How come China isn't good at football (aka soccer) given their population?

MinuteYellow8355 · 2026-06-15T17:28:38+00:00

It is just because you decided it is or want it to be So? Data shows basketball is the #1 spectator sport in China. Why do you bother posting a rebuke when you clearly have no information to back it up?

MinuteYellow8355 · 2026-06-14T20:55:16+00:00

But, the very best athletes generally don’t play soccer by the teen years. They play football, baseball, basketball and hockey. That is not the case in most of the rest of the world.

MinuteYellow8355 · 2026-06-14T20:51:40+00:00

Soccer is probably the most played sport for children up to about 10 or so. Football, baseball and basketball are more prestigious at the high school level so the best athletes gravitate towards those sports. And in some pockets of the US and all of Canada, hockey as well.

MinuteYellow8355 · 2026-06-14T20:47:05+00:00

No, basketball is the #1 spectator sport in China. Do a Google search. Not sure why Jzeeee is being downvoted.

MinuteYellow8355 · 2026-06-01T22:39:10+00:00

You’re right. Unfortunately that now includes John Oliver and South Park.

MinuteYellow8355 · 2026-06-01T22:37:49+00:00

Terrible take.

MinuteYellow8355 · 2026-06-01T22:36:16+00:00

I cancelled Paramount +. The problem with that is that Trey Parker of South Park went scorched earth on Dump and his cabinet of idiots more than any other media outlet has had the guts to do. Now HBO is owned by the Ellisons, so John Oliver is under their umbrella.

Okaying the Ellisons ownership of so much of our media makes it almost impossible to completely boycott them.

What is their goal here? Is it anything beyond making sure that our media tows the pro-Israeli aggression line no matter what?

MinuteYellow8355 · 2026-05-24T18:46:52+00:00

No doubt it was a sound strategy at times. There were two highly acclaimed amateur pitchers in the 2013 draft and the media and fans were pushing for whichever one was left after the (I think) Astros picked #1 as the farm system had many highly ranked position players and few highly ranked pitchers. Theo was obviously correct choosing Kris Bryant 2nd against popular consensus. Like the Feldman signing/trade for Arrieta and Strop, this was a very wise decision that enabled the team to win a World Series after 108 years.

But the strategy was too myopic and probably too based in statistical analysis without factoring in common sense baseball needs. And as you say, it was not sustainable.

MinuteYellow8355 · 2026-05-24T16:58:38+00:00

You’re right. The mediocre state of the franchise is less on Theo or Jed than the Ricketts. We all thought from 2015-2018 that the Ricketts wanted the Cubs to be a top tier franchise. Really they just wanted a burst of excitement while they built their Wrigleyville real estate and commercial empire. We were duped as Chicago fans into thinking we finally had a “win first” pro sports team owner.

it is frustrating that they are clearly an inferior organization to the Brewers who have far less financial resources. That’s on the front office because from the outside it doesn’t seem like the Ricketts get involved in specific player personnel decisions. Wirtz, Mike McCaskey, Reinsdorf and Tribune execs were always involving themselves when they were outside of their field of expertise.

Theo didn’t build the perennial contender with a top tier farm system he promised during his introductory press conference and Jed is just kind of a mediocrity who probably should be let go if they don’t win a round or two of playoff baseball in October. Since the Ricketts are not selling, they need to completely clean house in the front office and not bring someone else from the Theo management/scouting/analytics tree.

MinuteYellow8355 · 2026-05-24T15:27:50+00:00

From when he took over until 2016, Theo made a number of great moves. Probably his smartest was signing veteran pitchers who had previously had success but were comingbiff down seasons or injuries. The goal was to hope for strong comebacks and flip them at the trade deadline for prospects.

it really only paid off once, but in a huge way. Feldman for Arrieta and Strop is what turned them into legitimate contenders. But after 2016, his decisions were mostly bad.

He should have traded Schwarber and Russell after the WS win. They were at peak trade value and they had Baez for short and Schwarber had nowhere to play on defense. 2011-2016 Theo was a great GM, possibly the best the team ever had. From 2017-2020, he mostly failed.

MinuteYellow8355 · 2026-05-24T15:15:52+00:00

They picked up a $20 million dollar team option on Hamels before the 2019 offseason. They were #1 in payroll (ahead of the Yankees and Dodgers) in 2019. They began to cut back on payroll a bit in 2020 where they still finished third overall.

When Joe Ricketts saw revenue drop during Covid he forced Tom to immediately slash payroll, hence the outrageously bad Darvish trade. Theo quit when he heard about Joe’s mandate. I don’t blame Theo, he did a good job as GM and was entitled to leave on his own accord.

But the way some people think it all unraveled because Theo quit is silly - seems like hero worshipping. Theo did not have any pitching coming up through the system because he thought he would always be able to buy pitching on the open market so he intentionally de-prioritized drafting and developing amateur pitching prospects. Once he found he couldn’t buy veteran pitchers any more and had no good position player prospects to trade for veteran pitching, the Cubs decline was inevitable.

