Submitted by Stuart Jones MD, Aug 20, 2007 10:19

As an old goalkeeper, I feel I must respond in defense of my favorite position. Admittedly the goalkeeper does keep the scoreline down to a dull roar, but the lack of scoring cannot be blamed only on the keeper. As was just shown in NYC two days ago, if defense goes by the board, the goalkeeper can do little more than watch the balls whistle by on their way into the net. Rather, it is the stout defenses that coaches and players have constructed that have kept the scoring down. If coaches were forbidden to have more than two fullbacks on a pitch, or the offside rule was suspended if the last defender was behind the level of the penalty area, watch the scorelines increase immediately! The goalkeeper adds strategy to the game, as well as the spectacle of watching one man try to defend a goal 8 ft high and 24 ft wide without being Superman (i.e. faster than a speeding Beckham free kick). As for the goal kicks and punts being too long, I agree. It is better to be accurate with a long kick or punt than to just turn over possession. I also wonder why keepers do this. Must be a part of football tradition that, being American, I never learned.

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