Ann Coulter on soccer....you're welcome everybody

[Spark]

Whatever good points it may have had were totally lost on me with the suggestion that the WC may be ageist or ableist, showing the author does not know what either word actually means

 

[Uppercut]

What truths?

I think footballing communities tend to be hyper-masculine, and people whose social lives are built around football are often totally incapable of talking to girls like they're actual people.

Feminist communities have the exact same problem though, which is kind of ironic.

 

[GIMH]

I dunno, I think most people watch the World Cup because other people watch the World Cup.

I think this is a little cynical (not like you ). There is an element of that, but at the end of the day, people watch football all year round. The World Cup is ****loads of it every day. People watch it because they like football.

 

[Ikki]

I think this is a little cynical (not like you ). There is an element of that, but at the end of the day, people watch football all year round. The World Cup is ****loads of it every day. People watch it because they like football.

This. As well as a heightened sense of drama because there are national teams playing. If the two worst footballing nations were playing at a World Cup you'd still watch just because you know how much it means to them.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

It is quite interesting that in America, where the women's football team is pretty good and their men's team not so much (relatively speaking), the women's world cup gets really high viewer numbers. I imagine you'd see similar things with a lot of sport, where people might say they prefer the men's game but if someone they cared about was playing they'd happily watch the women's instead, etc. There's definitely a significant element of social conditioning there, people watch things because they feel they are important, not because of some innate attraction to the superior aesthetics or athleticism or whatever.

That said, those things can be a legitimate concern for actual connoisseurs of the sport, even if they aren't why they started watching in the first place. To not acknowledge that there's any reason people might watch the men's world cup other than the social conditioning angle is dumb, and overall the few good points she makes are outweighed by the weak ones and the ****ty delivery.

 

[sledger]

That Grauniad article is ****ing terrible.

 

[Cabinet96]

Yeah, it's obviously just click/comment bait.

 

[Uppercut]

You guys only think it's bad because you never read: New Statesman | Laurie Penny: Why I despise the World Cup

 

[sledger]

Sigh. I really hate these types of people who are just so desperate to get outraged about something.

 

[The Sean]

Ha ha Laurie ****ing Penny - such a talented writer and yet such a hateful, misandrist troll. If she didn't exist and you made her up you'd be told to wind it back a bit. I'm pretty sure she is in fact made of vitriol.

 

[BeeGee]

I can't stand the woman, but as trolls go, it's a good 'un.

She's not the fool, it's all the people who took the bait that are the fools.

 

[MW1304]

But she's also the fool.

 

[BeeGee]

But she's also the fool.

It depends which way you look at it. Her whole MO is controversy and provoking reaction. This story succeeded brilliantly in that aim, so that's not being foolish, it's being successful.

But if you think the whole idea of building a career around professional trolling is foolish, then yes, she's a fool.

 

[silentstriker]

What truths?

People prefer watching men play football because the quality is higher. Same reason why nobody tunes in when my team is on TV, compared with Champions League night.

Partly true but college men's basketball and football are multibillion dollar industries, almost rivaling the pro sports even though they are clearly lower quality. So while I agree with you a little, I think social conditioning and other factors come into play.