[bootlegga]

Clogeroo Clogeroo:

True if we had a pro league you might see more players stay or keep playing at it but even then if other teams across the globe offer them more like with hockey they will move. All pros are just about getting paid to play their little game anyway. I never really cared much actually for professional athletes to tell you the truth or at least the ones making more than a doctor or something I see as more meaningful than just a game of recreation. I don't see it as a real job some may take offence to that but to me it will always be just games.

You have to throw some Canadian nationalist tripe because I mentioned England didn't you? People don't cheer for them because it is part of their background it is because they are the most related to Canada. If I was Dutch and Canada was knocked out I would cheer for the English team. Much like at the Olympics I would rather see an English speaking country win than other ones because the are less foreign. Id rather see the United States win over communist China in a sport.

I'm not saying all Canadians care but don't say they all don't lots do. Frankly I support the home team in any sport and I will encourage them to win in all fields even if many are overpaid babies.

Like WDHIII said, it's like arguing colours with a blind man...

Did you even read my post? It had NOTHING to do with how much people get paid or changing teams or whatever...it was about building a base of support for soccer. Every four years I go looking for something cool with Team Canada on it, and I never find anything. Brazil, Germany, Argentina, they have tons of that, but next to nothing for Team Canada. That alone must say something about the level of support soccer has in this country. Canada will never improve if the one or two good players we develop every couple of years move overseas and play there instead of for Team Canada, it's that simple.

As for my "Canadian nationalist tripe" I was simply telling you if I was like most Canadian soccer fans, I would cheer for my 'ancestors' the way most soccer fans in Canada do. Check my picture if you don't believe me. You'd be hard pressed to find a similar picture of a Canadian city street awash in Union Jacks, even if they had won. I think you are the only person who believes in this fraternity of English speaking nations.

I agree that a lot of Canadians do care for soccer, but the most passionate ones are immigrants not Canadian born. Most Canadian-born soccer fans I know don't pay any attention to it except for during the World Cup. IMHO, those aren't true soccer fans. A true fan would watch it all year long. I love hockey and watch it all year long, even though 'my team' (Winnipeg Jets) doesn't even exist any longer.

But I'm not like most Canadian soccer fans, simply because if Canada isn't playing, I'm not interested.

[Clogeroo]

$1:

Like WDHIII said, it's like arguing colours with a blind man... Rolling Eyes

Did you even read my post? It had NOTHING to do with how much people get paid or changing teams or whatever...it was about building a base of support for soccer. Every four years I go looking for something cool with Team Canada on it, and I never find anything. Brazil, Germany, Argentina, they have tons of that, but next to nothing for Team Canada. That alone must say something about the level of support soccer has in this country. Canada will never improve if the one or two good players we develop every couple of years move overseas and play there instead of for Team Canada, it's that simple.

As for my "Canadian nationalist tripe" I was simply telling you if I was like most Canadian soccer fans, I would cheer for my 'ancestors' the way most soccer fans in Canada do. Check my picture if you don't believe me. You'd be hard pressed to find a similar picture of a Canadian city street awash in Union Jacks, even if they had won. I think you are the only person who believes in this fraternity of English speaking nations.

I agree that a lot of Canadians do care for soccer, but the most passionate ones are immigrants not Canadian born. Most Canadian-born soccer fans I know don't pay any attention to it except for during the World Cup. IMHO, those aren't true soccer fans. A true fan would watch it all year long. I love hockey and watch it all year long, even though 'my team' (Winnipeg Jets) doesn't even exist any longer.

But I'm not like most Canadian soccer fans, simply because if Canada isn't playing, I'm not interested.

I'm not just talking about world soccer I'm just talking about people who play it and quite a few do. Just because we don't have many pros doesn't mean it doesn't count. If more people are registering themselves in soccer more than hockey that must say something and not just that everyone is poor.

I'm not saying many soccer fans don't cheer for Italy or Greece or some other country where they came from but from what I have seen here in the pubs the England fans have quite a few more born here so Id rather cheer them on than the others who are mostly immigrants. Even then my cheering may consist of one game.

I like hockey and cheer the Canucks but I don't watch every game most people don't except the extreme fans with nothing better to do. Pro hockey is mostly rubbish now anyway and I find it not worth watching so would rather go to the park here for free and cheer on the local kids playing a game of footie than sit in front of the tele or pay minimum $50 to go see millionaires skate around. The same can be said for pro soccer too.

Also note there is no British football team playing in the world cup so there wouldn't be any union flags.

[Clogeroo]

$1:

Well if you'll forgive me but if youve NEVER heard of the Super Bowl I have to say I doubt you spend a great deal of your time watching/participating in sports. I played soccer for ten, helped coach my nephews team for 3 and have been to MANY friends kids games..... youre right..... kids wont play it (unless theyre forced to which sadly happens) if they dont want to but we never said anything about KIDS HATING IT, just that if they cant afford to play hockey then its an alternative.

