Soccer Heads - U.S. Soccer Problem & It's Inner City Solution

[Chase Bannon]

I was listening to Cowherd Show on ESPN radio. He had Tommy Smith (Irishman) on. Most soccer heads know who Tommy is. Tommy was giving solutions for U.S. Soccer. He basically said U.S. soccer team has the most educated team in the world because of the way the system is setup and you have to go to college to make it. He said our soccer players need to skip college and play with the best at an early age. The one point that really struck me and I agreed with him is when he said U.S. soccer needs to desperately get into the inner city if we want to be successful. He said there is too much talent and speed going to the waste in the inner city. He said your best soccer players come from your most difficult environments. He also said people need to explain to the inner city kids the amounts of money that can be made in soccer. More money than your Kobe Bryants and Michael Vicks. He summed up by saying the United States can have the most dominate team in the world if they reached out to inner city kids because no other country can produce speed like the we can. Plus he said we can solve a huge problem of poverty in the inner city and give inner city kids another outlet.

Some people could take this as some what racist, but I didn't because he didn't say it in a condesending way. IMO Tommy Smith realizes the talent black athletes have.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

 

[Al Smith]

I was thinking the same thing for hockey also...

 

[SpeedyMyk]

I agree with the premise but this is the cliche' "chicken and egg" dilemma. The problem is there is no internal demand for soccer which in turn means no major sponsors and in turn no major money. The only way to entice younger, inner city kids to play soccer is to get major money into the MLS. As long as kids see basketball players and football players signing multi-million dollar deals and soccer players like Landon Donovan making mediocre money, losing to Mexico and not securing any major endorsements, they are going to continue to go to where the perceived major success is...basketball and football....

 

[alexw]

i agree 100%

around the world soccer is played by the poor with the exception of this country

soccer here is like a suburban sport....with your soccer moms and nonathletic suburban children

if you market soccer in the hood and put some resources behind it...your talent pool will increase

you still may not get the very best athletes

but youll get a much better athlete than what usa soccer is producing now

 

[havelcok]

more focus should be made on getting those kids
to focus on education,
not trying to funnel more of them into sports.

 

[alexw]

more focus should be made on getting those kids
to focus on education,
not trying to funnel more of them into sports.

i disagree

sports keep these kids off the streets so they can obtain an education

furthermore, tapping into a sport like soccer may be an easy way to obtain a free college education when all of your peers are focused on football and basketball

 

[^SpiderMan^]

100% true.I said the exact same thing in a post a few years back.Here soccer is a middle class sport.In other countries,it is an everyday man's sport.The best athletes usually come from the poorer classes.In the sports that we do best in,(Basketball and Football) the teams are primarily made up of players from poorer backgrounds.In Baseball,Dominicans and Cubans are usually of poorer backgrounds.
My brother and I gre up in a Mexican neighborhood and by fluke,we got into soccer.At the time we played baseball and basketball as well,but eventually the organization and professionalism of the soccer league got us concentrating on just playing soccer year round.As kids,the best players by far were Mexicans.The Mexican kids stated playing soccer since birth and were way ahead of everyone else.As we got older,the fees increase for club teams.Club teams are city teams that you have to tryout for and they travel and play other club teams.The fees differ,but are usually a few thousand.That few thousand is alot of money to alot of parents,so many good players got derailed right there.The after the club season,there is kind of a league allstar team.Its called District.The District teams play in a tournament,and coaches pick players to play for the State team.The State team plays other States and then players get selected for the Regional team, then possibly the National Pool team.There are politics and otright racism all throughout.One year my brother's club team was all mexican with 3 bruthas and they dominated most of the teams in the state.After District tryouts,only a few of their players made the team(District team was almost all white except for my brother and two other teams).My brothers club team had a friendly game against the District team and beat this supposed allstar team 4-0 with their 3 best players playing for the District team.

