Women's 2019 big kick-the-ball tournament

. wasn't around the old place when that thread happened, so he probably didn't see it.

Yes, that thread was a complete troll job. I think the politics thread was locked, and since I have very few interests, I liked to troll soccer fans when politics was off limits.

But, not just any soccer fans. Certainly not .. It was specifically directed at drawing the ire of specific soccer fans, like Typefitter, who are so earnest, and who get worked up over it. 

I'm also not going to feel bad about mocking "soccer fans" like Chelsea or Hillary Clinton, or Valerie Jarrett, who only tweet sports every four years, and only in relationship to the women's world cup.

And, c'mon, I mean, it was an absurd argument. The humor in it was that several people took the argument seriously, in spite of the absurdity. 

That was a really fun thread.  I don't know if the soccer people ever did figure out that they were being trolled.

I think Robert Drake would've been conflicted on that one.  His sensibilities fit well with those doing the trolling, but the trolled were soccer people.  Not sure how he would've played it. 

You've got to wade quite a few pages into that before the fun stuff begins.

As I recall, that began as a serious thread simply about the US loss to T & T, but after the politics board got locked, us knuckleheads decided to talk soccer and things got jumpin.

I always felt the 1999 World Cup attention was fueled by quite a few things.
As some have already mentioned, the timing and location were key factors.
It was also the 'proof point' for Title IX.

Experts don’t just get to “declare” things. That opinion, in fact, is the beating heart of the lifelong grudge match between me and a certain award-winning magazine writer.

Put it this way:

Bobby Fischer, when he still walked among us, would advise during a particular move of the middle game, of the thousands of possible moves that could be made, that a player move his bishop from one square to another. He would advise so for very particular reasons. There is a reason that bishop in square X is a more optimal move than bishop to square Y. There are reasons that bishop to square X is more optimal than, say, knoght to square Z. Now, I wouldn’t know what those reasons are, but if I asked Bobby Fischer, I’m sure he could explain it. And the explanation is not: “Because Bobby Fischer decided so.”

Drake can take his shots at me for staying near Chicago and misdirect everything to my motives rather than my argument. Ty can declare, again, “YOU’RE the problem, Whitman!” and nuke. JC can accuse me of trying to be a “cool kid.” And I can, as I have, admit that I’m no longer - if I ever was - a good fit to interact on these two boards.

But, goddamnit. none of that alters the fact that I am right about this. Experts don’t get to simply set truths by fiat. If they did, then we would still be using wins as the most effective means of evaluating a pitcher. And we would still hold it as self-evident that the sun orbits the Earth. But somewhere along the line, some expert swallowed his ego for a brief moment and said, “Well, what if the troll has a point?”

You ask one honest question about soccer instead of mocking or offering snark and you expect people to believe you’re sincere?

I agree with you a 100% about experts and appealing to authority, it drives me nuts and the old veteran sportswriters expect it and are shocked when they actually have to defend their work.

The bottom line, there’s been a huge overreaction to this and nuking or needing a break seems silly to me.