on 12/4/01 6:15 PM, Jon Entine at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> (which they are not very competitive at
> compared to athletes from West Africa -- they don't have the body type for
> it)
I know I shouldn't step into this minefield, but I do find some of this,
just as I found some of John Entine's other posts, breathtakingly sweeping.
Kenyans don't have the body type for football (association football that
is)! I don't know much about genetics but I do know my football, been
obsessed with it for nearly 50 years and it seems to me Kenyans (runners
that is) are skinny with a great power/weight ratio which is exactly what is
needed for soccer. Speed is necessary but power is just as important as is
stamina.
Look at Thierry Henry of Arsenal. Looks like a middle distance runner, look
at most soccer players, they look like middle distance runners. Very few are
the bulky typical Nigerian sprinter types. If you were picking a football
shape among sprinters it would be Don Quarrie, not Maurice Greene.
Nigeria and Cameroon have risen to the top of the African football ladder
recently but they still haven't truly overtaken Tunisia and Egypt. And the
players in those countries look like middle distance runners too. Stick to
what you know about John, you clearly know nothing about football.
Randall Northam
"When they said sit down, I stood up"
my own little religious slogan.
