Posted on 07/02/2014 7:49:10 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Soccer doesn’t express the American ethos as powerfully as our other popular sports: We are a country of pioneers, and we like to see extraordinary effort rewarded... with points.
Has the time finally come to slap a Do Not Resuscitate bracelet on soccer’s prospects for popularity in America?
If it were up to me, the answer would be no, because soccer players are among the strongest, fittest, most strategic athletes in the world. But, for various reasons, the sport itself does not seem destined for the popularity that supporters have been predicting for the last decade. I’m reminded of the end of Man of La Mancha, when Don Quixote lies dying, but is suddenly inspired to rise once more and proclaim, “Onward to glory I go!” And then he drops dead. Soccer has been proclaiming this impending U.S. glory for years, and while there are signs of life in the body, the prognosis is not good.
This dire diagnosis probably seems crazy in the face of the current World Cup TV ratings success. Between Univision and ESPN, 25 million viewers tuned in to watch the U.S. play Portugal last Sunday. Compare that to 15.5 million viewers that the NBA finals averaged this year, or the 14.9 million averaged in last year’s baseball World Series. Worse, the NHL playoffs averaged only 5 million viewers. Only NFL football consistently beats soccer’s best rating.
The problem with those statistics is that it’s like using the ratings of bobsledding during the Winter Olympics to declare a new renaissance for bobsledding in America. The World Cup, like the Olympics, happens every four years, so the rarity factor alone will account for inflated ratings.
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
Don’t care much for watching the game but do enjoy watching the hooliganism that follows it.
The challenge is how to make it more than just an every four years thing.
We do have The Gold Cup in 2015 and 2017, with WC qualifying starting soon after. But that’s mostly games against other CONCACAF teams, which frankly doesn’t do much to get people excited.
But in 2016, the Copa America is coming to the US, which is basically all of the South American teams, like Brazil and Argentina, with six CONCACAF teams, including USA and Mexico. It is originally slated to be a one-off, but if successful, it could become a permanent fixture that could rival UEFA’s Euro tournament.
NBA isn’t going anywhere. Major League Baseball is way past its prime however.
RE: Don’t care much for watching the game but do enjoy watching the hooliganism that follows it.
Then brace yourself if Brazil gets eliminated or even fails to win the World Cup.
My youngest Daughter played Soccer until she was old enough to play basketball. That was all the soccer I need to see for the rest of my life. It’s something I might watch, like I’ll watch a bit of nacar at a sports bar out of the corner of my eye while talking with friends. I don’t consider it a spectator sport, really.
On a side note, I’m an avid bicyclist, and I feel the same way about bicycling. I’m kinda that way with all sports. I’m more a doer than a watcher. I do have Tour de France DVD’s I watch while on the trainer, though.
It depends on the type of lack of scoring. Yesterday you had good examples of both types of lack of scoring. In the US-Belgium game it was tense as both teams got chances, especially in the second half when Belgium was getting chance after chance, and it was tense and exciting. But before then was the Argentina-Switzerland game where the lack of scoring mostly seemed to stem from lack of effort, there was nothing tense about it. That’s really what they need to get rid of. America can do low scoring if there’s high chances, you see it in baseball all the time. What they won’t put up with is low effort.
That’s actually not a bad idea. it could be drastically reduced in size since there is no goalie. Come to think of it, that’s kinda what basketball does. Small goal, everyone trys to prevent the opponent from getting it into the “goal”.
You may have something there.
I definitely think that if the US ever does warm up seriously to the game it will be some sort of Soccer hybrid, as opposed to the current version of the game.
Look at the roster of the current NBA champions:
Tony Parker - France
Manu Ginobli - Argentina
Marco Bellinelli - Italy
Boris Diaw - France
Tiago Splitter - Brazil
Patty Mills - Australia
Cory Joseph - Canada
Tim Duncan - US Virgin Islands
Aron Baynes - Australia
That’s the future of the NBA.
Soccer along with conversion to the metric system...yawn...
It's perfect for the socialist mindset prevalent in foreign countries. No winner or loser suits Europeans, and zero score/zero sense of accomplishment suits third-worlders.
This debate resurfaces every four years during the World Cup, and then fades away for most Americans until the next WC. The international spectacle and the gradually improving US team attracts significant interest in the US every four years, but, otherwise, the game just doesn’t offer enough to interest most Americans when we already have year round sports of the games that originated here.
Like Solitaire?
But I should talk; love to watch PGA golf, have been known to leap up and cheer in front of the TV when someone makes a birdie. But the thing is, many players make birdies and the cameras are always there, keeping the tension of the game.
Maybe soccer needs "stars." Or holes in the field.
I think aron is more kiwi, OMG, Patti aint-I-pritti Mills is more aussie than
Aron Baines??
/ Ober.
"….the endless meandering back and forth a cross the soccer field looks less like strategy and more like random luck."
He collected and used data to support a premise based on his preference, not what is actually happening. And now he is dealing with the reality that there will come a day when people no longer care about his career in the NBA.
Funny he left out the data of football fields being converted to soccer fields in rural America (where I'm at). Funny how he leaves out the programs to "get" kids to play basketball, football, and baseball; but the soccer programs rise without any outside funding.
Lastly, his flawed logic is written from the point of view that America is contestant. It isn't. We are 47% nanny-state, and growing.
As we say is Spanish, "Jaquemate en dos jugadas." Checkmate in two moves.
Just wait until we teach them the concepts of salary caps, revenue sharing, anti-trust exemptions, taxpayer funded stadiums, and rewarding losers with high draft picks. That'll show 'em!
I think during this WC, at least 80% of the time a game is either tied or within one goal, which means at any moment a game can completely change. Other than Germany-Portugal and Spain-Netherlands, there have been relatively few routs this World Cup.
BURN!
On weekend mornings, even, as opposed to prime-time.
I am a Canadian who came out to Israel 30 years ago, a big sports fan, primarily hockey and baseball. In Israel the big sports are soccer and basketball. I came around to basketball since Maccabi contends for the European title every year and this year won again. But try as I may I could not get interested in soccer. The last game I watched all the way through was 1987 when Israel played Colombia. I think if Israel were to qualify for the World Cup I would watch but not because of the game, rather the national interest. I suppose you have to play a game to appreciate it and I never did. Maybe if they had the offside rule of hockey it might open the game up. I don’t know. I just find the game too boring to watch although it must be fun to play.
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