Posted on 01/09/2014 7:21:34 AM PST by C19fan
Soccer is, without a doubt, the world's most popular sport. Football is, without a doubt, America's most popular. Football absolutely dominates in the U.S., but once you leave North America and nobody cares about Brady vs. Manning, or Auburn vs. Alabama. Messi vs. Ronaldo? That's more like it.
The new year dawns, like always, with a zillion college bowl games and the NFL playoffs, and the over-saturation of football has us puzzled as to why its popularity so outstrips soccer's in this country. Football's flaws, some unredeemable, are there for all to see: serious injuries, drawn-out replay reviews to interpret Byzantine rulebooks, and - let's be honest - extremely creepy commercials for Old Spice. What good reason is there to choose all that mess over "The Beautiful Game"?
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearsports.com ...
I don't watch soccer, but about a month ago I came across a soccer game on TV and decided to see what it was about.
After watching some of the game I came to the conclusion it would be a good game for us old men to play.
Walking down the field kicking the ball to a fellow team member who would kick it back to you or to someone else on the team. Creeping down the field and when getting close enough kick the ball toward the opponents goal.
If you lose the ball to the opposition you might actually have to do a little running but that is not the worst thing for an old man's health , as long as its a little running. -Tom
There is nothing like the excitement of a 1-0 game. It is fun to play and a good cardiovascular workout but it is unbelievably boring to watch.
Rugby evolved out of soccer, or football as the rest of the world calls it. In a football match, William Webb Ellis caught a football that was kicked at him (Allowed) at Rugby University in 1823. What he did then was not allowed: He ran with the ball. And someone tackled him and they made this into a new game, called Rugby’s game or Rugby football. American football evolved out of rugby. If you go to South Bend, Indiana and visit the college football hall of fame, and go through the time tunnel, you will recognize rugby. Only 2 times has 15 a side been played in the Olympics, and the USA won them both. In the next summer games in Brazil there will be 7 a side rugby, a really fast and high scoring game.
Are gambling and fantasy football as big with soccer overseas? Because right there are two reasons football will be popular despite the good or bad quality of the game itself.
I definitely don’t like the flopping in soccer, same as in NBA. Maybe they have put a stop to that since I tried watching a few years ago. I definitely don’t like the fruity celebratory dances/chest pounding in football after a 300+ lb behemoth collapses on a loose ball in a blowout.
Freegards
Game...set....match!
What a pantload. I don’t know who’s worse, some guy who thinks he is a he-man because he played football in H.S., or some guy who pretends that he played football on the internet.
The writer supporting soccer and their fans all probably like cats better than dogs.
nuff said.
Take a moment and take an unbiased look at some of the world's great rivalries, which make anything American sports can conjure look like nerdball by comparison. You'll find that they are about tribalism and tradition, not globalism. To use just one example -- Rangers/Celtic. British crown vs. Irish Republicanism. In short, The Troubles, and a manifestation of a struggle that has gone on since 1690.
Manchester and Leeds have hated each other since the War of the Roses and that carries over into Manchester United vs. Leeds United. That's not globalism.
"But despite 40+ years of trying, Football is, if anything, more popular now that it was back then and Soccer's popularity (or lack thereof) is virtually unchanged."
Since you don't like globalism, perhaps you could explain why the NFL spends so much of its marketing effort globally, an effort soccer mastered long ago. Meanwhile, you now have American networks bidding big bucks to show the English Premiership and Fox puts the UEFA Champions League on as a regular part of its programming. 112 million people watched at least part of the 2010 World Cup in the United States, a 22 percent increase from 2006.
Sure, the NFL is top dog domestically. Nobody disputes that, and MLS has a long way to go before it even comes close. But to simply dismiss soccer isn't correct. It's the wave of the future and you should get used to it.
And here's the other thing I don't get: with the understandable animus toward Mexico on certain parts of this board, why aren't people rooting for the United States to beat Mexico at its own game, the only high-profile sport besides baseball where the countries meet on more or less equal terms?
And the article leaves out the very best thing about soccer as opposed to American sports: promotion and relegation. You do well, you prosper and get promoted. If you don't, you get punished and dropped a league. That's actually a very conservative principle. In American sports, if you stink, don't worry. Just sell your best players and let your crony capitalist owner pocket the money while you try again next year in the same league.
Soccer...better than Ambien.
And hockey has hitting. Major difference.
That's one thing I find humorous: people whining that there are too many Mexico fans at the stadium, but when asked, won't go to a match. Don't go if you don't want to, just stop the incessant whining and act like a real NFL fan.
My prediction is that we will see American Football die in the next decade. Why?
a) Moms will not sign injury waiver to allow sons to play football. Thus, no new talent will be developed from the grade/high school level.
b) New ‘tackle’ rules are very subjective.
c) HDTV makes going to a game a waste of time. Look at the teams that couldn’t even sellout playoff games.
Something will fill the void. May be Soccer?
It’s as closest I could get to soccer. They don’t have any protection either though it’s not as violent as rugby. OTOH I’ve watched Aussie rules footie and it can get pretty nasty. One guy had his ear ripped off and they kept on playing. No foul.
Soccer has a concussion-problem, too . . . just not as “pronounced.”
I can see that, but with all that running and stuff it’s hard to wear protective equipment. But then how long ago did he play? I thought HS’s were starting to ban contact sports.
You really must be ‘Ol...what are you like 85?
Agreed. A lot of the time the clock is still running when the offense huddles up, goes to the line and does their shifts. Isn't this just as exciting as kicking the ball sideways, backwards etc. like most of soccer?
Promotion and relegation are not only the best aspects of soccer; it’s one of the best concepts in all of sport.
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