Bradley Ryan

It’s all about The U. And other stuff too. 🙌

[Bradley Ryan @THEBradRyan]

@churchable75 @Ardoramdonua It’s not about the effort to change clocks. It’s that the change is disruptive and that some (not all) of the reasons behind it aren’t as relevant now.

[Bradley Ryan @THEBradRyan]

@Jason @carney New brand will be dismissed as not credible for lacking decades of xp—NYT, etc., still benefit from cache as elite journalism. Homogenous hiring within academia and publishing has alienated conservatives. They either opt out or pursue talking-head gigs out of necessity

[Bradley Ryan @THEBradRyan]

@Dotman44580101 @LokiJulianus I assume the reason dev starts at young age is so the footwork, dribbling, etc, are second nature. Like ice skating in hockey: coaches aren’t going to teach that. Refine it maybe, but you need to be a good skater coming in.

[Bradley Ryan @THEBradRyan]

@Dotman44580101 @LokiJulianus Ball is on the ground 90% of time, so makes sense that height isn’t big factor. But heading, tackling, and positioning during free/corner kicks seem like pretty athletic things to me. The sheer # of goals from headers kinda undermines points about finesse and foot touch.

[Bradley Ryan @THEBradRyan]

@Dotman44580101 @LokiJulianus Pretty sure they dominated tennis and hockey, too. How about now?

[Bradley Ryan @THEBradRyan]

@LokiJulianus Post is mostly response to “soccer is highly technical/cerebral” comments. Many sports started that way. Pick a sport, look at old film and compare to today. World’s becoming smaller, but US has huge heterogeneous population which = greater selectivity.

[Bradley Ryan @THEBradRyan]

@LokiJulianus Euros don’t realize how soccer would change if US “sports industrial complex” got involved. Avg player height/weight would go up. Strength/conditioning ubiquitous. Bigger guys = pitch feels smaller. Stronger guys = more physicality. Smaller guys don’t go away but become exception

[Bradley Ryan @THEBradRyan]

@LokiJulianus Look at NHL. Is height a huge factor in hockey? No, but tell me how many guys are <6ft. With large, diverse population you can be picky & choose skill AND size. Do this for 20 years & it becomes self-fulfilling cycle.

[Bradley Ryan @THEBradRyan]

@LokiJulianus Americans see NFL & NBA as peak physicality & athleticism that is transferable to many sports & a predictor of innate talent/potential, eg Michael Jordan. Reverse doesn’t hold. Sure, there are great athletes in soccer, but most wouldn’t make cut based on physical attributes alone

[Bradley Ryan @THEBradRyan]

@jeffreyboadi_ I get that soccer is highly technical and mental, but let’s stop pretending that it’s so much more “cerebral” than other sports. Open an NFL or even CFB playbook. Study the intricacies of being a guard or DE. Watch Tom Brady film.

[Bradley Ryan @THEBradRyan]

@alexjmingolla Reminds me of Olympics: didn’t make sense to us when only amateurs could play. We see MLS as amateur compared to other pro leagues b/c we know 1) intl leagues are better & 2) most athletically gifted kids don’t pursue pro soccer. Those that do are better off playing overseas.

[Bradley Ryan @THEBradRyan]

@JamieBeckett20 @markvalorian And these elite dev programs aren’t lacking pipeline. Why take risk on “outsider” that has potential when you’ve already got promising talent?

[Bradley Ryan @THEBradRyan]

@JamieBeckett20 @markvalorian This argument always bothers me. Have you seen 5yr olds play any sport? They suck. Lots of pro golfers weren’t holding clubs as toddlers. Issue feels more about structure vs talent: if you’re not already in dev system by 10-12, then it’s harder to get notice and elite coaching

[Bradley Ryan @THEBradRyan]

@Jbeech201 @curiousiter @DarrylM76607931 @dannykanell No I agree with you. NFL has nuance, complicated playbooks, etc. Some people are naturally athletic, and the guys mentioned likely would be more than good at soccer—they are gifted athletic and would be “good” at most sports. Point was some sports require power and some less so

[Bradley Ryan @THEBradRyan]

@curiousiter @Jbeech201 @DarrylM76607931 @dannykanell Seems more akin to hockey, tennis, golf, etc: explosiveness and force generation help but not as impactful as in NFL, NBA, MLB. And Americans frame athleticism in NFL/NBA/MLB terms.

In some sports, having greater technique, “sports IQ,” etc., can overcome lack of explosiveness

[Bradley Ryan @THEBradRyan]

@VitaminCM @aakashgupta There’s a degree of truth to this, but then why are we competitive in the Olympics.

[Bradley Ryan @THEBradRyan]

@PatrickDoll @sjkz @aakashgupta This. Soccer seems more like baseball where the better players enter the farm system out of HS, essentially becoming pro in their late teens. Universities are a path, but it’s more of a secondary path

[Bradley Ryan @THEBradRyan]

@sjkz @aakashgupta This is model for American football, but it’s different for other US sports. Baseball has its own farm system and the better players often go into the farm system directly out of high school. Players do get drafted from universities, but it’s more of a parallel system

[Bradley Ryan @THEBradRyan]

@longtimelurkrr @girdley Higher barrier to entry and courts can’t be built cheaply/easily by parks. Watched matches on YT and don’t get hype. Pickle combines appeal of tennis with accessibility of ping pong while being more physical. Not really sure what “problem” Padel solves over tennis or squash

[Bradley Ryan @THEBradRyan]

@RaiceBannon @girdley Barrier of entry to tennis is high and sport demands some proficiency to be fun. Even then, 2 ppl spend more time gathering balls than playing since courts are so large. Pickleball more accessible—relatively easy to get knack while keeping depth. Casual games less of an event