrible acting. Especially when some of the yellow cards had a big impact on the outcome of the game!
ahhh, every year i always regret not watching the world cup! maybe next year!
It definitely is frustrating! It makes it hard to enjoy the soccer for the game that is being played and not to be distracted by all the over dramatic 'injuries'!
Melissa...I think this was the first time I actually watched the world cup, I usually let it pass and think the same thing as you!
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