Sunday, June 6, 2010

World Cup Preview (Not Really)

I am getting excited for the international soccer sensation, the World Cup, to get started next Friday. Am I as excited as real, hard-core futbol fans? No, and I'm comfortable conceding that.

This little note is really about the exportation of American players to the premier European soccer leagues, but more specifically, the strange fact that the majority of the handful of Americans that play at the top levels are goalies.

I've read that there are different schools of thought on why this is, and the one that seems to win out in the informal discussions is that Americans, while athletic as the best of the world's athletes, tend to be especially good with their hands. To paraphrase a quote I read, "Have you ever seen an Englishman throw a ball?"

A tiny, mostly insignificant thought...

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