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[littlefallsmets]

The bicycle thing doesn't piss me off.

I mean, I'm not interested in it but... the television isn't berating me to like it or else I'm some kind of asshole.

So I'm hardly actively offended by it.

[CortJstr]

The bicycle thing doesn't piss me off.

I mean, I'm not interested in it but... the television isn't berating me to like it or else I'm some kind of asshole.

So I'm hardly actively offended by it.

I'm waiting for the television to berate me for not liking a sport. I hate pretty much all sports (baseball, football, the Olympics, basketball, anything involving any college team ever, racing) and activities often mis-labeled as sports (golf, figure skating, gymnastics, the Olympics, X games) and to date this has never happened.

[littlefallsmets]

If you had a reason to watch ESPN, such as looking for baseball analysis or the occasional game of the week, you would have witnessed a television telling you that you are an uncultured idiot if you don't like soccer and you are stealing money from ABC if you don't so you should die and go to hell immediately.

It is just that if you don't like any sports, you wouldn't have been in the neighborhood to be berated like that.

[wombat]

The Dutch were horrible, horrible bastards and deserved nothing.

The Dutch? The cute, tulip-growing, chocolate-eating Dutch with their cute language that sounds like fairy-tale creatures speak it?

Sport is weird.

[CortJstr]

What did the Dutch do?

It was interesting to hear the commentators argue that the fans were really being way too mean to Suarez in the Uruguay game.

[AugustWest]

What did the Dutch do?

They made me pay for my own meal!

[Drygioni]

The Dutch? The cute, tulip-growing, chocolate-eating Dutch with their cute language that sounds like fairy-tale creatures speak it?

Sport is weird.

A brief history lesson if you're willing to learn...

The Dutch live up to their nice reputation you ascribe to them above in football, historically. As a nation they've always been about making the most out of little natural resources through ingenuity and creativity, and this applies to their football. The small population is utilised to full potential by professional coaching and investment in youth (which repays the clubs tenfold when they sell that 14 year old they recruited for £20million 6 years later), and as for the football itself...

Without boring you on the complexity of the tactics involved, the Dutch invented 'Total Football'. I'm sure you vaguely know about the concept of a football formation, well Total Football recognised that rigidity in such a formation was predictable and prone to staleness. Around the time Total Football came through, the dominating footballing philosophy and tactic in Europe was an opposing Italian ideology (Catenaccio), wherein every player played a very specific role and it was extremely dull.

Total Football advocated creativity, fluidity and adaptiveness; players would play any position on the pitch depending on their team-mates and the opposition's whereabouts. The team led by Cruyff attacked wonderfully, showed improvisation and unpredictability, and it was beautiful to watch, if ultimately unsuccessful in winning the Dutch a World Cup. Teams around the world have adopted it into their play and whilst somewhat naive it's principles are good.

Hence the Dutch having such an influence on world football despite their small population and lack of trophies.

Hence the current team being lambasted for playing the Beautiful Game in such an unbeautiful way.

[wombat]

Thanks. I feel reassured about the Dutch.

[littlefallsmets]

The Dutch run the triangle offense. Gotcha.

[Drygioni]

In Total Football, a player who moves out of position is replaced by another member of the team, thus retaining the team's intended organizational structure. In this fluid system, no player is fixed in a nominal role; anyone can be successively an attacker, a midfielder and a defender. The only player fixed in a nominal position is the goalkeeper.

Total Football's tactical success depends largely on the adaptability of each footballer within the team, in particular the ability to quickly switch positions depending on the on-field situation. The theory requires players to be comfortable in multiple positions; hence, it places high technical and physical demands on them.

I'm guessing triangle offence is like a basketball equivalent of that?

[JorgeFabregas]

I think he was comparing the current (boring) Dutch team to the feared (boring) triangle.

[littlefallsmets]

See, I was more thinking the triangle offense in terms of...

The more dudes who can pass/play the point until they find an open man, the better.

Which sounded like "positionless" soccer to me, having a casual fan's sense of the NBA and a dude who played AYSO 20+ years ago's sense of soccer.

But, yeah, in my small way, I was trying.

[AugustWest]

But, yeah, in my small way, I was trying.

Have a can for trying.

[CortJstr]

I really want to see LA play DC this Sunday just to see how the crowd reacts to Donovan being on the opposing team.

[miles]

I really want to see LA play DC this Sunday just to see how the crowd reacts to Donovan being on the opposing team.

Well, if I could manage to care about Olympic basketball, I imagine I would still want Kobe on the national team, and then would have no problem going back to hating him as soon as he returned to LA.