Sea Games Basketball And Soccer

[unanimosity]

Watching SEA Games basketball between Thailand and Vietnam is reminiscent of church league and pickup games in nerdy white-boy neighborhoods back in the world (on a bad day.) Almost no fouls and when there is one the free throw is likely to be an air ball. You have players dribbling shoulder high and turning the ball over 2-3 times up and down the court between shot attempts, then jumping in the air hoping they'll find somebody to pass to. Neither of these teams could win against any high school team in North America. Forget the high school boys teams. They couldn't beat high school girls. When most of the players on the court are shorter than the refs it's not likely to be an inspiring day.

But this all points to why soccer is so popular in SEA. It requires little or no physical coordination and it is a game a communist and the uneducated can love since you must reduce your advantage to help your people's republic of soccer opponent get ready lest you make them lose face and self esteem by scoring before you give them a chance to get between you and the goal. And you rarely have to count higher than 2 or 3.

Soccer was invented for girls that cannot throw, catch, bat, block, pass, jump, tackle, pitch, rebound, hit, punt, or fully run. Doubters need only observe the little girly steps and ballerina tippy toeing on the soccer field. Soccer merely puts a ball there to accommodate femininity that is absent athleticism. Little girls on the playground have trouble kicking the kick ball head on so they use the backyard gate method. Girls play field hockey the same way, swinging horizontally like a gate with the entire stick on the ground. Soccer is no exception to this horizontal female inclination toward horizontal gate-like kicks. Like girls, SEA has a proclivity for fighting with their feet because they cannot punch and they play volleyball with their feet and Muay Thai is part of the soccer syndrome of girly games replete with hugging, hopping (girls don't run they hop), with protective gloves so they don't pull each others' hair or scratch each others' eyes out..

Football and rugby have serious physical contact and you rarely see a player whimpering on the ground even after a full frontal attack by a 240 pound linebacker. Yet, soccer games are littered with malingering, whining, groveling participants squirming on the ground after getting kicked by Judy.

When soccer involves the use of hands, any further questions as to its feminine nature are immediately put to rest. Who, other than soccer players and little girls stand feet together and raise both hands over their head to throw a ball?

Hey, no complaints here. Girls need their games, too!

By the way, anybody interested in becoming a play-by-play announcer for sporting events in the region should give it some serious thought. Apparently, no knowledge of the sport is necessary but you must have a command of the language to the extent that you know all the ways in which to say, "Ohh Ho-hooo na khop."

[StreetCowboy]

You're quite right. Its appalling that there is no Sevens competition, what with it being an Olympic sport and all.

There is a Traditional Boat Race competition, though, which I would have thought Thailand should have a good shot at.

SC