2010 World Cup discussion

[volcanicweather]

Ain't even mad. I don't care if people are ignorant of the NHL because this is probably the best collection of talent the league has seen since the 80s/early 90s, so it's their loss if they ignore that. But when people are paid to speak intelligently on sports, and it's obvious that they're fucking clueless about the majority of them, it's just sad. Wilbon especially sounds like a moron when talking about anything but the NBA, and even then.

If soccer had that kind of talent here, with 15-20 legitimate stars around the MLS, I think people would get into it. It's a slow process, but it's better than what we have now. How many players on the US team even play in the MLS?

Buddle, Donovan, Findley, Bornstein is all I think.. so 4

[Quixon]

Wilbon especially sounds like a moron when talking about anything but the NBA, and even then.

Please remember Michael Wilbon is a black American.

[Not not Mattaru]

I wish Aussies made it through simply for the lulz. Good game by Oz. Oh Serbia.

[Baleoce]

England v Germany... /sigh ok. Bring it. Let's destroy 'em

[Ryany]

I'm just tryin' to cover all the bases from other countries!

and I'd say SVP knows more shit than Cowherd. All Cowherd does is pull shit from blog articles or whatever to use on his show. He's all "I like soccer", but the dude's a joke. I only listen because he's hilarious to laugh at.

I still can't stop laughing at Cowherd's sarcastic intro about a year ago when the US beat Spain.

"Well, it only got a 0.9 rating, but on this show, it is our lead story today!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFl40B4cmOI

[wagon]

One possible explanation that Americans don't like soccer is because it's too fluid. Fluidity is the essence of the game, which goes against that of every popular sports in the USA. Take football, baseball, or basketball, constant timeout towards the end or tactical maneuvers by coaches are the norm. Americans just like to be allowed to make changes and have more control over the outcome of the game. In comparison, soccer seems hopeless since coaches can't really influence the outcome once it's started. Also, being too fluid and continuous reduces the commercial opportunities, and that's why no network devotes significant resource in broadcasting and popularizing the sport.

[Baleoce]

One possible explanation that Americans don't like soccer is because it's too fluid. Fluidity is the essence of the game, which goes against that of every popular sports in the USA. Take football, baseball, or basketball, constant timeout towards the end or tactical maneuvers by coaches are the norm. Americans just like to be allowed to make changes and have more control over the outcome of the game. In comparison, soccer seems hopeless since coaches can't really influence the outcome once it's started. Also, being too fluid and continuous reduces the commercial opportunities, and that's why no network devotes significant resource in broadcasting and popularizing the sport.

This.

[Papasmurf-Phoenix]

Woot, Germany-England!!!
Nothing else to say!

Papasmurf

[Akiyama]

I still can't stop laughing at Cowherd's sarcastic intro about a year ago when the US beat Spain.

"Well, it only got a 0.9 rating, but on this show, it is our lead story today!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFl40B4cmOI

Rofl. Yeah, I remember this. I mean sometimes he's okay with this shit and can make a joke, but other times.. the elitism attitude is turrible.

And I'm gonna go with people not liking soccer (or baseball) because.. it's just so boring sometimes. Now today, where shots on goal were all around, shit's great. But then when a team goes up 1-0 and plays not to lose or soccer's form of prevent defense (that hardly gets beaten, unlike football).. then it just gets boring. That's to me, anyway. I don't get bored of world events like this as easily, though. Now I will admit I haven't watched matches involving any super small countries (outside of Slovenia/Algeria).. but I've still enjoyed it.

[Gadritan]

One possible explanation that Americans don't like soccer is because it's too fluid..

That's like...the best explanation I've heard in a while. That's part of what makes it so alien to American audiences too. It's radically different from what they're used to.

Because of this, a lot of them make the assumption that there's very little strategy in soccer, when it reality, that's the golden key to success. Players with great field vision and teams that can play as one and recognize the strategies as they unfold in unison are the ones that have true success.

This WC has been a perfect example of this.

[Gadritan]

After all this I gotta watch PTI. I bet Wilbon does some serious US cock riding like he gave a fuck. If they'd lost he would have been like "see. told ya. soccer sucks. now where's some lebron penis."

[Not not Mattaru]

I think it is simply you have games like American Football, Baseball, Basketball that started in the US and being homegrown always had an edge over Soccer - which enjoys on the league level popularity probably slightly larger than Lacrosse. Ad time is important too, but the fact the game is more fluid just does not seem like a real reason, culturally, Americans are not as interested with soccer.

[Ryany]

One possible explanation that Americans don't like soccer is because it's too fluid. Fluidity is the essence of the game, which goes against that of every popular sports in the USA. Take football, baseball, or basketball, constant timeout towards the end or tactical maneuvers by coaches are the norm. Americans just like to be allowed to make changes and have more control over the outcome of the game. In comparison, soccer seems hopeless since coaches can't really influence the outcome once it's started. Also, being too fluid and continuous reduces the commercial opportunities, and that's why no network devotes significant resource in broadcasting and popularizing the sport.

Honestly, that is why I like the World Cup so much. I believe I saw some study about 6 months ago showing that the NFL has the least time of actual action out of any sport. (even less action than baseball) Granted, the NFL is still my favorite pro sport, but it disgusts me with the frequency of commercials.

I also like how a player can be out of bounds as long as the ball stays in bounds.

If the US designed the World Cup, we would only have 15 minute halves, but the match would still take 4 hours due to TV timeouts with a stopped clock.

[vagus]

One possible explanation that Americans don't like soccer is because it's too fluid. Fluidity is the essence of the game, which goes against that of every popular sports in the USA. Take football, baseball, or basketball, constant timeout towards the end or tactical maneuvers by coaches are the norm. Americans just like to be allowed to make changes and have more control over the outcome of the game. In comparison, soccer seems hopeless since coaches can't really influence the outcome once it's started. Also, being too fluid and continuous reduces the commercial opportunities, and that's why no network devotes significant resource in broadcasting and popularizing the sport.

