That's because . . .
Posted on 06/28/2006 6:19:45 AM PDT by Tatze
World Cup Scores Only Small Audience
Only 6% Following Tournament Very Closely
Despite a high level of media coverage for the World Cup soccer tournament, three-fourths of Americans (78%) are not following the action very closely if at all. A Rasmussen Reports survey of 1,000 adults found that just 6% are following the tournament very closely.
Nine percent (9%) of men are paying close attention along with 3% of women.
The Super Bowl remains the biggest sport championship in terms of fan appeal. Thirty-five percent (35%) of Americans say it’s their favorite championship to watch. The World Series is the only other championship to reach double digits—12% of adults say it’s their favorite.
One-fourth of all Americans (25%) say they don’t want any sports championships.
Despite the general lack of interest in the World Cup by the US audience, the soccer tournament is more popular than the NBA basketball championship and the NHL’s Stanley Cup hockey title. Both of those events were being held at the same time as the World Cup.
Fourteen percent (14%) of Americans say they played soccer in an organized league at some point in their life.
Fifty-two percent (52%) of Americans believe there is a professional soccer league in the United States (and they’re right).
The survey was conducted before the U.S. soccer team was eliminated. However, few were surprised by the lack of success--just 5% of the nation’s adults thought it was very likely the U.S. team would win the tournament.
The national telephone survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted by Rasmussen Reports June 19-20, 2006. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.
Ouch. Quite a few injuries for one baseball player. Are you sure you learned to play the game properly (:>)
Okay, you win. Soccer is the most dangerous sport ever played.
- John
Nope. But I can assure you that 100% of the people that make comments such as the above aren't very bright.
If you mean playing "hard" is playing "properly," yes.
I played a lot, too.
I forgot 9 stiches in my forehead and five in my knee. (spiked by runners)
Who wants to watch Kickball run by UN rules???!
Jack.
You people that seem to want to devote your life to tare down soccer seriously scare me.
Joel (zoomzoom) Zumaya scouting report.
http://www.tigerscentral.com/players.php?pnum=22519
Strengths
Features a solid high-90s fastball and a devastating curveball.
We love seeing the back of the net bulge with a well-crafted goal. The lifting of that really annoying offside rule would help its popularity no end.
Yup. And what athletes are uniformly the fittest? Try running continually for 90 minutes.
What sport requires the most coordination? I tend to think that basketball does, and it also requires great fitness. Hockey comes in a close second since it requires great leg coordination as well as hand coordination. Baseball requires a different type of coordination, but it's tough to take fat athletes seriously. Soccer is obviously unusual since hands aren't used. But it requires a tremendous amount of coordination.
Has anyone ever played speedball? I've played it a few times. It's a field game that's a cross between soccer and basketball. Speedball probably requires the greatest amount of fitness and coordination. And it's a lot of fun.
World Cup? Is that the big sailboat race they have every so many years?
There is no doubt that the popularity of the sport can be partially attributed to the very low cost of the gear needed to participate. Essentially all you need is a ball. You can make everything else using whatever is on hand.
The dominant powers in the game are primarily rich European countries. Even Brazil with the world's 15th largest economy can't be considered poor. Six of the eight in the current WC quarterfinals are from Europe plus Argentina and Brazil.
Chicago just opened a 20,000 seat stadium for the Fire. So what if Soldier Field (Bears) is nearly four times the size? Should I forego attending minor-league baseball games because they're too "little?" I have more fun at them than at MLB games . . . and I don't have to spend $150 just to have a good time.
"I know that people who don't watch NASCAR are usually surprised to find that NASCAR draws such large attending crowds. A while back, someone bragged to me about a football game drawing some 70,000 fans. I think Kansas speedway is the only track with less than 120,000 seats."
Of course there is only one big race a weekend while there can be several large football games. I doubt Nascar could come close to selling out a dozen races in one weekend.
"Hockey was non-existant here in NC 10 years ago"
Now you're talking about a real sport. For sheer excitement and intensity, I don't think anything matches a playoff game 7 in the Stanley Cup playoffs. That's what the folks down here in NC found out (btw, where in NC are you?)
Imagine playing football 3 times per week. The physical demands of hockey are on a par with football (imho). And that's probably not a fair comparison given that in a football game there is actually only about 8 minutes or so of actual "ball in play" time.
Or think about playing basketball at twice the speed. The need for balance, grace, and, yes, brute strength in sudden bursts is a far greater necessity in hockey than in basketball.
And hockey requires some of the same hand-eye coordination of baseball (nothing will ever compare to hitting a 90+ mph pitch--nothing).
And if you like boxing...
He's got a bright future, that kid is just awesome.
That's because . . .
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