T I T I T #3 The World Cup edition

This one is so easy it almost writes itself, but really it is the "why soccer sucks" edition.

1)  No instant replay - Just how many blown calls does there have to be before instant replay is actually used in this sport anyway?  I watched very little of the action and saw two blown goals by the referees, one which cost the US a goal, another which cost England.  And let's not forget, save for a blown hand ball call in France's favor they may not even have qualified for the World Cup.  If this is the world's most popular sport, as I have had drilled into my head time and time again these last couple of weeks, why the fuck don't they care if they get the calls right or not?  And it is not just blown calls, but the absolute lack of accountability after the fact.

2)  Injury time - Just what the hell is this?  Some guy just arbitrarily guesses how much time is left in a game based on assumptions of how much time was lost due to injury.  Here's a novel concept, if there is no action taking place, just stop the fucking clock.  This isn't brain surgery here, when there is action taking place the clock runs, when there isn't it stops and at the end of 45 minutes play is halted, rather than having the clock run out, but it really didn't run out and no one is sure exactly how much time is left bullshit.

3)  No scoring - I'll admit I am not one of those people who needs to see a ton of scoring to have an enjoyable sporting experience.  Some of the best games I have seen have involved little scoring, like a baseball no hitter, or a shut out in a hockey game.  The difference being I am actually seeing something there, a rarity as it were.  I may see a dominating pitching performance or some great defensive plays, or a hockey goalie make 20 to 30 saves, in soccer I may see the goalie make three saves with a goal as wide as a fucking barn door.  That's not cool, that is just boring as sin.  I sat through half of a 0-0 tie and the only thing I thought was that was 45, 46, 47 48, 49 minutes (who really knows, they just make that up) of my life that I will never get back.

4)  Skills competition - As bad as ties are in pool play I can almost tolerate them (though the 0-0 games are mind numbingly boring) and I understand the need for a winner once you get the field down to a 16 team single elimination format, but let me see if I understand this correctly, if a game remains tied after regulation and a 30 minute period of extra time, we then turn it into a skills competition which has almost nothing to do with actually playing soccer, but instead involves the great skill of standing in front of a net as wide as the side of a barn and kicking a ball into it without missing it?  Hey you want to have a "friendly" and use a skills cometition to determine a winner, by all means go for it, heck the NHL uses a shootout during the regular season, they just aren't foolish enough to do it in the postseason, the winner is determined on the playing field.  This is akin to determining the Super Bowl winner based on a field goal kicking contest.  But yet the best soccer team in the world can be determined using a process that has less skill than the dunking booth at the local carnival.

There are plenty of sports out there that I actually enjoy watching, everything from football, baseball, basketball, hockey here in the states to curling, rugby, Australian Rules Football, tennis, etc. that I can't be bothered with this boring as watching paint dry nonsense.