Futbol is still futbol

My first blog ever was three years ago yesterday. It was about soccer- the love of my life. That was inspired by doing stats for the TU men's soccer team; today I was reminded of the beauty of soccer while doing stats.

My soccer day actually started at 9am went I went to work out and the TVs in the Well had the Women's World Cup on. So while I ran, I got to watch Sweden take on Nigeria. Also on another TV was England/ Japan. In the time I was there, I got to see three goals scored. And by the time I got back to my apartment, I got to see Japan score in the 94th minute. While I'm not a big fan of women's soccer, it was fun to watch.

After classes, I went out, on a beautiful sunny afternoon, to do men's stats. I was quickly reminded of the poem I wrote on here 3 years ago; something about soccer strikes a chord in me. I mentioned in my poem that soccer is an art, not a sport. I saw this more clearly as I compared working stats for other teams with my boss. Baseball is honestly boring. While it is all stats, that's about all it is. Football is alright, but the athleticism comes only in short little bursts. Basketball is great, but you have to watch the game differently to take stats.

All of those sports have many stats to record and can be analyzed fairly well by just looking at the numbers. Now don't get me wrong, the numbers don't tell you just how hard that home run was hit, or just how he dodged all those tackles, or just how sweet that dunk and assist were, but the numbers pretty much tell the game.

Soccer- soccer has few stats. You can sit back and watch the game, taking a bit of time to record shots or corners or fouls. And if you are looking to improve and coach, you might record wins and losses on the ball. But soccer truly is an art. Every touch of the ball, every control, every leading pass- each one is beautiful when you watch a good team.

And so, three years and one day later, I still believe the same thing- "This isn't a sport: this is an art."