Soccer: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

After watching the men's FIFA World Cup and now the women's I've developed a short list of the good, bag, and ugly in this popular world sport.

GOOD

1. No commercials until the half - if only the NBA and NFL would adopt this policy.

2. Announcers - Listening to the great British Ian Darke's voice alone lends credence to the sport. Not afraid to tell it like it is and give their opinion.

BAD

1. No instant replay - would be helpful for offsides calls

2. It needs more than one referee - Can you imagine one official calling all penalties in the NFL? The NFL has officials that cover virtually every square inch of the field. The NBA and MLB added one more official in the last decade.

UGLY

1. Flopping - This habit of faking injuries in order to draw yellow cards is killing the flow of the game. It's annoying to see "injured" players be carried off the field on stretchers and then miraculously be "healed" moments later to enter the game. Flopping does occur in the NBA but most of the time the officials weed it out.

Bottom line: I'm in. Talent and the level of play in the MLS in the U.S. is far below that of the English Premier League. I may happen to stop by the channel for a MLS game if nothing else is on my sports radar. Would be nice of more European games would be on the networks and not on a pay channel like FOX Soccer.