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Forums - General Discussion - Why is soccer so unpopular in the US?

I LOL at people saying hockey players are sissies.

Take a check at 25 MPH or faster and get slammed against the boards/glass. Let's see you call it a sissy sport after that. Actually, I'd like to see some of you say anything after that. Hockey, rugby, and American football are in their own class when it comes to violence.

You may laugh at American football players wearing pads and taking breaks between plays but when you're getting hit by 275 lb., 6"4" guys who run a 4.4 40, you would probably want a few breaks and some pads, too. Football players are ridiculously big.

Here's an example:

Shawne Merriman, Linebacker: 6'4", 272 lbs, 23 years old, ran a 4.61 40 yard dash at age 21.

That is bloody fast. I'm not knocking soccer players for they are great athletes with amazing endurance, but people who knock American football are ridiculous. Those guys are fuckin' huge and fuckin' fast. Meet an NFL player in real life and your jaw will hit the ground. 5'11" is considered ridiculously short in the NFL.




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rocketpig said:
I LOL at people saying hockey players are sissies.

Take a check at 25 MPH or faster and get slammed against the boards/glass. Let's see you call it a sissy sport after that. Actually, I'd like to see some of you say anything after that. Hockey, rugby, and American football are in their own class when it comes to violence.

You may laugh at American football players wearing pads and taking breaks between plays but when you're getting hit by 275 lb., 6"4" guys who run a 4.4 40, you would probably want a few breaks and some pads, too. Football players are ridiculously big.

Here's an example:

Shawne Merriman, Linebacker: 6'4", 272 lbs, 23 years old, ran a 4.61 40 yard dash at age 21.

That is bloody fast. I'm not knocking soccer players for they are great athletes with amazing endurance, but people who knock American football are ridiculous. Those guys are fuckin' huge and fuckin' fast. Meet an NFL player in real life and your jaw will hit the ground. 5'11" is considered ridiculously short in the NFL.

Does the NHL still have the most (and most serious) injuires of any of the major professional sports?

Anyway, Hockey is great and pretty popular in a lot of places as is skating.

Soccer is... less popular.



The reason soccer is so unpopular in the US is because it's not shown on television or advertised much. There isn't any interest from television networks in making soccer popular because it's not an advertisement friendly sport, you can't interrupt the game every 5 minutes for ads because the action doesn't stop, there's no timeouts or anything.

American TV networks have been pestering FIFA for years to make the game more advertisement friendly with (luckily) no result yet.



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I'm an American and I play soccer, I'm currently playing in a premier league U15 division in Michigan, also it seems soccer is more popular in the midwest then anywhere else in the US, according to careercruising.com (a system our high school forces us to do) most of the major colleges in the south do not have mens soccer teams, but have womens soccer teams



same reason cricket is bcoz they cant play it



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comparing the lack of scoring in soccer to scoring in baseball shows a real lack of understanding of baseball.

averages for 2007

Red Sox 5.3 - 4.0 opponent (lowest in runs allowed)
Yanks 5.97 - 4.79 opponent
Pirates 4.46 - 5.22 opponent
Arizona 4.69 - 4.51 opponent (this was lowest in MLB, 9.2 runs per game)

a 5-4 game isnt in the same realm as a 1-0 or 2-1 game. With a 5-4 game, that means on average, 1 run was scored EVERY inning. and you are comparing that to a game were you wait 45 minutes just to see a scoring opportunity.

and lets not forget the stupidity of playing out an entire game and ending it in a tie. (but hell soccer could go on for days trying to break a tie)
lets also not forget the stupidity of allowing the head referee to decide when the game will end, he adds on time at the end of a game, and the ammount of time added is wholely up to him and it isnt announced.

but you were right about one thing, soccer is BORING. i think the main draw for some Euros is the drinking/chanting/singing/fighting/family tradtitions and nothing do with the actual game.

soccer is popular worldwide because all it takes is a ball, not much equipment and you can play. so poor families, in poor nations can play it from the time they are young. (thats not true for baseball, basketball, or football - they are expensive to play/setup organized leagues)




oh and hockey isnt a major sport here in the US anymore. but atleast they were smart enough to do away with ties. and its not out of the realm that it could become a major sport again - say if they signed a deal to get weekly games on ESPN.



