6. Name one of their teams The Redskins.
For that reason alone, Soccer can suck it.
What makes the author think it’s important to the rest of the world that Americans like soccer?
I would disagree on ‘injury-time’. The fakeness of the whole thing is more worth watching than most of the game. When they show the slow-motion stuff, and you see how the guy is faking a fall...it’s like some Academy Award stuff...strictly polished at falling and doing it to claim severe injury. Good stuff, if you ask me.
Play the game with the head of a Jihadist.
Execute the losing team. Guaranteed rise to the top of the public desire.
1) It’s more or less a tradition at this point, and it’s hard to change tradition in this sport. Otherwise, I have no problem with the suggestion.
2) Meh. It’s rarely an issue in a game that’s far more about possession than it is about position (unlike American football, for example). When it really matters, the referee or linesman generally get pretty picky about taking it from the right place.
3) Agreed. Refs should be quicker to issue yellow cards for diving and league/tournament officials should be able to suspend players for egregious examples after games, regardless of whether or not they got away with it in real time.
4) No. The author gets the rule wrong and none of the suggested changes would keep even the remotest spirit of the rule intact.
5) No. The way to make everyone better is to improve, not to tear down others. The citizenship rules do need so revise, however.
Here’s an idea: how about soccer take itself seriously first, and decide its World Championship by actually playing soccer, instead of some possibly invoking some retarded coin-flipping contest?
#6. Widen the goals to allow some actual scoring. These 0-0 games are mind-numbingly boring.
OK, so now if we don’t care for soccer, we are “HATERS”?
A Beyonce halftime extravaganza. Ummm.... would be way more exciting than an actual soccer game. (and it would still suck)
Eliminate the goalie to allow for more scoring.
Let the players pick up the ball and either run with it until tackled or throw it. Award two points for knocking over the goalie when a player scores while holding on to the ball and one point for the conventional kick into the net.
Call the two point score a touchdown.
Call the one point score a field goal.
Break the game into either 4 quarters or 9 innings.
Get Vin Scully to call the game.
It's not a big deal.
(2) Placement only really matters some of the time. I've never heard of a throw-in spot deciding the outcome of a game.
(3) The diving is sickening. Simple rule revision: if the foul was blatant, call it. If the not-obviously-fouled player is hurt so badly that he is writhing on the pitch in pain, then he should be substituted. If all the substitutes are gone, then the side plays a man light.
Then, all of a sudden, you'd see a little less whining.
(4) The offsides rule is simple, and fine. As long as you're on the opposing team's half of the field, you can't be in front of the ball unless at least two defenders are in front of you.
It's not rocket science.
(5) Who cares if some teams are perennial achievers? The rule should be that you can choose to play for any country which considers you a citizen.
Dispense with the borg-like insistence that everyone must like soccer. Everyone doesn't like pro basketball, everyone doesn't like pro football. No one has their drawers in a twist about that.
As far as viewership, the problem to me appears to be cameras focusing on a huge field with brightly colored, shorts-wearing people apparently toddling about the field chasing a ball. That's what it looks like, and that's reinforcing the American impression that it's a kid's game. Yes, I know that the players are not literally toddling, but given the video showing that huge field, the action appears to be slow and the players appear to be small.
Maybe "arena soccer" with a more compact playing area would help, lol.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Baseball an American sport dirived from Cricket, and Football an American sport derived from Rugby?
Maybe we need to derive an American sport from what we now call “soccer”. I remember indoor soccer was tried. That actually looked pretty cool.
I do know that most kids that play soccer at a very young age move on to American sports when they reach Middle school or high school. Mine did, as did all their friends.
Maybe we don’t need to have a sport rammed down our throats. I’m a musician. I don’t like rap or hip-hop. If or when it morhps into something I like, well, I’ll like it.
The question asked in the article is for the marketers of Soccer in the US, not the consumers that don’t really care to watch it.
BTW, the World Cup numbers are high because it is an annual event. How high would the numbers be for it or, say the Olympics, if you could watch them every weekend? I enjoy watching soccer for short spurts while at a sports bar. I rarely see anybody score, but it is usually pretty exciting when they do. I confess that one of the most annoying parts of the game is the inability of players to use their hands to accomplish anything. It’s like having to play ping-pong with your eyes closed. It’s a fabricated challenge.
Add in more time for the players to just stand around like they do in NFL or MLB games. That way viewers can have more opportunities to go get another beer.
1. Elongate the ball.
2. Allow players to use their hands.
3. Allow players to pass the ball with their hands and other players to catch the ball with their hands.
4. Allow players to wear padding and actually, physically tackle opposing players who have the ball.
5. Have goals count as 6 points and extra points count as 1 with kickers kicking straight on instead of soccer-style.