Why Americans needs to embrace soccer (football)

19/08/12 | Phil.K

[dalereed]

socker isn’t football, it’s 3rd world crap!

[bayouranger]

Soccer is so gay.

[Mr Rogers]

In the 70s, I would sometimes play soccer...but with 4 man teams. Designated goalie had to be ready to outrun the ball before it arrived at the goal. It was entirely possible to score from mid-field. And of course, we had to cover the entire field...no standing around, waiting for the ball to get closer.

Because you could score from midfield (or further if you had a strong leg), a typical score might be 20-17. THAT was fun!

Standing around, watching others, waiting for the ball to get closer, scoreless games....yawn. Zzzzzz.....

[PhatHead]

Unlike most team sports, no equipment is required to play except a ball. And I don't necessarily mean a football. The kids at my school use "paper" balls, and when I was a kid, we used sweaters for goal posts.

The same is true of American football, which i played with my friends on any old field or playground when I was kid.

[Mike Darancette]

I can see it now, a Friday night in a rural Texas town the air is cool on this Homecoming night. The stadium is full as the two prairie powerhouse teams take the field. The skinny players of the home team hope to avenge the nil-nil tie of last year as they stand in silence for the playing of the US and Mexican National Anthems.

If there is no football what will the fat kids play?

[Jakarta ex-pat]

"More to the point, what are your needs for making this statement? Aren't you being defensive, just a little, in whining about the lack of popularity for your game? "

thanks for such kind words!

[trisham]

Soccer is excruciatingly boring, and the players are a bunch of drama queens.

[mikrofon]

"Your boyfriend left you for me!"

"NOOOOOOOO!"

[11Bush]

Strange, a person who decides to leave his country and live in another telling a third country what their sports should be.

[Chipper]

Bingo!! Soccer was fun to play as a kid because we never just stood around. It is brutally painful to watch, and even more so at the Professional level because of the “acting” that happens. There is no flow to the game.

[Jakarta ex-pat]

Geez..has this forum really become about who can make the snidest remark

[real saxophonist]

Colorado Rockies player Vinny Castilla donated the money to build a baseball diamond by the local United Way. Vinny Castilla Field.

Soon thereafter, a soccer pitch was put up in the outfield. I don't think a baseball game was ever played there.

[OldPossum]

Unlike most team sports, no equipment is required to play except a ball.

I have long been convinced that this is the primary reason it's popular. Most of the rest of the world is too poor to avoid sports equipment.

The reason it's not popular here is that one wonders why anyone would find constant motion (and low scores) interesting.

[OldPossum]

Ahh, that would be “afford” not “avoid.” Don’t know what I was thinking.

[real saxophonist]

So I guess point #2 is correct, it can be played anywhere, even on baseball diamonds donated by baseball players.

[1rudeboy]

I do not have a dog in this hunt, as I like sports, but watching NFL fans say that soccer is gay never fails to crack me up. So go ahead NFL fans, continue watching your sport: skin-tight, manhood-enhancing uniforms; players “presenting” their rumps to the cameras; all interspersed with ads for erectile dysfunction. LOL

[bigfootbob]

I prefer flicking slugs with a sharpened stick, much more entertaining than soccer.

[11Bush]

Sorry, didn’t mean to touch a nerve soccer boy. Where was I incorrect in my post? I just think it is strange and said so.

[Reily]

how can soccer be a scorcher unless he is referring to being forced to sit out in the sun and watch it!

And the fact that most the world plays it is reason enough to ignore it!

[steve86]

1) Football (soccer) is THE premier spectator sport in the world.

Many of us want nothing to do with the international mainstream, sports included.