111–120 of 151 posts
Broadly speaking, European sports evolved before the spectator-sports industry and, as a result, are primarily for playing; American sports evolved afterwards and have been shaped (to a greater extent) by needing to be good to watch.
Question for the Americans: Is soccer really on the brink of becoming a popular sport in your country? I read that ESPN is investing lots of money into the world cup coverage and reddit is full of related submissions.
It's still hampered by the fact that we have pretty third-rate players by international standards. The American leagues for gridiron, basketball, and baseball are de facto world championships because the best players in those sports always play here, but in soccer the best club could be English or Spanish or German or Italian, and Americans have a problem with that.
I would say it's a top 4 sport already (displacing hockey) but the top 3 is hard to break into. I suspect it'll displace baseball next.
I'm not a particularly big fan of football, but even so it's glaringly obvious to me when I read articles by certain people (let's just say it's those who call it soccer) that they.. just don't get it. This isn't just random bloggers, I've read articles in big papers like the NY Times, and as much as they want and try to, they don't really understand it. It's not "inside" them like it is for me (involuntarily) and bi…
So you don't care about the blatant cheating that can completely change the course of a game? Well, lots of people do not like cheating, do not like deliberate diving. For me, this completely ruins the game of soccer, and I will never take it seriously as a sport. I don't tune in to see which side can game the system the best.
I don't think it's nearly as bad as the American incarnation of hockey, where fistfights are tolerated with a slap on the wrist. Talk about encouraging unsportsmanlike behavior. If you tried that in soccer, you'd at the very least get a red card, if not more.
The reason FIFA does not want video reffing is not keeping the spirit of the footbal or what so ever. FIFA (and UEFA for that matter) for that matter is a highly political organization which handles a lot of money with a somewhat obscure agenda. Fairness is a little bit less important when compared to leaving out big money nations(or clubs) from a tournement. Error-prone refereeing is a vital tool for keeping as many…
Your conspiracy theory, actually, is much better suited to the NBA, which has always seemed fixed in favor of large-market teams.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So you don't care about the blatant cheating that can completely change the course of a game? Well, lots of people do not like cheating, do not like deliberate diving. For me, this completely ruins the game of soccer, and I will never take it seriously as a sport. I don't tune in to see which side can game the system the best.
Would you be happier if the rules said "the player who most convincingly acts will win the call"? Then it wouldn't be cheating, but part of the game... I don't think it's nearly as bad as the American incarnation of hockey, where fistfights are tolerated with a slap on the wrist. Talk about encouraging unsportsmanlike behavior. If you tried that in soccer, you'd at the very least get a red card, if not more.
Question for the Americans: Is soccer really on the brink of becoming a popular sport in your country? I read that ESPN is investing lots of money into the world cup coverage and reddit is full of related submissions.
> Question for the Americans: Is soccer really on the brink of becoming a popular sport in your country? No, but it's slowly trending upwards. Without looking it up, the top American spectator sports are American football, baseball, basketball, NASCAR racing, hockey, golf, and tennis. The problem is that the best American athletes look to one of top three American sports - if you look at top NBA and NFL players, many…
Question for the Americans: Is soccer really on the brink of becoming a popular sport in your country? I read that ESPN is investing lots of money into the world cup coverage and reddit is full of related submissions.
I'm not a particularly big fan of football, but even so it's glaringly obvious to me when I read articles by certain people (let's just say it's those who call it soccer) that they.. just don't get it. This isn't just random bloggers, I've read articles in big papers like the NY Times, and as much as they want and try to, they don't really understand it. It's not "inside" them like it is for me (involuntarily) and bi…
So you don't care about the blatant cheating that can completely change the course of a game? Well, lots of people do not like cheating, do not like deliberate diving. For me, this completely ruins the game of soccer, and I will never take it seriously as a sport. I don't tune in to see which side can game the system the best.
Incidentally, if you hate diving, just watch the leagues where diving isn't tolerated, like the English Premier League.
Broadly speaking, European sports evolved before the spectator-sports industry and, as a result, are primarily for playing; American sports evolved afterwards and have been shaped (to a greater extent) by needing to be good to watch.
Then why are American sports so outrageously boring to watch?
Basketball and baseball, however, are tremendously popular around the world.