Mass Shootings the last six months

[Gaspar]

Used to love soccer.  I played until I was about 11.  Charlie and Paula Mitchell were my next door neighbors so we got to go to most of the games.  When I was about 13, I taught Charlie how to shoot baskets before a charity event at the Mabee center.  Unfortunately, he still opted to do granny shots once he got there.

Soccer is an excellent game for children because the rules are very simplistic and fundamental. Basically it's easy to learn and requires a low investment to play.  That is the primary reason it's the most popular game in the world.  A ball, shoes, and a flat piece of land with some goal posts, and you have a game.  It also requires far less thought and strategy as more complex sports.

Unfortunately, I find it about as interesting to watch as a haircut.  They would probably have to offer free beer for me to attend a game.

Sorry Ruff, to me soccer is a game I think this country has grown out of.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Used to love soccer.  I played until I was about 11.  Charlie and Paula Mitchell were my next door neighbors so we got to go to most of the games.  When I was about 13, I taught Charlie how to shoot baskets before a charity event at the Mabee center.  Unfortunately, he still opted to do granny shots once he got there.

Soccer is an excellent game for children because the rules are very simplistic and fundamental. Basically it's easy to learn and requires a low investment to play.  That is the primary reason it's the most popular game in the world.  A ball, shoes, and a flat piece of land with some goal posts, and you have a game.  It also requires far less thought and strategy as more complex sports.

Unfortunately, I find it about as interesting to watch as a haircut.  They would probably have to offer free beer for me to attend a game.

Sorry Ruff, to me soccer is a game I think this country has grown out of.

Don't tell Ruff, but I used to enjoy playing it when I was a kid, too.  Was extremely informal, cause no one really knew the rules, but it was fun.

You're right - it just isn't commercial in this country - at this time.  Maybe later.

When they clean up all the violence....  (couldn't resist)

[Gaspar]

Don't tell Ruff, but I used to enjoy playing it when I was a kid, too.  Was extremely informal, cause no one really knew the rules, but it was fun.

You're right - it just isn't commercial in this country - at this time.  Maybe later.

When they clean up all the violence....  (couldn't resist)

I don't think Soccer is inherently violent at all.  If anything the game itself is far less violent than football, basketball or even baseball for that matter.  I think what happens is that the game is so painfully boring to watch that the fans find other ways to entertain themselves durring play.  This of course includes taunting and chiding fans of the other team.  Add alcohol and you have a rather volatile mixture. 

Much like the participants, the fans are not required to engage in much critical thinking or analysis, therefore they are free to engage in more basal ganglia related action.  In essence the fans become an extension of the team, and the game for that matter by adding the excitement not present on the field of play.

[patric]

Back on the subject, there are some interesting studies that we should probably be aware of:

http://www.fox23.com/content/rant/story/FOX-RANT-Gun-Control-Evidence-it-Would-Backfire/QykhACdWYESYheYPHS7cIg.cspx

[patric]

and of course there is always this sage of reason:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-january-17-2013/grand-theft-semi-auto
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-january-17-2013/grand-theft-semi-auto---coming-for-your-guns

[Gaspar]

http://www.campusreform.org/blog/?ID=4582

Discuss.

[TulsaRufnex]

Unfortunately, I find it about as interesting to watch as a haircut.  They would probably have to offer free beer for me to attend a game.

Sorry Ruff, to me soccer is a game I think this country has grown out of.

Wow.  You just spoke on behalf of the ENTIRE country... geez.
Free beer?.... Here ya go... http://www.thefreebeermovement.com/
If anything, soccer is becoming more and more popular in this country, year over year.  People who've grown up playing youth soccer are now better able to connect with the professional sport, both domestically and internationally, in ways not possible two or three decades ago.  You and Heir's insults do not change those facts.

I find watching a baseball game about as much fun as watching grass grow... yet we didn't seem to have a problem building them a stadium downtown.
If what keeps you from watching outdoor soccer is the lack of scoring, Adam Meillor is re-starting an indoor team to play downtown at the convention center for 2013-14.
http://www.bigsoccer.com/community/threads/tulsa-revolution-2013.1947913/

Major League Soccer finds itself more popular than the Roughnecks were in Tulsa in the late70s/early 80s.
League-wide average attendance is at 18,807 fans per game.  
MLS finished seventh in global average attendance among soccer leagues.
http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/10/30/mls-sets-new-attendance-marks-second-straight-year
Compare those figures to the hey-day of the NASL (1979, 1980, 1981) when the league never averaged more than 14,500 fans per game.

