The Worst Game of Football I have ever seen
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by user Alex Holowczak
Football. Or "Soccer" as Americans often call it. The national game of England, and the most popular game in the world.
But why?
Today was set to be the showpiece of the English season. Almost 90,000 people went to the rebuilt Wembley Stadium for the FA Cup Final between the two best teams in England, Chelsea, and Manchester United.
It ought to have been a showpiece for football. A crammed stadium, with most of the best players in the world.
It was one of the most boring two and a half hours of my life.
The two goalkeepers had practically nothing to do all afternoon. As the game entered extra time, there were chances for the first time, but by then you were bored out of your skin. It was 0-0 for 115 minutes, with a few shots here and there, and then finally Didier Drogba scored. Chelsea went 1-0 up. And they held on to win the game.
I am not that big a fan of football, and I only ever tend to watch England games now, but I tend to make an exception for the FA Cup Final. But today was woefully boring.
Considering the blatant cheating that is plaguing the game of football, with random diving, and over-exaggerated reactions. Even the extortionate pricing at stadiums. £140 ($280) would have got you to Wembley and back from Manchester today. And when you got there, you had to pay £8 ($16) for a burger.
Then there was the pitch itself. The redevelopment of Wembley to improve capacity, and prepare it for the 2012 Olympic Games, cost £800 million ($1.6 billion). And the pitch was cut up all game. It was slow and boggy, and there was turf everywhere. You'd think if you could build one of the best sporting arenas on the planet, you could grow a patch of grass.
Then there's the over dominance of money in the game of football. There's no salary cap, like in the NFL, for instance. There's no draft either, so the worst teams can get the best young players. There are academies run by the clubs. Then the lower clubs and academies tend to sell their best players to the top teams. Roman Abramovich, a Russian oil billionaire, has practically bought Chelsea the titles they've won.
Also, the last two weeks have seen some great football. 50,000 people turned up at Wembley last weekend for the FA Trophy final. That is awarded to non-league teams. The equivalent would be the level below the A/AA/AAA tiers of baseball. And it was a good game, Kidderminster Harriers led 2-0 but lost 3-2.
There are League playoffs that determine a final promotion spot in the League's below the Premier League that are currently going on. There were a lot of great goals and a lot of good games. There were worse players involved, but the football was far more entertaining.
Not only that, but most games of football are now all broadcast on Sky. No longer are games at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon, they're scattered all over the place to allow for TV. They're even restricted, so that you cannot see them on terrestrial TV (the Premier League). You can only see highlights unless you pay extra for two Satellite packages.
So why do people still bother to watch football?
Just down the road from Wembley, at Lord's Cricket Ground, England are playing the West Indies in the opening Test match of the summer. England are in a dominant position and winning. It will be full to a capacity of 29,000, but I best the action there was more entertaining (especially since England are dominant currently).
Starting about an hour ago, the European Cup Rugby Final between Leicester and Wasps begun, billed as one of the most important rugby games played this year.
It's not like there is a shortage of alternative entertainment for a Saturday afternoon.
By contrast, having seen decent length highlights of the current NHL Playoffs, I can honestly say I haven't been bored once. Next weekend, the Monaco Grand Prix, and the Indianapolis 500 will be thoroughly entertaining, even though there'll be no overtaking at Monaco, and I'll be reading what happens at Indy rather than watching it.
Football is one of the great mysteries of humanity. How something that is often so boring, so expensive to see, and so... crap... is continually viewed by billions all over the world.