This is true to an extent, however why is Hockey not popular in the US? Lots of stoppage, fast paced and physical. At the end of the day it comes down to money and soccer doesn't allow much time for advertisement. There is also so much sports to follow that soccer will never become big in the US.

US vs. Ghana gonna be interesting. England vs. Germany gonna be epic. God save the queen! Sadly i'm Canadian and we'll never have a team in the Fifa World Cup, so i'll cheer for England. Lol.

[Judai]

IMO the main reasons why Americans don't care for soccer is the rules, officiating and flopping. There really needs to be a fourth referee on the field and refs need to communicate after big calls and make sure they got it right. That's a huge problem most of my friends who don't care for soccer have. Every "American" sport has the refs talking calls over and reviewing things, where soccer refs don't even have to explain the foul. Unfortunately, with the clock never stopping it is hard to talk things over.

I have to say, in my opinion the officiating in all of this world cup has been horrid. Soccer really needs to shut down flopping because it really is retarded. Personally, I've always felt a post game yellow/red card for egregious flops and acts would help but FIFA just turns it's heads when there are horrible mistakes in games instead of fixing them. (ie Henry's hand ball, two disallowed goals for US this year, Kaka's red after a flop/act, etc) Flopping and acting also makes soccer look like a sissy sport to most people and the US likes toughness, not sissies who get kicked in the shin and cry and roll around for 5m.

When there are that many horrible calls(and more) in just this cup, it hurts the sell-ability to the US. Any other US sport would suspend players for some of their actions post game and they have replay and more refs to make sure calls are right during the game.

I'm not a die-hard soccer fan but I do enjoy it and watch/attend DC United games when I can and have a bunch of die hard friends. Soccer is probably my third favorite sport though, after football and hockey.

[volcanicweather]

I used to be a huge NFL fan, and I'm still a pretty big fan and run a FF league that Gad is a member of, but good god games take forever. It's 2 hours from start to finish for a soccer match which includes halftime (unless there's extra time) and it's so much easier to watch and continue on with my day.

Believe it or not though people soccer IS getting bigger in the US and it's all thanks to technology. Ratings for the 2010 World Cup have destroyed the 2006 World Cup and absolutely obliterated the 2002 World Cup. The US - England match wasn't even a final and it was still one of the top 5 watched matches of all-time (the most watched is the '94 Final which took place here in the US).

It's becoming so easy to watch matches now and both ESPN and Fox have realized there's a demand for the sport here and have been promoting it. It doesn't compete with primetime sports and still draws great ratings, especially on weekends when sports draw traditionally poor ratings (unless it's a big golf / tennis event or similar). I've seen pubs grow from 4-5 fans for some matches to being nearly full in the span of 5 years thanks to the evolution of the internet, where it's so much easier for people to keep up with their favorite teams, watch highlights, download matches, and more. Our parents could generally give a rat's ass less about the sport and now look at all the exposure our generation has and it will probably begin to push the more elite fringe sports like golf and tennis over time as younger generations grow up with the evolving presence of the sport in the media.

[GRT]

IMO the main reasons why Americans don't care for soccer is the rules, officiating and flopping. There really needs to be a fourth referee on the field and refs need to communicate after big calls and make sure they got it right. That's a huge problem most of my friends who don't care for soccer have. Every "American" sport has the refs talking calls over and reviewing things, where soccer refs don't even have to explain the foul. Unfortunately, with the clock never stopping it is hard to talk things over.

I have to say, in my opinion the officiating in all of this world cup has been horrid. Soccer really needs to shut down flopping because it really is retarded. Personally, I've always felt a post game yellow/red card for egregious flops and acts would help but FIFA just turns it's heads when there are horrible mistakes in games instead of fixing them. (ie Henry's hand ball, two disallowed goals for US this year, Kaka's red after a flop/act, etc) Flopping and acting also makes soccer look like a sissy sport to most people and the US likes toughness, not sissies who get kicked in the shin and cry and roll around for 5m.

When there are that many horrible calls(and more) in just this cup, it hurts the sell-ability to the US. Any other US sport would suspend players for some of their actions post game and they have replay and more refs to make sure calls are right during the game.

I'm not a die-hard soccer fan but I do enjoy it and watch/attend DC United games when I can and have a bunch of die hard friends. Soccer is probably my third favorite sport though, after football and hockey.

huh?

the number one reason Americans can't get into soccer is because the cast can't cut into commercials once every 3 minutes

[Judai]

Americans don't give a shit about commercials, only the TV stations do. No commercials is why we don't get more soccer on TV but it's not why Americans don't like the sport. There are plenty of live soccer games on internet feeds and shit, if people liked the sport they could watch games.

[Gadritan]

Our parents could generally give a rat's ass less about the sport and now look at all the exposure our generation has and it will probably begin to push the more elite fringe sports like golf and tennis over time as younger generations grow up with the evolving presence of the sport in the media.

Those of us that are around the 30yr old mark were a part of the "soccer mom," generation. The same generation that's starting to take over important jobs/roles in the media. I think that's definitely a contributing factor and will continue to help push it more to the forefront.

Remember that we're losing most of the best athletes to football/baseball/basketball as well. I'm getting really tired of people saying "we're a big country, we should have elite talent." We may be huge, but the talent pool for soccer, while growing, is incredibly small compared to what other nations have to pick from. Imagine if Lebron or Chris Johnson decided to play soccer instead, lol.

[Gadritan]

Yep. PTI sucking some serious US soccer cock.