Futbol and Football

Football?

Football?

Tomorrow morning, the United States soccer team plays Germany. The outcome will determine if one or both of these teams advance to the round of 16 in the World Cup. There will be many Americans glued to their televisions to watch the match. There will also be many Americans that couldn't care less that there is even a sport called soccer.

In most of the world, when you say "football or futbol" they know that you are referring to the sport of soccer. In America, when you say "football," people think of that game played with helmets and shoulder pads on fields with a 50 yard line and goalposts. Every sports fan in America recognizes the names Joe Namath,  Johnny Unitis, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. Significantly fewer know (or care) who Pele or Diego Maradona or Neymar or Christiano Ronaldo are.

Regardless, the World Cup is an international sensation. Soccer fans are some of the most obsessed sports fans there are. Correct that...THE most obsessed sports fans. They LOVE their sport.

There is truly no way to compare American football to association football (soccer.) They are completely different games. There are many who describe watching a soccer match to watching paint dry. They don't get what all the fuss is about. Many of the World Cup matches will end 0-0 (that's nil-nil in soccer-speak.) How can you play a 90 minute match and it end in a tie (that's a draw in soccer-speak) they ask. Are you kidding me? Run around for 90 minutes and nobody scores? You find this interesting or exciting?

Another criticism of soccer is all the feigning of injury (called diving in soccer-speak...called "simulation" by FIFA.) I would imagine that rugby players, in particular, get greatly annoyed when watching soccer. Oh look, he was tripped and is writhing around in pain as if he was hit by a truck (rugby players actually do hit you like a truck.) Quite frankly, everyone who watches soccer finds all the diving annoying. Don't blame the sport...blame the players.

Look, soccer isn't American football and it certainly isn't rugby. They are completely different sports. It is not fair to compare them. And enough of the complaints about low or no scoring games. Ever watch a baseball game (America's pastime) that is 0-0 after 9 innings? Don't whine to me about games that can be slow or boring. Soccer isn't the only sport where that can happen.

Here's the thing about soccer. It truly is the world's game. I mean, there is even a team from Algeria...and Ecuador. Not so with football, or baseball, or basketball. Just soccer. And that's why many Americans don't like it. Americans don't dominate soccer like we do the other sports I mentioned. It's not American born and bred.

I watch (and enjoy) soccer once every four years...just like the Olympics. How often do you watch bobsled racing or pole vaulting, or curling, or giant slalom? But you did watch it during the summer or winter games didn't you? As did the whole world. Like I said, the World Cup is a big deal. For a brief moment, the world changes its focus from all the junk going on to watch a team from Iran play a game against a team from Bosnia and Herzegovina (that's one country, not two.) By the way, Bosnia and Herzegovina won 3-1.

Let's be clear though. Come September, this guy will be watching college and professional football every weekend. Maybe I will get lucky and score some tickets to watch my Georgia Bulldogs (that's Dawgs in Georgia-speak) at beautiful Sanford Stadium. But I am perfectly comfortable loving that great sport played every autumn as well as my enjoyment of watching the World Cup. Go Dawgs! Ole Ole Ole!

I'm going to sue you!

Professional football players are suing the NFL because, in the course of playing football, their helmets hit other players helmets (in some cases, quite hard) and they have discovered that the numerous blows to the head were not good for them.

This out-of-left-field revelation that severe impacts to the head could result in long term issues has prompted these former players to blame it on the football league. The players had no idea this might be harmful. Didn't most professional football players attend at least 3-4 years at institutions of higher learning? But they had no idea. Bizarre. As Rod Serling would have said, "that's the signpost up ahead --your next stop, the Twilight Zone."

Players suing the NFL because playing football could cause head injuries would be like professional swimmers suing their governing body because swimming could lead to wetness.

I wonder if professional boxers are aware that having your head pounded by a fist covered with 16 ounce leather gloves might be a little harmful when done in 15 round increments over many years. Then there is the Ultimate Fighting leagues and Mixed Martial Arts contests where they literally just punch, elbow and kick the crapola out of each other until someone either gets knocked out, passes out, taps out or the fight actually comes to it's appointed ending. I think they should sue.

We have obese people suing fast food restaurants because they didn't know eating 2 Double Whoppers, a super-sized order of french fries and a trash can size cup of Mountain Dew four times a week might not be very good for you. Or people sue McDonalds because their hot coffee is actually hot and if you place the cup between your legs and some of it spills it might burn you. Cigarette smokers sue tobacco companies because they didn't know that inhaling burning tobacco leaves might cause some problems with their mouth, throat and lungs. Ever sit by a campfire and the wind direction changes, blowing all the smoke your way? Yeah, that makes me want to just sit still and savor the burning acrid fumes into my eyes, nose and throat. But maybe you smoked those cooling menthol brands of cigarettes. That would be more like a campfire that was burning Halls Mentho-Lyptus logs I guess. I think there have been warnings about tobacco usage for much of the last century. Yet, smokers didn't know.

If I fall off my bike I guess I can sue the bike manufacturer or, better yet... gravity. Maybe after growing up and discovering that my life isn't perfect, I could sue my parents for malpractice.

When I was still with E-Z-GO I was deposed during a preliminary proceeding involving a product liability lawsuit. There was a tragic accident involving a golf car and an SUV... on a highway...at night. The teenager driving the golf car was shuttling people across this rural South Carolina highway to attend a high school graduation party put on by a Dad who was a prominent doctor in the community. People parked across the highway and the golf cars provided a ride to the party. When the accident occurred, only the young driver was in the golf car. Alcoholic beverages were being consumed by  most of the attendees, adults and high schoolers alike. The plaintiff's attorneys argued that the golf car was not properly equipped to cross a highway at night. I did not disagree with that point. The golf car clearly states that it is for non-highway use only. They argued that the golf car should have been equipped with headlights and taillights so it could have been seen on the highway. We said that the operating instructions on the dash clearly stated that the golf car was for NON-HIGHWAY USE ONLY. We also indicated that a very large percentage of all golf is played in the daytime making lights on fleet golf cars unnecessary. E-Z-GO does make other models of vehicle that have uses other than golf and they are equipped differently. But this was a used golf car rented by the hosts from a local dealer (who was also being sued.) A young man was killed in a very unfortunate but avoidable accident. And somebody needed to be sued because it certainly had to be someone's fault (fault = you must pay me) other than the young man or the adults that held the party and provided the golf car for him to drive. The driver of the SUV was also sued for not seeing a 12 mph golf car with no lights crossing a 55 mph speed limit highway at night. They may have even sued the sun for setting because darkness may have also been at fault.

The point is that many people today do not take responsibility for their own actions and decisions. Professional football players are paid an obscene amount of money to play a very violent sport. That non-existent touch football league doesn't quite draw the same crowds or television revenue as its full contact cousin. Football players know that they risk injury including head and neck injuries. And hockey? Oh yeah, there's a safer sport. Fisticuffs are a vital element of the game. I think they should sue for millions for each missing tooth.

This would probably be a good point to tell you a great lawyer joke...but I won't. Now, don't get me wrong. There are plenty of people that get hurt or killed through no fault of their own. It is caused by a defective product, improper procedure, negligence or a host of other reasons. These people should have the ability to seek compensation for their losses. But every bad thing that might happen to you shouldn't be looked at as an immediate opportunity to sue somebody.

A patient goes in to see a doctor and says, "Hey Doc, it hurts when I do this." The doctor replies, "stop doing that." Good advice. If you are doing something that you know is bad for you..stop doing it... or quit whining about the consequences. And for heaven's sake stop looking for someone to sue.