How to get soccer off the back pages
What if the score of a championship basketball game were 0-0 halfway through the second overtime? Imagine watching game highlights with nothing but fouls, fancy footwork and blocked shots. Picture players skidding across the floor while tearing off their jerseys after each basket. Listen to roar of the crowd every time a player passes. Observe a lonely referee calling fouls from 200 feet away.
How could this game could ever become the most popular sport in the world? Welcome to the insane world of soccer. Don't get me wrong. I love soccer. Our family lived a dozen years in Africa. Our children played Wheaton Park District, high school and college soccer. I love cheering for my star soccer-playing granddaughter. Realizing that 5.9 billion people will be furious, here are modest suggestions on how to improve the crazy game of soccer.
• Get rid of the offside rule. This would open up the field and allow for exciting scoring.
• When the ball goes out of bounds, kick the ball in, rather than throw it in.
• Have two referees on the field.
• Allow for instant reply, with an official in the replay booth with the authority to overrule the field refs.
• Widen the goal posts by at least three feet.
• Allow for unlimited substitutions, and when a player falls down claiming to be hurt require a substitution.
• If the score is still tied at the end of the second overtime, the team with the most shots on goal is declared the winner. With these modest proposals soccer might one day be a front-page story rather than on the back of the Daily Herald sports section.
Jim Plueddemann
West Chicago