And now it's time for Who Smarted!
Hey, Smartypants, trusty narrator here.
Try and guess where I am.
Go ahead, shout it out. If you said a sporting event, you're right.
But what sport am I watching?
Here are some hints. Whoa!
Did some of you say a soccer game?
Did some of you say a football match?
What if I said you're both right?
Huh? Technically. I know it's a little confusing.
How could I be watching both football and soccer?
But like I said, technically both responses are correct.
That's because depending where you live, the same sport is called either football or soccer.
Whoa! Now, some of you may be wondering, how could a sport have two names?
It's soccer! It's not soccer, it's football.
Soccer! Football. Oh boy.
You know what? Rather than get hung up on the name of the game, let's talk about the fame of the game.
After all, whether you call it soccer, football.
There's no denying it is the world's most popular sport, played by over 250 million people in over 200 countries and territories.
Like my friend Ryan from Florida.
Hey, trusty, I love playing soccer almost as much as I love listening to who's morted.
Thanks, Smarty Pal. Soccer is a specially popular in Europe, Central and South America and Africa.
But it's also a major force in North America, Oceana and Asia.
Of course, one part of North America has been soccer crazed for a long time and that's where my friend Leo's from.
See me, amigo. Yes, my friend.
Where I grew up in Mexico, everybody played soccer.
Or what we and many others around the world refer to as football.
Leo played a not one, but two semi pro soccer.
I mean, football, teams.
Yep. I started playing very young and became a pretty good midfielder.
In my teams, I joined a traveling club team and began playing professionally across Mexico.
A few years later, I transferred to a pro team in Europe where I played a much different style of the same game.
Wow, I once had a burrito for lunch and then pizza for dinner.
That doesn't seem as impressive.
Anyway, Leo, perhaps you could share what you know about soccer?
Oi, it's football. Sorry, football.
Soccer! That too. With me and the smarty pants and answer questions like, when did the sport originate?
If it's called football, why can one player use their hands?
Why does the clock keep running even during penalties and injuries?
And why does it have two names?
Muy bien. Good questions.
Great that it's time for a whiff of sporty science and history on...
Hell smart, Ed. Who smarted?
Who smart is it you? Is it me?
Is it science or history?
Listen up. Everyone, we make smarting lots of fun on those smartads.
Okay, Leo, why is it that this amazing sport?
Sometimes referred to as the beautiful game called soccer in the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and football.
Well, pretty much everywhere else.
I get that question a lot.
Say trusty. Do you have your time travel app?
Are you kidding? I never leave home without it.
What time period should I set it for?
Oh... Um, not that far. Let's start off with 206 BCE.
Seriously? That's over 2200 years ago.
Indeed, my amigo. Alrighty, hang on.
Hmm, where are we? We're actually in China.
Believe it or not, there's evidence from over 2000 years ago that during the Han Dynasty there was a military drill called Suju, which literally means kicking the ball.
Oh, yeah. I see a circle of soldiers passing a ball around while trying to keep it from hitting the ground, using everything but their hands.
It looks more like a game you'd play in a park or on a field than a military drill.
In fact, many soccer. Foot, ball, and or football teams used drills like this to warm up, get loose, and get a feel for the ball.
Back in the day, my friends and I did something similar with a bean bag called a hacky sack.
Notice the ball that they're using isn't much different than the ones used today, except that it's made of a leather exterior and stuffed with feathers.
Today, soccer balls are mostly synthetic products like silicone and plastic.
Over the centuries, it became a game that would be played by nobility.
At festival gatherings and celebratory meals.
Numb, numb, numb, numb.
In addition to everyday commoners across Asia and places like Japan, Vietnam, and Korea.
Wow. So, football, soccer, that too, may have actually started in Asia?
See, a trusty, ready for the next stop on our evolution of soccer adventure.
Sure. Where should I dial in next?
Let's go with medieval times in the mid 1400s.
Medieval times it is. Oh, boy.
Leo, what's going on? This, Miyamego, is what's known as folk football.
It was played in towns and villages across the British Isles.
Basically, the goal was to kick, throw, and carry a leather ball made of pigs' bladder.
From point A to point B. It was quite a violent game with few rules and lots of injuries.
Shikes. So when did the organized or modern day game come into play?
That depends upon who you ask.
But in the 1860s, the football association was formed in London, England.
So that a consistent unified set of laws or rules were installed and the game be played on a proper pitch.
Pitch? But we're not talking about baseball.
Smourry pants? What does pitch mean when it comes to football or soccer?
Is it the ball, the playing field, or your cleats?
The answer is... Pitch is the word European choose for the playing field.
Nice job if you got that.
So Leo, what's an example of a rule that was put into place?
The most obvious would be that only one player is allowed to use his or her hands to touch the ball when it's in play.
Hmm, Smourry pants? Who is the only player allowed to use their hands when the ball is in play?
If you said the goalkeeper, you're right!
Now, some of you might be thinking, what about a throw-in?
