Soccer myths

I am writing in response to Dan Rosen's April 28 article "Futbol, what the hell is that?" It is my understanding that a well-written article should be based on a combination of experience and research. Dan Rosen's article contained neither, basing his arguments on stereotypes and his imagination.

Rosen complains throughout his article of unnecessary deaths caused by soccer events. At one point, Rosen goes so far as to compare soccer matches with the present situation in Kosovo. I found this a tasteless and disrespectful comparison between the tremendous loss of life to random incidents during sporting events.

I have seen over a thousand soccer games throughout my life, at least 40 of them live in European soccer stadiums. I have never seen anything that made these fans more violent than American fans at a hockey or football game.

Typical soccer fans will wear team paraphernalia, paint their faces, and join their fellow fans in song and cheer for their teams. They are not wearing fatigues, they are not wearing war paint, and they are most certainly not killing machines. The fact that Rosen compares these fans to the fightings in Kosovo and even mentions the high school killings is outrageous and a disgrace to good journalism. It becomes painfully obvious that Rosen knows very little about soccer.

I don't mind the fact that Rosen dislikes the sport the rest of the world (not just Europe) loves. What upsets me is that Rosen based his entire argument on a few hooligans who more than likely used the most-watched event in the world (the world cup) to get some publicity.

I just hope that Rosen's professors during his senior year reteach him the basics of journalism. Stereotypes and imagination are certainly enough to fill up a paper, but should not be enough to get a degree.

Oliver Lodde
Finance and management information senior
UA soccer team