Dr. D has seen just criticism of the U.S. for not appreciating soccer precisely because it is not instant-gratification.

In a country, say Algeria, where daily life involves work now and rewards later, a sports match can reflect daily life and hold interest.  When the Gunners were up 4-0 on Newcastle, I wanted 5 and 6 .... :- )

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That said, SSI firmly believes that the initiative is critical in sports.  One has to try to put the opponent on the back foot.  In the NFL, pass rush is dominant, as are "sting" slants to defeat the pass rush.

If a modern NFL team, with its emphasis on pass rush, blitzing, and shotgun formations, played the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the game would be ugly...

Safety-first can reach a point at which the loss, slow-but-sure, is guaranteed.  At the highest levels, I wonder whether English football doesn't suffer against equally-talented sides who press the action.

In baseball, what would you rather see?  A 120 ERA+ and okay offense, or the Big Red Machine with a 115 offense and dubious pitching staff?  It's a litmus test.

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Jack Zduriencik seems to incline toward safety-first.  He'd rather make sure that runs are prevented, and then after that go to work on scoring them.  Dr. D's bias is the reverse.

Zduriencik's team will tell you that they are eclectic, that Milwaukee gained its success based on Fielder and Braun & Co., and that defense is simply the most cost-effective way to put a few W's on the board.

Dr. D most respectfully declines to agree.  Zduriencik's choices a la Casey Kotchman, and Endy Chavez, we thought very odd at the time.  There are always choices at 1B and LF. 

The Mariners accumulated run-prevention players, fell below critical mass on offense, and scored 513 runs.  Do you think it likely that this regime would ever allow itself to fall below critical mass defensively?  As Billy Beane sometimes does, putting Jack Cust in the outfield and so forth?

The Mariners would never neglect glovework, but they were caught out neglecting offense.  This betrays a bias of which even they might not be aware.

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Safety-first is not "incorrect."  My boyhood heroes, the Big Red Machine, did battle with the Los Angeles Dodgers.  For fully 30 years (1960-1990) the Dodgers went pitching first, second, and third.  So did the 1970's Mets, who also stung the Reds at times.  Dr. D can well appreciate a team built on run prevention.

In chess, there are players (Tigran Petrosyan, Anatoly Karpov) who are negative by nature.  They squelch threats first, second, and third, and then they look around to see where they might threaten the opponent.  You can be the best in the world using this method.  It is harder to do so... you must be much better than #2 to win passively.

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Arsenal's preference to push forward --- > annoys many Euro fans.  I wonder if they aren't the ideal EPL side for fans outside Europe?

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My $0.01,

Jeff