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Why we hate Soccer and the World Cup...

• GITrDONE 701 Posts

  Thu, Jun 24 2010 10:37 AM

  Or you could refer to them as BP refered to the "SMALL PEOPLE" whos's coast they destroyed...I mean, if they can talk about us like that, I think you ought to be able to say what ever ya want to...I think that is a PC issue  and I think the British Government just happens to be political, yet they don't have to live by their own RULES that all governments impose on it's citizens...They are above the law somehow...I just don't know how...

• IvaThongon 933 Posts

  Thu, Jun 24 2010 11:25 AM

  Here's the thing. Soccer, will never catch on big in North America. It has three monsterous things against it.

  Number one, unless you know the game, soccer does not translate well to TV. The field is so vast, and the camera has to stay on the play, so you can really only watch a small square of the actual playing field. If you don't know the game, you are lost before you begin. Which leads me to...

  Number two, if I can watch a game for, say, 60 minutes, the score is 0-0, and I don't know if I'm watching a good game or a bad game...that is a huge problem.

  Number three, and maybe the biggest one of all...soccer has not figured out the TV timeout. You'll never sell anything in North America, if you can't sell airtime.

  Finally, to those discussing flopping...it is a European thing, they flop in every sport they play...soccer, basketball, hockey...

• BOFFMEN 337 Posts

  Thu, Jun 24 2010 12:05 PM

  IvaThongon:

     You'll never sell anything in North America, if you can't sell airtime.

   

  I think somewhere an ESPN executive just spit out his coffee laughing.

  I did like the "huge problem" wit though.

• Snaike 3,678 Posts

  Thu, Jun 24 2010 12:12 PM

  Listening to a nationally syndicated radio program this morning, whilst making my appointed rounds before official duties, the host said something about soccer that really encapsulates what MOST of Americans think about the sport... he said:

  "Our best athletes don't play soccer and our best soccer players don't play here (America)."

  Until this can be changed, via a cultural shift, soccer will always have to fight for respect and acceptance.  6 months from now 90% of the American public now on the bandwagon will have jumped off for something else.

  These are the facts of soccer.  We don't accept it, nor respect it, as a national sport.  It's a pastime and a hobby... but it will never be taken seriously.

  Much like most of the Olympic Events that come around every 4 years.  Sure, great spectacle, but between episodes no one really cares but the participants.

• BOFFMEN 337 Posts

  Thu, Jun 24 2010 12:47 PM

  Snaike:

   Much like most of the Olympic Events that come around every 4 years.  Sure, great spectacle, but between episodes no one really cares but the participants.

  Kind of like the:

  1. The World Series
  2. The Little League World Series
  3. BCS Bowls
  4. NCAA basketball tournament
  5. U.S. Open tennis tournament
  6. The Masters/U.S. Open
  7. Kentucky Derby
  8. America's Cup
  9. Indianapolis 500
  10. Daytona 500
  11. NHL finals
  12. NBA finals
  13. SuperBowl

  I'm just sayin'

• Snaike 3,678 Posts

  Thu, Jun 24 2010 12:57 PM

  BOFFMEN:

  Snaike:

  Much like most of the Olympic Events that come around every 4 years.  Sure, great spectacle, but between episodes no one really cares but the participants.

  Kind of like the:

  1. The World Series
  2. etc...

  I'm just sayin'

  Then you would be saying incorrectly, B-man.  Read the original line in my post and tell me what the difference is between what I wrote and your list...

  Go on, take your time, I know you can get it....

  Well, all but #8.  The only 'sport' that's less of a 'sport' than soccer.  Who the hell cares about a bunch of rich guys in boats? 

• GITrDONE 701 Posts

  Thu, Jun 24 2010 1:09 PM

  BOFFMEN:

  I'm just sayin'

  Yeah Boff but if ya gonna say it like that ya got a heck of a point...Since the AMERICAN corporate sponsors of those events make a ton of money off of each...They sure ain't gonna let ya forget they on the T.V.   How nice of them...They kind of won't let ya not watch 'em.That gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "Dumb Americans" don't it...

  I'm just saying!

• neildiamond11790 1,115 Posts

  Thu, Jun 24 2010 1:11 PM

  IVA thongon, regarding your #2 reason that can apply to any sport.  Baseball, you watch for 3 hours, its 0-0, nobody can hit the broadside of the barn, if you dont know baseball, is that a good game or a bad game?

  Football, scoreless through the first half (1.5 hours it seems like these days), offense doing nothing, defense playing ok, but if you dont know football, is that a good game?

  Hockey, 0-0 again, having problem following tiny puck around the ice, all these lines all over the place, seems like to many people in too small a place.  Is that a good game or a bad game?

  Only a few sports can guarantee a score.  Others to the untrained eye are all boring.  Golf, tennis being the top 2, meanwhile they are the hardest sports for a person out of all the top sports.  I am not arguing that with anyone, think about it in terms of talent, skill, opponents, responsibility.

• IvaThongon 933 Posts

  Thu, Jun 24 2010 1:11 PM

  Snaike:

  Listening to a nationally syndicated radio program this morning, whilst making my appointed rounds before official duties, the host said something about soccer that really encapsulates what MOST of Americans think about the sport... he said:

  "Our best athletes don't play soccer and our best soccer players don't play here (America)."

  Until this can be changed, via a cultural shift, soccer will always have to fight for respect and acceptance.  6 months from now 90% of the American public now on the bandwagon will have jumped off for something else.

  These are the facts of soccer.  We don't accept it, nor respect it, as a national sport.  It's a pastime and a hobby... but it will never be taken seriously.

  Much like most of the Olympic Events that come around every 4 years.  Sure, great spectacle, but between episodes no one really cares but the participants.

  The one thing soccer has going for it, and is probably the reason it is so big throughout the world, is that it is cheap. You need something round to kick, and two goal posts to shoot between. Poverty stricken countries can play and even excel.

  Eventually, some of our North American sports will price themselves out. It is happening in Canada with hockey. Many families can't afford a couple grand for equipment and ice time for a season, per kid. Baseball is getting there, gloves have gotten ridiculously priced, bats are astronomical. Basketball is really the only NA sport that can be cheap, a bouncy ball and a couple hoops that every playground in NA already has.

• GITrDONE 701 Posts

  Thu, Jun 24 2010 1:19 PM

  IvaThongon:

  , a bouncy ball and a couple hoops that every playground in NA already has.

  Yeah, but ya got fight the drug gangs and illegal aliens if ya want to use them...I guess that's why OUR atheletes are so tuff, huh?