After Years of Work, U.S. Soccer Gets Its Degree From Colombia
For the egg-faced sportswriters and commentators who bad-mouthed soccer in general and the USA team in particular, cups of wormwood and gall to help wash down their meals of humble pie and crow.
MARYA ALEXANDER
South Pasadena
*
I watched my first World Cup game the other day (USA vs. Colombia) and came away proud of our country’s team and intrigued by the fact that the game was not interrupted by surly looking sports stars hawking gear or by stupid beer monsters who belch fire and goose women at poolside.
Instead of momentum-killing commercial timeouts, Univision put an advertiser’s logo unobtrusively in the corner of the screen.
Switching to the NBA Game 7 between the Knicks and Rockets, I was jarred back to reality with extended commercial breaks that only serve to ruin the flow of the game and sap the patience of die-hard sports fans such as myself. Anyone who has been to a pro or college football or basketball game has seen firsthand how TV timeouts have brought otherwise exciting contests to a virtual standstill. Advertisers can get their products displayed, players can play and ad-allergic fans can be cured if the networks adopt the World Cup model.
TOD TAMBERG
Studio City
*
It is understandable that many ordinary Americans aren’t into soccer, since the sport has gotten so little exposure here. But professional sportswriters and sportscasters who belittle it--whose job it is to know and appreciate sports, who think any sport Americans can’t dominate must be stupid, who refuse to learn what they don’t know, and who have never attended a showdown match between great teams before a passionate crowd--have no excuse. We should feel sorry for their inability to enjoy this pleasure.
RAUER L. MEYER
Los Angeles
*
Soccer: a primitive form of hockey played by Neanderthals before the invention of skates and ice.
GILBERT S. BAHN
Moorpark
*
On Saturday, June 18, I sat for two hours and watched a wonderful soccer game between Colombia and Romania. Saturday evening I stood for over 2 1/2 hours in the middle of a hot, tired, thirsty crowd waiting for a park-and-ride bus to take me back to my car.
What an organizational disaster! The World Cup organizers failed to organize and the L.A. County Sheriffs didn’t arrive until 1 1/2 hours after the situation was out of control.
I guess this is what you get when you put an entertainment lawyer like Alan Rothenberg in charge of the World Cup--an organization that soaks up money but fails to perform competently.
ROBERT M. KANNE
Yorba Linda
*
Please focus on match action in writing about World Cup games. Personality profiles, coaches’ comments, concert reviews and traffic reports do not a game story make.
KEVIN J. DRABINSKI
San Luis Obispo
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Regarding “Time to Cut Off Play-On Calls” (World Cup Spotlight, June 23):
It is obvious that Mr. Blatter has never officiated a football match. Arturo Angeles was exceedingly close to play throughout the entire (Argentina-Greece) game and made the gutsiest calls in the World Cup. He should be commended. To follow what FIFA is advocating is to destroy soccer.
Soccer is and always will be a contact sport. The primary duty of the referee is to make the game safe, then fair, then enjoyable for all who participate. It’s that simple.
L.L. ROSE
Westchester