MLS doesn't need Tulsa as a market, and a team here may never happen.
But there is a really solid competitive youth soccer system of clubs here.
That is the legacy left by people like Victor Moreland, Charlie Mitchell, Keith Eddy, etc etc etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2m7GdEP_ig&playnext=1&list=PLE6F1F016F00F7665&feature=results_video
The University of Tulsa has a nationally ranked men's soccer team more often than not.
IMHO, those people deserve better, and really shouldn't be subject to condescending insults hurled by domestic sports jingoists...

I think thousands of these Tulsans would like to have a word with you before you drone on about how boring you (and this country?) think soccer is...


My reasons for wanting pro soccer in Tulsa revolve around the grassroots support the sport enjoys here.  And I believe, if we were given the chance, our fans would support a high level pro soccer team far better than Arena Football or the WNBA.

Meanwhile, back on topic.... The Onion's having a field day with our gun-obsessed counterculture.... http://www.theonion.com/video/nra-fights-legislation-that-would-ban-gun-sales-to,30927/
This one, eerily prophetic from last May...  http://www.theonion.com/articles/nra-sets-1000-killed-in-school-shooting-as-amount,28352/  

And these...
http://www.theonion.com/articles/frustrated-wayne-lapierre-thought-murder-of-20-chi,30813/
http://www.theonion.com/articles/wayne-lapierre-goes-on-harpooning-spree-to-prove-s,30947/


FAIRFAX, VA—In what sources said was most likely an attempt to prove some kind of point about something, a harpoon-wielding Wayne LaPierre went on a vicious, indiscriminate skewering rampage through the greater Fairfax area this morning. "As you can see, the question of what object a mentally ill person uses to harm another human being is not the issue, but rather a distraction designed to curtail the American people's constitutionally protected right to bear firearms," said the National Rifle Association vice president as he stabbed an innocent bystander in the chest with an 8-foot whaling harpoon in order to, reportedly, illustrate a thesis of sorts.

[TulsaRufnex]

5 hurt in shootings at gun shows in Ohio, Ind., NC
http://news.yahoo.com/5-hurt-shootings-gun-shows-ohio-ind-nc-010502999.html

[Conan71]

5 hurt in shootings at gun shows in Ohio, Ind., NC
http://news.yahoo.com/5-hurt-shootings-gun-shows-ohio-ind-nc-010502999.html

People ignoring basic gun safety...

[Hoss]

People ignoring basic gun safety...

Won't see that here simply because at gun shows it's a requirement to make sure the action is locked (usually using a ziptie through the action does it).

[TulsaRufnex]

People ignoring basic gun safety...

If we didn't have to worry about "who's packin' heat," we might be able to settle our differences in a more entertaining fashion...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd9FKLbUDcM[/youtube]

[patric]

Won't see that here simply because at gun shows it's a requirement to make sure the action is locked (usually using a ziptie through the action does it).

Well maybe.
Maybe not...  http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080406_1_A17_spanc02455

[Conan71]

If we didn't have to worry about "who's packin' heat," we might be able to settle our differences in a more entertaining fashion...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd9FKLbUDcM[/youtube]

Good stuff.

Being aware of your surroundings and being obvious to others that you are aware of your surroundings is an excellent deterrent.  When that fails though, it's nice to know you are on a level playing field with an assailant.

[patric]

If we didn't have to worry about "who's packin' heat," we might be able to settle our differences in a more entertaining fashion...

Ill see your Airish Wench, and raise you a Brooke Alvarez:

[youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxlunxSZ-Yc[/youtube]

[heironymouspasparagus]

Won't see that here simply because at gun shows it's a requirement to make sure the action is locked (usually using a ziptie through the action does it).

Haven't heard of any accidents here in quite a while - due to the safety plans they have and use.  There can and will always be accidents, though.  Hope it doesn't happen ever....