Better Than Any Other Sport

Antonio Ruiz

 23 October 2012

Professor Rogers

Essay #2

Better Than Any Other Sport

            Soccer is one of the most hated sports in the Unites States.  Although so many people hate the sport here in the United States in the rest of the world it is the most commonly played sport and also the most famous sport in the world.  It isn’t only fun to play it but it is also fun to watch it.  I’ve watch and played soccer since I could remember and still to this day it is the best sport in the world.  Soccer might not be the biggest sport in the United States but it will always be the biggest sport in the world.

            A lot of people that play and like other sports like basketball, baseball, and football say that soccer is for pussies.  They say you don’t need skills to play it.  What they don’t know is that it is one of the toughest sports to play.  It is also a dangerous sport just because soccer players aren’t being tackled like football players, soccer players don’t wear much equipment to protect them.  All they wear are shin guards.  I would know because growing up I’ve also played baseball, basketball, and football and soccer is still the hardest sport to play.  You have to be in very good shape to be able to run up and down the soccer field for all ninety minutes of the game.  You also have to have good ball handling, if you don’t know how to control the ball then there isn’t much you could do in a soccer field.

            I believe soccer is the best sport because it is the hardest to play.  It’s extremely hard to score a goal it’s not like basketball or football that scoring is easier to do, and when you score it counts for more than one point.  In soccer you could be so close to score but the goalie could block it and just like that you have to go back on the defense.  It’s also harder to come from behind to win a game.  For example in basketball you could make a long distance shot and it would count for three points, in soccer it doesn’t matter from where or how far away you score from it will only count for one point.  Also soccer is harder because there could be a bad call by a referee but he coaches can’t challenge the play like in football.  Whatever call the referee makes goes, the good thing about that is that it makes the game that much more competitive.  You want to play your best that way the referee doesn't have the chance to make a risky call.

            People tell me that soccer is the most boring sport in the world.  They say this because in the United States soccer is barely starting to grow unlike in other countries soccer is the biggest sport watch and played.  Unlike baseball, football, and basketball soccer actually has the World Cup every four years where all the countries in the world try to qualify to play in it to see who the best team in the world is.  It also has another tournament where the best teams in every soccer league play to see which teams is called the best is the world.  Baseball has the World Series but only teams from the United States play in it, basketball and football do the same thing.  The closest to getting to soccer is basketball because of it being involved in the Olympics but the World Cup is still considered to be a bigger event than the Olympics.

            Not only is soccer the best sport to play but it is also the best sport to watch.  You could either watch it on TV or watch it live.  Watching it in person has its advantages.  Since soccer isn't so big in the United States I haven’t been able to go to a lot of games.  The ones I have been too though have been incredible.  The atmosphere at the games is crazy.  For one the crowd gets crazy, and I mean crazy in a good way.  But if crazy isn’t your thing you could go with your family and have fun.  Or you could go with you friends get drunk and enjoy yourself a good soccer game.  Fans at soccer games get so into it that even chants made during soccer games have become very famous.  These chants don’t only get used during soccer games anymore but they are used during all different types of sports events.  Of course I am talking about the famous wave.

            I've been told by many people why do I play soccer, that it’s a waste of time, that it is boring.  They say I should be playing a real sport like football but the people that say this have never played a game of soccer to see how fun it is and also how hard it is to play.  Even my old high school didn't like our soccer team even though we were the only sport that was always winning games.  I like to play soccer because unlike other sports you don’t need a bunch of equipment to play it.  If you just want to play for fun with your friends all you need is a ball.  You don’t need gloves or a bat like you would need in baseball, and you definitely don’t need a basket like you would in basketball.  I also like it because I know I am better at soccer than any other sport I've played.  I've played soccer since I was a kid; I think I got addicted to it and to winning.

            Soccer will always be my favorite sport and my favorite activity to do on my own time.  I still like to play other sports once in a while.  I think if people that talk bad about soccer would either play it or watch it on TV would end up liking the sport.  For example my high school soccer team was made up of nothing but Hispanic players.  One day in physical education we got one of my friends to play soccer.  He would be one of the people that would always say soccer was a boring sport.  He was your typical farmer type of guy.  We got him into playing soccer so much that he actually tried out for the soccer team our senior year.  That is just one example that people that have never played soccer don’t know what they are talking about when they say soccer is boring.  I know that if they actually tried to play soccer they would end up liking the sport.