 

[^SpiderMan^]

i agree 100%

around the world soccer is played by the poor with the exception of this country

soccer here is like a suburban sport....with your soccer moms and nonathletic suburban children

if you market soccer in the hood and put some resources behind it...your talent pool will increase

you still may not get the very best athletes

but youll get a much better athlete than what usa soccer is producing now

Once a year, my Highschool used to get one home schooled kid from another country.Every year our soccer team would be juiced when we'd find out that we were getting a dude from Spain,Brazil, or Sweden, thinking that they would be good in soccer.Every year we were surprised and disappointed as hell because they would suck.The thing was,these kids were rich in their countries and soccer was a poor man's sport.It would be like a Swedish High School basketball team getting a random kid from here thinking they would be able to ball, only to find out that they were getting some rich white dude that dribbles with both hands at the same time.

 

[Chase Bannon]

I was thinking the same thing for hockey also...

I think hockey is too regional. Unless you make it more attractable to inner city kids up north.

I agree with the premise but this is the cliche' "chicken and egg" dilemma. The problem is there is no internal demand for soccer which in turn means no major sponsors and in turn no major money. The only way to entice younger, inner city kids to play soccer is to get major money into the MLS. As long as kids see basketball players and football players signing multi-million dollar deals and soccer players like Landon Donovan making mediocre money, losing to Mexico and not securing any major endorsements, they are going to continue to go to where the perceived major success is...basketball and football....

I kinda of agree with you, but only slightly. MLS doesn't need ANYMORE money. I'm sorry but MLS doesn't have a superior product. Basketball is our superior international product. Football does great here. Baseball is up and down. America can't have superior product in ever sport. We need to give up on Soccer. Europe has a superior product and will always have a superior product. MLS needs to play a role of a JV league for European soccer.

Also you use Landon Donovan as your example of soceer players signing multi-million deals. Have you seen the Forbes list of richest athletes? Do you know some of your richest sports contracts are made by soccer players?

i agree 100%

around the world soccer is played by the poor with the exception of this country

soccer here is like a suburban sport....with your soccer moms and nonathletic suburban children

if you market soccer in the hood and put some resources behind it...your talent pool will increase

you still may not get the very best athletes

but youll get a much better athlete than what usa soccer is producing now

What's funny Alex is Tommy Smith said the same thing you said about it being a suburban sport and we have made the sport too expensive to play with all the traveling etc.

As far as you may not agree with us not having the very best athletes I disagree. Tommy Smith tried hard to be politically correct, but I bet he had the Jimmy the Greek frame of thought in his mind. I catch flack for agreeing with Jimmy the Greek, but I always say there is a reason why your superior sprinters come from the west hemisphere. I won't get into that.

more focus should be made on getting those kids
to focus on education,
not trying to funnel more of them into sports.

Read Alex quote below because I agree with him as far as to your comment.

i disagree

sports keep these kids off the streets so they can obtain an education

furthermore, tapping into a sport like soccer may be an easy way to obtain a free college education when all of your peers are focused on football and basketball

100% true.I said the exact same thing in a post a few years back.Here soccer is a middle class sport.In other countries,it is an everyday man's sport.The best athletes usually come from the poorer classes.In the sports that we do best in,(Basketball and Football) the teams are primarily made up of players from poorer backgrounds.In Baseball,Dominicans and Cubans are usually of poorer backgrounds.
My brother and I gre up in a Mexican neighborhood and by fluke,we got into soccer.At the time we played baseball and basketball as well,but eventually the organization and professionalism of the soccer league got us concentrating on just playing soccer year round.As kids,the best players by far were Mexicans.The Mexican kids stated playing soccer since birth and were way ahead of everyone else.As we got older,the fees increase for club teams.Club teams are city teams that you have to tryout for and they travel and play other club teams.The fees differ,but are usually a few thousand.That few thousand is alot of money to alot of parents,so many good players got derailed right there.The after the club season,there is kind of a league allstar team.Its called District.The District teams play in a tournament,and coaches pick players to play for the State team.The State team plays other States and then players get selected for the Regional team, then possibly the National Pool team.There are politics and otright racism all throughout.One year my brother's club team was all mexican with 3 bruthas and they dominated most of the teams in the state.After District tryouts,only a few of their players made the team(District team was almost all white except for my brother and two other teams).My brothers club team had a friendly game against the District team and beat this supposed allstar team 4-0 with their 3 best players playing for the District team.