I DO know a few that would rather be on the ice... the costs and time investments are just too big. I was one VERY lucky lad.... we had a neighbor who helped my mother offset the costs of my equipment.... without him I would have been on the outside looking in too.... or even WORSE.

A defenseman.....Wink

And as for who to cheer for in the world cup?

Still on about that super bowl eh? I bet there are lots of cups out there you have never heard of.

bootlegga is making it sound like only the poor play soccer or if hockey cost the same more would play hockey if not a majority would. So he is implying that soccer is for people who just can't play hockey, which is not really true at all. Like you said you have may the odd kid in there or maybe some parents who sign them up without their interest in it but I doubt this makes the bulk of the players in the sport. Also I bet there are lots of kids who don't want to really play hockey either or have had their parents sign them up for it too. If soccer was an alternative for them you might see more put up their skates if it wasn't for their parents desires.

My point is soccer is a growing sport in Canada and a lot of people play it. Is it to the same national phenomenon as hockey? No but it is still a major sport and many Canadians have an interest in it. I have never actually played hockey in school here other than floor hockey a couple times. In PE it was mostly baseball, kick ball, soccer, and other things. Our school never even had a hockey team but we had a soccer team. There wasn't a football team either but we had rugby. I wasn't brought up around the sport and we don't have pond hockey here so wasn't part of that. Most sport or recreation I'm into is fishing and cycling mostly. I play a game of pool sometimes too. So I'm not the biggest sport fan out there or have ever been on a team but there are more sport in this country other than just hockey. Maybe I'm just sick of hockey and its stereotype in this country that everyone plays it when the majority don't. More people watch it maybe but more people play other sport while less watch them.

[bootlegga]

Clogeroo Clogeroo:

Still on about that super bowl eh? I bet there are lots of cups out there you have never heard of.

bootlegga is making it sound like only the poor play soccer or if hockey cost the same more would play hockey if not a majority would. So he is implying that soccer is for people who just can't play hockey, which is not really true at all. Like you said you have may the odd kid in there or maybe some parents who sign them up without their interest in it but I doubt this makes the bulk of the players in the sport. Also I bet there are lots of kids who don't want to really play hockey either or have had their parents sign them up for it too. If soccer was an alternative for them you might see more put up their skates if it wasn't for their parents desires.

My point is soccer is a growing sport in Canada and a lot of people play it. Is it to the same national phenomenon as hockey? No but it is still a major sport and many Canadians have an interest in it. I have never actually played hockey in school here other than floor hockey a couple times. In PE it was mostly baseball, kick ball, soccer, and other things. Our school never even had a hockey team but we had a soccer team. There wasn't a football team either but we had rugby. I wasn't brought up around the sport and we don't have pond hockey here so wasn't part of that. Most sport or recreation I'm into is fishing and cycling mostly. I play a game of pool sometimes too. So I'm not the biggest sport fan out there or have ever been on a team but there are more sport in this country other than just hockey. Maybe I'm just sick of hockey and its stereotype in this country that everyone plays it when the majority don't. More people watch it maybe but more people play other sport while less watch them.

Yeah, the Super Bowl isn't anything special...it's just watched by roughly a billion people every year in dozens of countries. Yep, that's pretty inconsequential!

I never said that only poor people play soccer, but I will say that a lot of parents stretch their 'sporting' dollar by having their kids participate in several things over the course of the year, like swimming lessons, soccer, T-ball, etc. I think the $500 sports tax credit the Conservatives will help kids who want to pay hockey. I know if I had children, I wouldn't be able to afford the costs of hockey every year for each child.

Of course that's ORGANIZED hockey. I never actually community league hockey in my life, but have played thousands of hours of hockey in backyard rinks, community league rinks (off-hours), at Rexall Place (sweet ice BTW), etc. My parents couldn't afford to pay the costs for me and my two brothers, but we did have sticks, skates and helmets to play that kind of hockey. Of all the friends I currently play hockey with (played just last weekend BTW), only one played league hockey when he was young.

Like WDHIII, I question your stats. It could very well be that there are more kids playing league soccer than those playing league hockey, but if you add in the grassroots hockey players, I would bet there are far more Canadians playing hockey than playing soccer. There are a dozen soccer fields by my house and they are almost always empty (despite the ethnically diverse neighbourhood I live in) in the summer. In the winter when they flood one for a hockey rink, there are kids out there all night all winter long. Same goes for outdoor rinks around the city. Maybe because Vancouver doesn't get the winter we do in Edmonton it's not as prevalent, but let me tell you in Alberta hockey is played by a lot of people. And I don't know why you never played hockey in PE, but I did in elementary, junior high and senior high. Again, maybe it's because of the lack of outdoor rinks in the lower mainland, I don't know.

Personally, I find it funny that you accused me of having a grudge against soccer when you admit you have one for hockey.

[dog77_1999]

It's ok Canada. It's only soccer. Now if it was hockey, I would be concerned.