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Soccer

So it appears that Grant Wahl, a popular soccer writer, died suddenly today during the Argentina match. He was 48 and supposedly in good health... He was kicked out of a match and detained at the beginning of the tournament for wearing a shirt with a rainbow flag and according to his family he had been receiving death threats.

Edit: death confirmed... terrible.
 
That is brutal. Grant used to write college hoops articles for SI way back. Rest in Peace

Probably the first good college basketball writer. Came before Kenpom/analytics, yet started the push toward more intelligent analysis. Handed off to Luke Winn at SI to focus more on soccer.

Obviously poisoned. I couldn’t risk my life over making a statement on a t-shirt but I suppose someone like him would say a world where you get murdered for this isn’t a world worth living in anyway.
 
So, bumping this thread for @rome8180 and all of our great soccer fans here.

Went to the season opener for Charlotte FC last night and it was pretty fucking great. There were nearly 70,000 fans in the stands and everyone (except me) was decked out on CLT FC gear. There were actual songs being sung by fans and shit, like at EPL matches.

The soccer is pretty mediocre overall, but the place was rockin' and I am coming away from this event convinced that soccer has a bright future in the States.

I was impressed by the general level of engagement and knowledge by the fans and it was such a young crowd. Like, it's literally the opposite of an NFL crowd. Every NFL game I go to is full of obese, drunk, old white dudes screaming obscenities at minorities. This crowd was families with young kids, tons of "kids" in their late teens and early 20s and there weren't fat drunk men puking every where or starting fights. Also, a ton of minorities in the stands.

The game ended up being very tight. CFC dominated the ball, but much like the USMNT couldn't put together chances. They had a blown clear in the 89th minute and New England scored. In the 5 minutes of extra time, CFC put 3 shots on goal and then got completely hosed by the refs on an uncalled foul in the penalty box right as extra time was ending.

It was a tense, exciting and dramatic game despite the loss. Super fun and I'm definitely going to get back into pro soccer.
 
I am not a soccer guy (I watch some of the WC, that’s about it), but I could see it usurping or at least challenging baseball here down the road. That sport feels in the midst of a terminal decline.
 
I’ve been getting into soccer the past couple years, mostly due to some friends of mine that are diehards.

Speaking of, one of those friends, probably the most diehard of the bunch, is a huge Arsenal fan. He’s had this big trip planned to go over to London to see his first Arsenal game in person. He and his wife leave tomorrow morning. Well, we play basketball in Durham every Sunday morning. Earlier in the week when we were at the Louisville game together I asked him if he was going to play ball Sunday morning knowing his trip was the next day. He said ‘yeah of course.’ So he came to hoop this morning and proceeded to tear his Achilles. I feel awful for him.
 
So, bumping this thread for @rome8180 and all of our great soccer fans here.

Went to the season opener for Charlotte FC last night and it was pretty fucking great. There were nearly 70,000 fans in the stands and everyone (except me) was decked out on CLT FC gear. There were actual songs being sung by fans and shit, like at EPL matches.

The soccer is pretty mediocre overall, but the place was rockin' and I am coming away from this event convinced that soccer has a bright future in the States.

I was impressed by the general level of engagement and knowledge by the fans and it was such a young crowd. Like, it's literally the opposite of an NFL crowd. Every NFL game I go to is full of obese, drunk, old white dudes screaming obscenities at minorities. This crowd was families with young kids, tons of "kids" in their late teens and early 20s and there weren't fat drunk men puking every where or starting fights. Also, a ton of minorities in the stands.

The game ended up being very tight. CFC dominated the ball, but much like the USMNT couldn't put together chances. They had a blown clear in the 89th minute and New England scored. In the 5 minutes of extra time, CFC put 3 shots on goal and then got completely hosed by the refs on an uncalled foul in the penalty box right as extra time was ending.

It was a tense, exciting and dramatic game despite the loss. Super fun and I'm definitely going to get back into pro soccer.

Been an Atlanta United season ticket holder from the start. MLS games are fun as hell. You do need to go in with tempered expectations about the quality of the play, but if you aren’t a huge soccer nerd that shouldn’t be too hard. I’ve had quite a few friends who aren’t big soccer fans get into it just from going to games. And if you are a grouchy middle aged person like me, a game that is always over in 2 hours with no commercials is perfect.

You are also right about the crowd. At an ATL game like last night with an announced crowd of 67K, about a third of the people are just there for a fun night out. But the rest of the crowd is very knowledgeable and actually pays attention to the game.
 
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Went to see SJ Earthquakes v LAFC at Levi Stadium yesterday, first time for MLS. Great crowd and environment. Also doubled as a huge Cinco de Mayo party. Can't wait to go to some more, targeting the California Clásico at Stanford Stadium in July.
 

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