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Published: May 06, 2008 12:00 am    print this story   email this story   comment on this story  

MIKE CUMMINGS: Little contact not the end of the world

By Michael A. Cummings
michaelc@cullmantimes.com

Overheard from the press box last Saturday while present for John Carroll’s 5-1 demolition of Cullman High’s soccer team:

“The next time he makes contact with you, just fall over. It’ll be a foul.”

Those would be the words — a rough transcription, admittedly — of one of John Carroll’s coaches, while prowling the sideline and spewing snarky one-liners sopping wet with sarcasm.

Now. Before we go any further, here’s what this is not.

This is not sour grapes from an angry Cullman fan. The right team won Saturday — and won by an appropriate score. The Cavaliers have a tremendous team this year and they deserved to go through to the final four in Huntsville.

And this is not an attack on John Carroll’s players, who played the role of winners with about as much grace as can be expected from high school boys. That is to say: well, some.

Nor is this an attack on the coach. At least not really. The quibble here is not with him, per se. The problem, instead, is just how representative those words are for many soccer coaches and players.

Turn on an international match anytime and you’ll see it: Gifted players equally great at being thespians and athletes, feigning injury in an attempt to influence the referee to brandish a yellow — or even red — card.

It works more than you might think — though that doesn’t make it right. This kind of activity isn’t gamesmanship and neither is encouraging a player to engage in it.

This is not the same thing as a baseball player backing out of the box to get the pitcher off his rhythm. That’s gamesmanship — and so is standing in front of the taker of a free kick in soccer to slow him down while the defense gets ready.

Look, I know it’s not always easy to stand in and take the foul. I know it’s easier to just keel over.

And I know it doesn’t feel good to be tackled from behind. Especially when you have a vendetta-fueled, 220-pound Scotsman attached to your hip for 45 minutes.

But sometimes you just go ahead and take it, and the Scot leaves you with a couple of bruised shins over the weekend.

At least when you go to work in the morning you can write a column about it.

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