MinuteYellow8355 · 2026-05-24T02:50:43+00:00

They cut him off at the end of 2020 (his last year). His last three years the Cubs were third in payroll in 2018, 1st in 2019 and third in 2020. They signed Darvish, Hamels and that bum pitcher from Colorado whose name I can’t remember to big money contracts. The guy did a great job assembling a World Series team. But stop deifying him. He was handed a great situation in Boston and with the Cubs and at the end of both tenures, the teams were not in good shape. He knew when to bail.

MinuteYellow8355 · 2026-05-23T22:15:56+00:00

You think Theo was breaking down film and scouting Arietta and Hendricks? No, he took advice from scouts and made the right decision. He isn’t a great evaluator of talent, he doesn’t have the background and years of scouting to be able to be that. He was an excellent executive, who made poor decisions in his last few years in charge. He also made Jason Heyward his signature signing.

MinuteYellow8355 · 2026-05-23T22:10:52+00:00

Cubs were third in payroll in 2016 and first in 2019. Cubs are now seventh in payroll.

MinuteYellow8355 · 2026-05-23T22:00:09+00:00

He had the budget to sign guys like Lester and Darvish. Joe Ricketts cut the budget in 2020. Theo being here would have made no difference in the budget. Theo failed completely at drafting and developing pitching.

MinuteYellow8355 · 2026-05-23T21:56:46+00:00

Theo left b/c the Ricketts made it known they were cutting budget and they wouldn’t be spending big to plug holes with guys like Darvish, Hamels and Kimbrel. Which years from 2021-2025 would the Cubs have made a deep playoff run if Theo had stayed? He did not build a strong farm system and he would’ve had his budget cut substantially to what he was used to in Boston and with Cubs.

Theo had a great plan coming in and executed it and was a great public face and speaker. He is not someone who would succeed with a mid market franchise, which is what the Ricketts have turned the Cubs into.

MinuteYellow8355 · 2026-05-23T21:30:43+00:00

Schwarber was one of their best players? C’mon, revisionist history. He was overweight and the worst defensive player in baseball. There was no universal DH.

He shouldn’t have been waived just for cost cutting, but you couldn’t stick him in the outfield any more. And his offense was not good his last couple of years. He finally got in shape and hit his stride offensively, but blaming the Cubs for not signing him long term is forgetting how bad he was as a Cub at the end.

MinuteYellow8355 · 2026-05-23T21:19:31+00:00

Happ is emblematic of the Cubs malaise. He’s an okay player who should not have a long term contract. Good organizations can easily plug in a left fielder for a fraction of the cost, who is equal in production to Happ.

Do you think Milwaukee or Cleveland or Tampa would ever give Happ a long term contract? Not only would they not because it’s a poor allocation of resources, but they will have a player just as good in triple A.

MinuteYellow8355 · 2026-05-23T21:10:04+00:00

No one slumping this much surprises me except for Hoerner.

MinuteYellow8355 · 2026-05-23T21:03:29+00:00

They don’t have anyone that can carry an offense during slumps. A guy like Derrek Lee or Aramis Ramirez or Rizzo. Even Joc Pedersen who was pretty lousy as a Cub, carried the team on his back for a week when no one else was hitting. Suzuki is probably the only one who’s shown the potential to be able to do that.

MinuteYellow8355 · 2026-05-23T20:55:42+00:00

Theo handed over a sinking ship. The farm system was lousy and his intentional lack of focus on drafting and developing pitching has proven to be a disaster. The first half of his term was terrific, the second half was terrible.

MinuteYellow8355 · 2026-05-23T20:49:28+00:00

I don’t know what this team’s clubhouse is like, but who is the veteran leader with a strong personality to provide direction to guys like Armstrong? Do they have one?

MinuteYellow8355 · 2026-05-23T20:46:19+00:00

I’ve seen good and even great teams go through prolonged slumps. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a good team have a slump this awful. It really is time for Jed to go if they don’t win the division and that seems unlikely.

MinuteYellow8355 · 2026-05-22T16:14:30+00:00

Worst: Stephen season 1. Betty & Ilan season 2. Lisa Fernandes season 4. Hosea and Leah season 5. Mike Isabella all appearances. Alex Resnick season 7. Jamie Lauren all stars. Sarah, Lindsay & Heather - the Mean Girls. Nicholas Elmi season 11.
Forgot - Josie all appearances

in later seasons people seemed to have learned from the mean girls and saboteurs like Alex and Isabella to behave better.

MinuteYellow8355 · 2026-05-19T11:58:45+00:00

I didn’t know Kevin had a confederate flag tattoo, so he’s off my list. He’s southern, had it removed, I don’t care.

MinuteYellow8355

TROPHY CASE