Well, it's true that soccer players pick up the ball and throw it back into play when it goes out of bounds on either side line.
But since the ball is out of bounds, technically, it's not a play.
Only the goalie can touch the ball with their hands while it is in play and only inside the designated goalie box.
As the game continued to develop in Europe, students at Oxford University decided they needed to distinguish this sport from other forms of football, such as rugby.
The word soccer evolved by shortening the term associated football.
Uh, makes sense, I think.
As the sport made its way over to central, south, and even North America by the end of the 19th century, the Americans decided to just go with soccer, so as not to confuse it with gridiron football.
Or American football. Ah, makes sense!
Ironically, the governing body of soccer is known as FIFA, which stands for the Federation International, the Football Association.
Gotcha. Should we head back to the future?
Not yet. There's one more stop in 2022.
Whoa, we're out of soccer game, but not the one we were watching.
No trusty. We're actually at the final match to determine the best team in the world.
Smarty pants, do you know the name of the international soccer tournament to determine the world's best team?
If you said the world cup, you're right!
Every four years, the world cup is held in a different location and is viewed by billions of fans from around the globe.
Whoa. It's like the Olympics except only for soccer.
Football. That's you. A series of matches takes place between qualifying countries until there's only one winner.
And they have world cups for both men's and women's soccer.
In baseball, they call the championship the world series.
But the world cup truly is a global event.
And in many places, business is close and it becomes a mini holiday on days that their country is playing in the world cup.
Ah. Oh no. What's going on Leo?
That was a pretty bad penalty for tackling.
But isn't tackling allowed in football?
Not this football. When one player is dribbling the ball with his feet and an opponent slides into their ankles or legs before hitting the ball, it's a penalty.
Ouch! Looks painful! And now the ref is pulling out something from his pocket.
Everyone seems pretty upset.
Smarty pants, what happened to make everyone so upset?
We'll find out right after this quick break.
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To save 10%. Thanks! Now back to who's smarted.
Okay, after interleagal.
And painful. Sliding tackle.
The referee is approaching the offending player and is pulling something out of his pocket.
What could it be? An apology card to sign?
A check to pay for the hurt players' medical bill?
Or a plastic red card? The answer is, the plastic red card?
Why is everyone so upset about a plastic red card?
That means the player has been ejected from the game.
Oh, so if you make a penalty, you get a red card.
No only certain dangerous files lead to cards.
You usually get a yellow card first as a warning, but two yellow cards equals a red card.
This player had received a yellow card earlier, so now he's out of the game.
And his team must now play the rest of the game short one player.
Oh, that is a big deal. Smarty pants.
How many players are on a soccer field at one time?
10, 11, or 22? It's a trick question.
While there are 11 players on the field for each team, there are 22 players on the field at the same time.
Another cool thing about soccer is you can position your players in whatever formation you like.
There are three groups of players not counting the goalie.
There are four words who try to score.
Fullbacks or defensive players who try to stop the other team from scoring and midfielders or halfbacks that transition from defense to offense and back again.
They do the most running of anyone, but the coach can decide how many players to have at each position.
For example, they might have two forwards, four midfielders and four fullbacks.
Or they could have four forwards, three midfielders and three fullbacks.
It's up to each team to decide.
And one goalie, of course.
Exactly. Oh, looks like someone's hurt.
I noticed the game clock doesn't stop, even though the game has stopped because of the injured player.
In other sports, they stop the clock for injuries or penalties or when the ball goes out of bounds.
But not soccer. Football.
Right. Why is that? In soccer, the clock never stops.
This keeps the flow of the game going when it comes to injuries that's known as injury or stoppage time.
The ref will look at their watch while they play as stopped and add on time at the end of each 45-minute half to make up for the amount of time the injured player was down or being treated.
Interesting. Well, we better get back to our game.
My friend Ryan is there with his family.
I just hope I didn't miss anything good.
Hey, trustee, you just missed the best goal ever.
Trats. A big shout out to our pal Duke in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who loves listening and learning in the car with their family on the way to school.
We always ask you to be careful when you're in the car.
A big shout out to our pal Duke in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who loves listening and learning in the car with their family on the way to school.
We always ask who smarted, but it sounds like it's you, buddy.
Keep up the good work, Duke.
This episode's soccer was written by Dave, Diving Head or Davis, and voiced by Chris Offsizer Kawa.
Max Crossbar Kamaski, Adam Kicks Davis, and my smarty pal, Ryan Speevak, and Jerry Colbert.
And hello, Marissa and Uncle Steve.
Technical Direction and Sound Design by Josh Handball Hahn, who smarted as recorded and mixed at the Roller Grim Studios.
Our associate producer is Max Kamaski.
The theme song is by Brian Scissorkick Suarez, with lyrics written and performed by Adam Tech's Davis, who smarted was created and produced by Adam Tech's Davis and Jerry Colbert.
This has been an Atomic Entertainment production.
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