I couldn't have said it better man.

 

[militantmidget]

I totally agree with what your saying OP, but one thing i've come to notice in the USMNT is that they are a representation of white america. Every major sport in this country that competes at an international level has majority black or hispanic players. The soccer national team is the one of two sports where the majority makeup of the team is white (The other is Hockey). If the team becomes black and hispanic and begins producing better results, I feel the patriotic sentiment from fans could become bitter similar to the multi ethnic french soccer team. To the whole world, the so called greatest country in the world would be represented by the minority while playing the greatest sport in the world.

I honestly believe the soccer structure in this country hasn't changed because they want the representation of the sport to reflect the majority of the fans. It's really nothing new to see though. They did this for football, basketball, baseball, etc. back in the early 20th century.

 

[militantmidget]

i disagree

sports keep these kids off the streets so they can obtain an education

furthermore, tapping into a sport like soccer may be an easy way to obtain a free college education when all of your peers are focused on football and basketball

I think both of you are correct. Education needs to be a higher priority in our community. However, once studying is done for the day, kids need a place to unwind. Children aren't meant to be stuck in the house all afternoon after school. Balance is key with us. No education and too much sports leaves us with a whole bunch of unemployed dudes hustling in the streets but they can ball. Too much education without an outlet for creative expression and we nothing more than robots.

 

[Les W]

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan go on with that Tommy
1. We already have a problem with too many Inner City kids being pushed away from education and pushed towards sports as it is... why SANCTION It?
2. So the goal is to ruin some more inner city kids lives just so America can be a more globally powerful sports nation??
Do it for UNCLE Sam???
That completely USELESS to the kids and their communities... hell it is just braggin rights... old cold war era ideology poppin back up... America can't be the best in everything...sorry
3. The Europeans already have a steady supply of gifted African athletes and those guys get the least respect (and paper) out of everybody...

Very Bad idea imo...

 

[mike123]

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan go on with that Tommy
1. We already have a problem with too many Inner City kids being pushed away from education and pushed towards sports as it is... why SANCTION It?
2. So the goal is to ruin some more inner city kids lives just so America can be a more globally powerful sports nation??
Do it for UNCLE Sam???
That completely USELESS to the kids and their communities... hell it is just braggin rights... old cold war era ideology poppin back up... America can't be the best in everything...sorry
3. The Europeans already have a steady supply of gifted African athletes and those guys get the least respect (and paper) out of everybody...

Very Bad idea imo...

and to add
soccer is too boring for some of yall to wrap ur heads around.
kids see a bunch of people runnin back an forth on some huge ass field doin damn near nothin other than runnin back an forth an see a huge waste of time. patrice oneal breaks it down way better than i ever could

and making soccer fields in the hood would be a giant waste of money and land that could be used for shit that would be way more benificial to the community

 

[mike123]

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan go on with that Tommy
1. We already have a problem with too many Inner City kids being pushed away from education and pushed towards sports as it is... why SANCTION It?
2. So the goal is to ruin some more inner city kids lives just so America can be a more globally powerful sports nation??
Do it for UNCLE Sam???
That completely USELESS to the kids and their communities... hell it is just braggin rights... old cold war era ideology poppin back up... America can't be the best in everything...sorry
3. The Europeans already have a steady supply of gifted African athletes and those guys get the least respect (and paper) out of everybody...

Very Bad idea imo...

and to add
soccer is too boring for some of yall to wrap ur heads around.
kids see a bunch of people runnin back an forth on some huge ass field doin damn near nothin other than runnin back an forth an see a huge waste of time. patrice oneal breaks it down way better than i ever could

and making soccer fields in the hood would be a giant waste of money and land that could be used for shit that would be way more benificial to the community

 

[Chase Bannon]

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan go on with that Tommy
1. We already have a problem with too many Inner City kids being pushed away from education and pushed towards sports as it is... why SANCTION It?
2. So the goal is to ruin some more inner city kids lives just so America can be a more globally powerful sports nation??
Do it for UNCLE Sam???
That completely USELESS to the kids and their communities... hell it is just braggin rights... old cold war era ideology poppin back up... America can't be the best in everything...sorry
3. The Europeans already have a steady supply of gifted African athletes and those guys get the least respect (and paper) out of everybody...

