[ctpsb]

“Soccer is just a better spectator sport. I grew up watching and playing football, and it used to be a cornerstone of Americana. But changes in the game combined with changes in the coverage have yielded something almost unwatchable. I have tried, in recent years, to get back into it, but it is like watching grass grow. Surprisingly, even though soccer has roughly the same amount of scoring (a little bit less, but then again they don’t give you seven points for a goal, so it is deceptive), there is a much greater proportion of actual excitement. Once you stop watching football, you realize that it is actually incredibly dull.

With basketball going full thug-life, and football become a snooze-fest, baseball really would seem to be the only American sport that will retain its popularity over the long run”

Sorry just can’t agree.

Just can’t understand how one can say football is unwatchable or a snooeze-fest when compared to watching soccer — how is it riveting to watch the ball go back and forth across and up and down the field with no result?

Seriously during the World Cup I watched many games with family and friends and could leave the room and when I was updated on what had taken place after coming back nothing really. The score was the same after 20 minutes at a time and no field position or men on base — just that the ball had moved around the soccer field as usual and was right back to where it had started when I left the room.

Not saying football can’t use some adjustments such as too many commercials and long replay reviews (though I’m not sure what is meant by NBA going full thug-life) and getting away from the social justice warrior mentality, those sports are much more exciting and have situation changes than soccer ever will.

[dfwgator]

I admit, the quality of most World Cup and other International tournament play pales to that of the highest-level European Club soccer.

Mainly because National teams don’t get all that much time to practice together and play together as a team.

[jjsheridan5]

Just can’t understand how one can say football is unwatchable or a snooeze-fest when compared to watching soccer — how is it riveting to watch the ball go back and forth across and up and down the field with no result?

That happens a fair amount in football, as well. It is very noticeable when you stop watching for a decade or more, and then go back to it. Most plays in football are rather pointless. And when there is scoring, it is rarely out-of-the-blue, and loses some excitement as a result. By contrast, in soccer, a play can develop in seconds, and yield a flurry of excitement, without 10 minutes (real-time) in which a score of some kind is inevitable.

I understand people not liking soccer. I also find many soccer matches to be quite dull. But what I cannot understand, now, is how anyone can watch football (and this is from someone who watched virtually every available football game for many years, into adulthood). And while soccer is often bad (football-level bad), it is also incredibly riveting at other times, and reaches a level that football only rarely reaches.