The offside rule is proof men really are stupid (online blog).

 SOCCER'S offside rule I am not so sure about. But the stupidity of man - that is something I am certain of. The latest two dopes to chisel their name on to this particular stone are British soccer commentators Richard Keys and Andy Gray. Calling a game over the weekend, they were taped off-air talking about linesman Sian Massey, who happens to have committed the greatest sin in men's sport, which is that she was born female.
What Ms Massey can do about this is uncertain, but it appears she is unwilling to take the necessary steps. Bully for her.
 So to the telecast on Sky Sports, and Keys can be heard saying: "Somebody had better get down there and explain offside to her." "Yeah I know," Gray replies. "Can you believe that? A female linesman. That's exactly what I'm saying, women don't know the offside rule."
Keys: "Course they don't. I can guarantee you there will be a big one today." And there was. Fernando Torres fired home one of his two goals and it looked like he was well offside. The crowd howled as Ms Massey allowed the goal.
 Yet replays showed she was correct, and Gray even acknowledged her call on air. Massey, in the malest of domains, had had the greatest revenge possible. Now, I don't want to turn this into yet another soccer bash-up, but who can help himself? The measure of any true soccer fan is their understanding of the offside rule. And it seems, according to these soccer fooligans, that only males can possibly understand this. It all gets a little tiring.
 Soccer people pride themselves on this higher understanding that the rest of us don't seem to get. Never mind the other mistakes that riddled the World Cup and its qualifiers.
Frank Lampard's goal, anyone? Thierry Henry's handball?
 Mistakes such as these are part of any game, and there's nothing wrong with that - so why the arrogance about the offside rule? A woman in a man's game, what would they know about the offside rule? There are plenty of things women do know, like why men are so stupid.
 In last year's World Cup opener Mexico lined up a corner and, as the ball curled in, South African goalie Itumeleng Khune came out to contest the ball, leaving defender Steven Pienaar behind on the goal line. Carlos Vela headed one past him into the net.
The far linesman called it offside. It looked as wrong as wrong could be. Didn't the linesman see Pienaar? On replay, ESPN commentator Efan Ekoku said: "How can he be offside, there's a defender clearly on the line." Ah, but we men are idiots.
 Under FIFA rules, a player is considered offside if he is "nearer to his opponents' goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent".
Second-last. Not even many men know that, and the Vela non-goal was argued in bars across the country. And by men, at least half of whom didn't know squat. Most people - even the men - overlook the goalie.
 But this isn't really about the offside rule. It's about the stupidity of man, over which there is no argument.