Very Bad idea imo...

and to add
soccer is too boring for some of yall to wrap ur heads around.
kids see a bunch of people runnin back an forth on some huge ass field doin damn near nothin other than runnin back an forth an see a huge waste of time. patrice oneal breaks it down way better than i ever could

and making soccer fields in the hood would be a giant waste of money and land that could be used for shit that would be way more benificial to the community

I'm sorry fellas. I disagree with you. Sports in itself build character and unity. Sports in itself played a huge factor in civil rights. Most of our millionaires in the black community come from entertainment. I don't see how outreaching to the inner city with soccer can't help black folks. Kevin Garnett, Mick Vick, etc are from impoverish backgrounds and their success outlet of sports will have their kids in better condition than the average black child. So it can't see a negative in letting soccer be an outlet for black youth. I just see a logic argument against that based on the state and conditions of the inner city.

 

[EPDC]

I agree that the US would be a dominant Soccer power if it were marketed to kids in the "inner" city (i.e. black youth). I mean, look at some of the best players in the world (Pele, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, etc....) came from the slums of Brazil, yet they ruled the sport. Real talk, many of these kids in poor countries are playing soccer on dirt playgrounds, not manicured grass fields.

That being said, it is a great team sport, but education needs to be a higher focus than Soccer....and I'm a huge soccer fan who played in HS.

 

[Wobble Wobble]

USA "soccer" and USA Rugby could do with more brothers. Matter of fact, if there was a way to take some US born CFL level brothers and teach them rugby, the US would become a major team and put fear in the rugby world. If I could wave a magic wand, that's the one thing I'd love to see. I've played rugby, and The Eagles need some brothers.

As far as soccer goes, the current programme is sound. It can produce quality, polished players who after two or three years, just like gridiron and basketball players, are ready or nearly ready for the pros - Landon Donovan was as dangerous as any player in front of the net in last year's World Cup as anyone. Altidore and Jermaine Jones come to mind as some brothers that can get the job done. The USA soccer team is going to produce in a few years. From it's rebirth in the 60s and 70s they had a plan and it's starting to show.

Remember Freddie Adu? The mistake there was thinking he was ready and that at 13 he could be taken to Europe. I think that given time, given a college scholarship, Freddie would now be among the biggest players. But the media fell for the hype and built his image too much.

Most of the guys in Europe now have come through the major teams' youth programs. The USA has something similar and it's going to show fruition. I don't necessarily mean winning the World Cup - we should all know especially after last year, that that is EXTREMELY difficult - but a semi final appearance will come by 2022. If BGOL is still around then, you can quote me.

 

[DJCandle]

Football (soccer) is a suburban sport here. That's our biggest problem in this country.

But make no mistake... if our inner youth played the game, they'd far outreach any American sports icon in a heartbeat.

But i'll let the man who should be running our national team explain.

 

[DJCandle]

more focus should be made on getting those kids
to focus on education,
not trying to funnel more of them into sports.

Education?? For what purpose?? All the ones who make it in this country, and I don't mean some shitty Master's or BA, but I mean really make it, the ones who obtain true wealth, are all college dropouts who have put their ingenuity to the forefront, and their education 2nd.

In other words, if you want to funnel kids away from the sport, shouldn't it be geared towards being ingenious, rather than educated?

 

[Chiyo]

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan go on with that Tommy
1. We already have a problem with too many Inner City kids being pushed away from education and pushed towards sports as it is... why SANCTION It?
2. So the goal is to ruin some more inner city kids lives just so America can be a more globally powerful sports nation??
Do it for UNCLE Sam???
That completely USELESS to the kids and their communities... hell it is just braggin rights... old cold war era ideology poppin back up... America can't be the best in everything...sorry
3. The Europeans already have a steady supply of gifted African athletes and those guys get the least respect (and paper) out of everybody...

