SOCCER
Soccer is much more than a sport. It is a way of life.
By far the world's most popular sport, soccer brings people together like nothing else. Hundreds of millions worship their favorite team as if it were a religion, while even more support their national teams in what is the ultimate form of national pride.
No other sport features 207 countries, of which a massive majority boasts soccer as their national sport, battling for a place in a true international championship, the World Cup finals, the most-watched sporting event in the world.
For some countries, soccer is the only positive influence they have in their lives. When war-ravaged Iraq won the Asian Cup in 2007, it was not only a sporting victory for the country, but a triumph of the human spirit that armies, politicians and, in Iraq's case, religions fail to replicate.
Many Americans wish to write soccer off as a sport for the Third World and choose to ignore it in favor of another from of the glut of sporting options that already exist in the U.S. No other country has major leagues in American football, baseball, basketball, and hockey.
However, soccer is on the fast track to becoming a top four sport in America. It is already the most played sport in the U.S., and the fact that the country is a melting pot for diverse cultures, most of which embrace soccer, the game continues to grow.
It is much more accessible than any other sport - with the obvious exception of running track - as you only need a ball and makeshift goals to play. Kids in poor countries who love the game but do not have money for equipment simply make a ball out of paper or some other material and then are free to play, whether it be on grass, dirt, or the street. Players don't need pads, helmets, or any extra equipment; they only need themselves and the ball, as soccer is based on skill and not brute strength.
In addition, the game is free-flowing with constant action with no time-outs allowed, which means there are no unnecessary pauses like most other sports. This keeps you on the edge of your seat when watching, as goals are unpredictable and you often never see them coming.
Soccer requires great amounts of athleticism. You will not find 40-year olds with beer bellies playing professionally. Nor will you see anyone ever walking on the field. Players often run up to ten miles a game and yet still show no signs of fatigue.
Soccer is also the ultimate team sport. While one player can make a team good, he will not necessarily dominate unless he has an exceptional supporting cast. While in sports like football where players have one position and strictly adhere to it, every player must be tremendously well-rounded, with basic knowledge of scoring, defending, passing, and dribbling in soccer.
So whether you are singing your heart out at your favorite team's next home game, taking in a match with fellow fans or good friends, or playing pick-up at your local park, keep enjoying the beautiful game of soccer. You wouldn't want to miss out on something the entire world cherishes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNTQZCm07LI
soccer bloopers
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Cross Country racing
information and history of cross country running
Cross-country is a running sport that consists of at least five scoring runners per team that race against each other in courses that vary in difficulty. What makes cross-country different to any other running competition, is the courses could consist of open terrain, grass, mud, sand, and even vary in hills. The length in courses varies in each school and/or University. For men, the courses could be anywhere from 4 miles to 7.5 miles (about 9,300 meters to 12,000 meters), and for the women, the races are 1.25 miles to 3 miles (about 2,000 meters to 5,000 meters). Scoring is different than any other sport, wherein the less points each team has the better. No matter how many athletes there are on a team, only 5 teammates score and the points equal the place the runner would finish within the race. For example, if a runner were to finish in 3rd place, that runner would get 3 points. All five runners’ points would be added up at the end of the race and the team with the least amount of points is the winner. The sport can be dated back to the 1800s in England where it was a team sport in public schools. At that time, the sport was named “Hare and Hounds” or “The Paper Chase”. The sport would consist of a group of runners that would lay a trail of paper or other devices to mark a trail and another group of runners would follow the trail. In 1837, the first competition was held at Rugby School, which later turned into the sport having a course pre set over open country land. The sport became so popular in England in the later 1800s and finally, in 1876 the English National Cross-Country Championship took place. A year later, The United States was introduced to the sport and the National Cross-Country Association was founded as well as the Amateur Athletic Association began, which began holding the yearly National Championship. It did not take long for the Universities in the United States to pick up the sport. Harvard was the first University to hold a cross-country team and many other Universities followed.
