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To: discostu; Owl_Eagle
I'm not insulting anybody just telling the truth. In soccer, much like in hockey, there's a lot of movement with the sole purpose of trying to teach the opponent to do one thing in reaction to you so that later in the game you can do something he doesn't expect catch him out of position and get a scoring opportunity. And historically American sports audiences don't like that kind of subtlety, they don't enjoy sports where tilting your shoulders one way is all about setting the other player up for an embarassment in 20 minutes.

Just about everything in soccer and hockey is more subtle than the difference between an 0-2 and a 2-0. In the world of flow oriented sports there is nothing about baseball that's even remotely subtle.

No, every sport has subtlety and misdirection. In football you run run run, then hit them with the play-action pass, or run the same route several times early on then lure them on the same one before cutting the opposite direction. In baseball pitchers set up certain pitches innings in advance; base runners play cat-and-mouse games with fielders/catchers/pitchers. Soccer's lack of popularity here has nothing to do with its subtleties; American sportsfans enjoy them in whichever sport they follow.

174 posted on 08/04/2004 1:25:57 PM PDT by HenryLeeII (sultan88, R.I.P.)
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To: HenryLeeII

Every sport does have them, but not every sport has them as deeply entrenched into the heart of the game, and not every sport has them discussed during the game on TV.

No American sports fans don't enjoy subtleties in whichever sport they follow. In the football, baseball and basketball fan communities most of the fans don't give a damn about the subtleties at all, as is shown quite clearly by the coverage. The commentators aren't gonna talk about thing the fans aren't interested in, they aren't talking about the subtle aspects of these games for a reason. Watch a soccer game and listen to how much the commentator talks about subtle body position changes and how it effect the play and the game as a whole, then watch a football game and listen to that. It'll tell you everything you need to know about why soccer isn't popular, what's important to soccer isn't interesting to your average American sports fan.


176 posted on 08/04/2004 1:31:32 PM PDT by discostu (Gravity is a harsh mistress)
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