Very Bad idea imo...

I agree with the rest of your points...but the bolded is kinda crap. Especially when the current highest paid athlete in the best league is this guy

 

[DJCandle]

and to add
soccer is too boring for some of yall to wrap ur heads around.
kids see a bunch of people runnin back an forth on some huge ass field doin damn near nothin other than runnin back an forth an see a huge waste of time. patrice oneal breaks it down way better than i ever could

That's because American's as a whole have very little attention spans. And that's no disrespect, but that's just the culture we've been brainwashed with here. Everything here is a highlight or scores are multiplied to please the audience. Here the game's cater to the viewer, when everywhere else, the viewer caters to the game.

But the youth who are learning the game now know better. I see it everyday.

and making soccer fields in the hood would be a giant waste of money and land that could be used for shit that would be way more benificial to the community

How so? A pitch for kids to play the game on, rather than run around in the streets, creating havoc and carnage is a waste?

 

[DJCandle]

USA "soccer" and USA Rugby could do with more brothers. Matter of fact, if there was a way to take some US born CFL level brothers and teach them rugby, the US would become a major team and put fear in the rugby world. If I could wave a magic wand, that's the one thing I'd love to see. I've played rugby, and The Eagles need some brothers.

As far as soccer goes, the current programme is sound. It can produce quality, polished players who after two or three years, just like gridiron and basketball players, are ready or nearly ready for the pros - Landon Donovan was as dangerous as any player in front of the net in last year's World Cup as anyone. Altidore and Jermaine Jones come to mind as some brothers that can get the job done. The USA soccer team is going to produce in a few years. From it's rebirth in the 60s and 70s they had a plan and it's starting to show.

Remember Freddie Adu? The mistake there was thinking he was ready and that at 13 he could be taken to Europe. I think that given time, given a college scholarship, Freddie would now be among the biggest players. But the media fell for the hype and built his image too much.

Most of the guys in Europe now have come through the major teams' youth programs. The USA has something similar and it's going to show fruition. I don't necessarily mean winning the World Cup - we should all know especially after last year, that that is EXTREMELY difficult - but a semi final appearance will come by 2022. If BGOL is still around then, you can quote me.

I don't know if our current footballing program is sound yet, but it's definitely a structure to work with. The problem here is lack of finesse. We turn every player into robots here. Granted while do boast the world's fattest country, the flip side to that coin shows that we're also one of the fittest. Our athletes can go pound for pound in every sport with anyone in the world.

My biggest gripe with US Soccer is that we overemphasize the fitness here. We'll take someone who may have a very sloppy first touch, but can run a 3 min mile without a sweat and throw him into the US soccer program, while the under-fit kid, might not have all the fitness in the world, but can deliver a pass with Xavi like precision, get's overlooked.

This does not constitute good football.

The grassroots here need to start taking the kids who have a bit of imagination, bit of finesse, some idea, can dance with the ball. Too many times in US camps across the country, i've seen kids reprimanded for trying to create. For trying to express themselves.

Our structure is ook at the moment, but we need to transition into tapping into the inner city kids with the hispanics, africans, and everyone else, who may not be able to outrun a cheetah, but can dance, and caress the ball more than a little bit.

Freddy Adu is currently that imaginative playmaker the US is severely lacking right now.

 

[Chase Bannon]

Football (soccer) is a suburban sport here. That's our biggest problem in this country.

But make no mistake... if our inner youth played the game, they'd far outreach any American sports icon in a heartbeat.

But i'll let the man who should be running our national team explain.

I must have missed this video during world cup. He makes a great point.

Also the cool part about soccer is you cater to the under 6 feet people. Basketball is a game of height and football is becoming more and more a game of height. I know so many brothas that were athletic and got neglected because of height in football and basketball. Soccer can seriously provide them an outlet.

