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I’m always amazed at how people attempt to make legitimate comparison arguments about two things that aren’t really comparable. It’s the old “apples and oranges” problem; yet few seem to understand that you just can’t say one is better than the other. It’s always a matter of personal preference coupled with life experience and thousands of other elements. I can’t believe the number of articles or comments on articles out there of people saying soccer is better than baseball or baseball is better than soccer. Sure, baseball and soccer are both sports just as apples and oranges are both fruits, but saying one is better than the other is just absurd. First off, what does “better than” even really mean?! the answers to this question are so ambiguous, how could one even begin to develop a case for the underlying elements within “betterness?!” (I love inventing new words…) Let’s look at the real issue at hand… Ignorance! I played baseball and soccer until I was 15 years old. I love the Yankees and I can feel my heart pound ever year around October when the playoffs begin. I feel like a 12 year old every time “The Sandlot” comes on TV, and have to admit I shed a tear when Kevin Costner asks his dead ghost dad “wanna have a catch?” the last time I caught “Field of Dreams” on TBS… I love peanuts and cracker jacks and would give my left arm if I could find a pack of strawberry Big League Chew…
When I was around 15 years old, my friends all stuck with soccer, and I followed in their footsteps. Ever since, I’ve had an enduring love affair with the game. When Salt Lake was chosen to house an MLS team, I was ecstatic. I stayed up to the wee hours of the morning to watch the 2006 world cup in Germany… I didn’t even care who was playing. Walking into Rio Tinto Stadium for the first game under the lights was a glimpse into heaven. I love the beautiful game and it has been a huge influence on who I am today. The years spent on competitive soccer teams has provided me with friends, memories and life lessons that are truly priceless.
Obviously within both games, there is strategy, skill, endurance, strength, and agility. Both require athleticism, intelligence, perspective and heart. I think it is a real shame when people don’t see these amazing elements of both sports and insist on slinging around their verbal slander of one game or the other! In my opinion, it shows the true ignorance of that person towards the sport they insist on bashing. “My apples are better because they have a red peel over your gay oranges that have an orange peel…” Idiots! Please, take the time to understand a game/sport for sometime before you come to the idiotic conclusion that it’s unworthy of the game/sport you have the most experience with. In reality, that’s all it is. Your exposure and world experience is so minute that you can only see one side of the picture. I feel sorry you’ve been trapped in your own closet of bias for so much of your life. Baseball and soccer fans alike, it’s time to come out of that closet. Take the time to understand the other! Appreciate the games for the contribution they give to the world of sports. Study the athletes. See how much work, sweat, blood and heart goes into perfecting themselves for the games they love. Millions of people all over the globe are obsessed with both sports… it’s not a matter of which is right and which is wrong, it’s a matter of seeing the right in both.

Saturday was the world cup qualifier at Rio Tinto stadium… Wicked! We sat on the south west side of the stadium on the very right edge of the section. The stadium looked great. I wish, however, that they would have started the game around 8 to get the full effect of a night game under the lights. There’s something electric about playing under the lights that’s hard to beat. Rio Tinto has a new program where you can text in your halftime food requests and they will bring it to your seat. Me and some friends of mine decided to try it out… uh… it still needs some help… to say the least… we didn’t get our food until the 80th minute, and the concessions guy delivering the food insisted on passing our filled to the brim tray across the entire row instead of walking back up half a flight of stairs and coming back down to our side… Then he proceeded to sit on the steps and wait until we had extracted all our goodies and passed the empty tray back across the same row… luckily no one attempted to kife my bratwurst and cap-less sierra mist as the tray passed, or there would have been hell to pay… The game was exciting, but I have to say, I’m not all impressed with our team at the moment… not to discredit El Salvador, because they did a fine job, but come on fellas! Their first goal came from a 5 foot nothin’ forward on a head ball… That’s like the least likely scenario to expect El Salvador to score… and it happened! I thought we looked out of sync and sluggish. Our passing was sloppy and uninventive. Sometimes it seems like we want to beat the beautiful game with the ugly stick… Granted, we got the job done and a win is a win… I just thought we didn’t look like a top ranked national power… Hey, at least my bratwurst was delicious…