 

[gene cisco]

I must have missed this video during world cup. He makes a great point.

Also the cool part about soccer is you cater to the under 6 feet people. Basketball is a game of height and football is becoming more and more a game of height. I know so many brothas that were athletic and got neglected because of height in football and basketball. Soccer can seriously provide them an outlet.

Excellent point.

And to the brothers saying there is enough focus on sports and not enough on education -- every positive outlet is a step in the right direction.

Let's face it, not everybody can be a doctor, lawyer or an engineer just like not everybody can be an athlete. Let's just get positive outlets out there.

 

[DJCandle]

I must have missed this video during world cup. He makes a great point.

Also the cool part about soccer is you cater to the under 6 feet people. Basketball is a game of height and football is becoming more and more a game of height. I know so many brothas that were athletic and got neglected because of height in football and basketball. Soccer can seriously provide them an outlet.

Absolutely. The arguable best player on the planet right now is 5'6 1'/2.

To the average American sports fan that's laughable, but when this guy in the middle gets the ball...

... it's lights out.


That's the beauty of football. Your height has very little to do with your imagination, and what you can produce on the pitch. If we could have our boys playing the game from an early age, we'd have a monster squad.

But our selection process needs to be changed right now, cause there's one too many white boys for my liking on our squad. And that's not being racist, just truth.

Btw, this is our best Defensive Midfielder. I don't care what people say about the coach's son.

 

[DJCandle]

Excellent point.

And to the brothers saying there is enough focus on sports and not enough on education -- every positive outlet is a step in the right direction.

Let's face it, not everybody can be a doctor, lawyer or an engineer just like not everybody can be an athlete. Let's just get positive outlets out there.

Very true. I might have gone a little overboard with my previous statement, but you're correct sir.

 

[Les W]

I agree with the rest of your points...but the bolded is kinda crap. Especially when the current highest paid athlete in the best league is this guy

yeah .... I was speaking generally... but I see your point... I have ZERO problem with football... let's get more intellectuals though... we flooded the market with athletic talent but we can do better

I'm sorry fellas. I disagree with you. Sports in itself build character and unity. Sports in itself played a huge factor in civil rights. Most of our millionaires in the black community come from entertainment. I don't see how outreaching to the inner city with soccer can't help black folks. Kevin Garnett, Mick Vick, etc are from impoverish backgrounds and their success outlet of sports will have their kids in better condition than the average black child. So it can't see a negative in letting soccer be an outlet for black youth. I just see a logic argument against that based on the state and conditions of the inner city.

We don't need more kids to be entertainers... that imo has proven as a bad way to "make it" isn't the bankruptcy rate for athletes after retirement through the roof??

1 out of 1 million basketball players go pro... then 70% end up bankrupt... time for us to find a new hustle.... we need more small business owners imo

 

[militantmidget]

I must have missed this video during world cup. He makes a great point.

Also the cool part about soccer is you cater to the under 6 feet people. Basketball is a game of height and football is becoming more and more a game of height. I know so many brothas that were athletic and got neglected because of height in football and basketball. Soccer can seriously provide them an outlet.

Man I was just saying this in another soccer thread on here. Dudes who were hella nice in football with 4.4 speed and moves to boot, but they were to small to go to the big schools so they would settle for junior college or D2/D3 schools.


Take a look at this kid. He now plays for West Virginia.



In this clip, dude was only like 5-7 and 165 lbs, perfect size for soccer. Imagine all the dudes with his skillset and speed playing soccer. Shit Texas, Florida, Cali, and Georgia alone have numerous kids with this ability. If the US academies started grooming these kind of athletes to play on the wings and at striker at an early age, it would be game over for opposing teams. But like DJ Candle mentioned, the finesse aspect of the game must be accepted within the national team style of play for these kind of athletes to maximize their skills the most.

 

[Bounty Killah]

On the hush, I'm from London, went to high school in the City. Not poor, but had a complete game by the time I came here at 15. Played for my high school squad. We went to the PSAL finals.

Anyway, in my 50's now, but I still play. Still fast as any 18 yr old, but losing a step as the yrs clock by. The point I'm trying to make though is that the US thinks this is an urban sophisticated game. Actually, it's not.... Football is rough and for gladiators. On the pitch, you can reduce men to a pile of shit. Go back and watch pele, maradona etc.

Don't wanna ramble, but the immigrants will solve the US's problem, not these suburban trained to death kids.

 

[Bounty Killah]

Excellent point.


Let's face it, not everybody can be a doctor, lawyer or an engineer just like not everybody can be an athlete. Let's just get positive outlets out there.

Not true, brah. We can be all of these. I'm got three of your professions down (jd and engineering). Plus, I play football.

God Bless America!!! Lol

 

[Charlemagne]

I've been saying this for years...

you give me the current crop of NBA point guards from the time they are 5 years old and i'll show you the biggest, strongest, fastest, quickest, most skilled and smartest soccer team the world has ever seen... and dont give me access to the NFL WRS...

 

[DaAssWatcher]

I'm sorry fellas. I disagree with you. Sports in itself build character and unity. Sports in itself played a huge factor in civil rights. Most of our millionaires in the black community come from entertainment. I don't see how outreaching to the inner city with soccer can't help black folks. Kevin Garnett, Mick Vick, etc are from impoverish backgrounds and their success outlet of sports will have their kids in better condition than the average black child. So it can't see a negative in letting soccer be an outlet for black youth. I just see a logic argument against that based on the state and conditions of the inner city.

Tha problem is we need to stop being seen as entertainers.Tha majority of people around the world see Blacks as people who should only entertain you and nothing more.
We need more Black scientists,Doctors,lawyers,entrepenurs,IT specialists, and engineers in tha inner city then we need entertainers.

Striving to entertain people isn"t gonna get us where we need to be.Shit even our top entertainers are getting pimped.

With all these Black millionare entertainers where are tha music distribution houses at?
Movie distributions?
NBA/NFL owners?

We need to focus more on being owners instead of workers.
A million dollar worker is still a worker at tha end of tha day.

 

[^SpiderMan^]

I honestly believe the soccer structure in this country hasn't changed because they want the representation of the sport to reflect the majority of the fans. It's really nothing new to see though. They did this for football, basketball, baseball, etc. back in the early 20th century.

Very true. As I said with the Olympic Development Program (ODP),it was obvious that they were trying to mix in white players.If done purely off talent,the ODP programs from state to national would be 100% mexican at the youth ages until around 14 years old.

 

[shaddyvillethug]

Chase bannon my son would beat Yo son ass in soccer.

 

[^SpiderMan^]

I agree with the premise but this is the cliche' "chicken and egg" dilemma. The problem is there is no internal demand for soccer which in turn means no major sponsors and in turn no major money. The only way to entice younger, inner city kids to play soccer is to get major money into the MLS. As long as kids see basketball players and football players signing multi-million dollar deals and soccer players like Landon Donovan making mediocre money, losing to Mexico and not securing any major endorsements, they are going to continue to go to where the perceived major success is...basketball and football....

Soccer players make much more than NBA and NFL cats man.Honestly,NFL dudes are severely undrepaid.Plus,there are far more teams/leagues you can play for in soccer.Bruthas have gotten locked into Football and Basketball and the bulk of our athletes play these two sports.If we widened our focus, we would have much more opportunities not only for professional play, but scholarships.
An example,I was out on a boat one day and saw a youth rowing competition.It was all white folks and an Oakland team that was mixed with quite a few black folks.The Oakland team was called the Oakland Strokes.I talked to a coach about the Strokes and she said they do community outreach and get teenage kids and teach them how to row and many compete for the team.She said MOST of them end up getting full ride scholarships because there are so few athletes.In that row shit, it just helps to be tall,coordinated and strong.She said there were people that got full rises after rowing for only a year.Looking around, those mfers looked like some of the nerdiest and unathletic mfers ever.Pretty much any average athlete that can make an AAU hoop team would have been the most athletic dude there.