Because soccer was invented by european ladies to distract their husbands while they're cooking



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twesterm said:
I don't know, why do Europeans hate American Football?

 cause it sucks.

Rubby is far better and hardcore. 



dgm6780 said:
comparing the lack of scoring in soccer to scoring in baseball shows a real lack of understanding of baseball.

averages for 2007

Red Sox 5.3 - 4.0 opponent (lowest in runs allowed)
Yanks 5.97 - 4.79 opponent
Pirates 4.46 - 5.22 opponent
Arizona 4.69 - 4.51 opponent (this was lowest in MLB, 9.2 runs per game)

a 5-4 game isnt in the same realm as a 1-0 or 2-1 game. With a 5-4 game, that means on average, 1 run was scored EVERY inning. and you are comparing that to a game were you wait 45 minutes just to see a scoring opportunity.

and lets not forget the stupidity of playing out an entire game and ending it in a tie. (but hell soccer could go on for days trying to break a tie)
lets also not forget the stupidity of allowing the head referee to decide when the game will end, he adds on time at the end of a game, and the ammount of time added is wholely up to him and it isnt announced.

but you were right about one thing, soccer is BORING. i think the main draw for some Euros is the drinking/chanting/singing/fighting/family tradtitions and nothing do with the actual game.

soccer is popular worldwide because all it takes is a ball, not much equipment and you can play. so poor families, in poor nations can play it from the time they are young. (thats not true for baseball, basketball, or football - they are expensive to play/setup organized leagues)




oh and hockey isnt a major sport here in the US anymore. but atleast they were smart enough to do away with ties. and its not out of the realm that it could become a major sport again - say if they signed a deal to get weekly games on ESPN.

It's exactly this kind of American attitude of "if people aren't scoring nothing is going on" which will make soccer struggle over there. Soccer is an amazing sport when you understand the subtleties and I've seen some of the most incredible games of my life end up as 0-0 draws. But if all you're after is watching the ball go into the goal then you're better off watching basketball. Saying baseball is more interesting because more runs are scored has to be one of the weakest arguments I have ever heard.

However, I will definitely agree with your bolded line there. This is the biggest reason why soccer is the most popular sport in the world. 

 



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dgm6780 said:
comparing the lack of scoring in soccer to scoring in baseball shows a real lack of understanding of baseball.

averages for 2007

Red Sox 5.3 - 4.0 opponent (lowest in runs allowed)
Yanks 5.97 - 4.79 opponent
Pirates 4.46 - 5.22 opponent
Arizona 4.69 - 4.51 opponent (this was lowest in MLB, 9.2 runs per game)

a 5-4 game isnt in the same realm as a 1-0 or 2-1 game. With a 5-4 game, that means on average, 1 run was scored EVERY inning. and you are comparing that to a game were you wait 45 minutes just to see a scoring opportunity.

and lets not forget the stupidity of playing out an entire game and ending it in a tie. (but hell soccer could go on for days trying to break a tie)
lets also not forget the stupidity of allowing the head referee to decide when the game will end, he adds on time at the end of a game, and the ammount of time added is wholely up to him and it isnt announced.

but you were right about one thing, soccer is BORING. i think the main draw for some Euros is the drinking/chanting/singing/fighting/family tradtitions and nothing do with the actual game.

soccer is popular worldwide because all it takes is a ball, not much equipment and you can play. so poor families, in poor nations can play it from the time they are young. (thats not true for baseball, basketball, or football - they are expensive to play/setup organized leagues)




oh and hockey isnt a major sport here in the US anymore. but atleast they were smart enough to do away with ties. and its not out of the realm that it could become a major sport again - say if they signed a deal to get weekly games on ESPN.

 You might want to check up on that little fact :)

You can have a good game without lots of goals. Fast paced end to end action with some great skill. Appreciate the skill, watch the action, don't assume a 0 - 0 game has to be boring.

 

@Rocketpig

You should really be comparing american football to rugy as the two sports have more in common than with "soccer". Rugy plays are massive as well. Also run just as fast if not faster, don't take ridiculous amounts of breaks and don't wear the same vast quantity of pads.

http://www.rugbygamers.com/home/2-articles/5-Fastest%20rugby%20player?tmpl=component&print=1&page=

That said. Everyone has their own preference of what they like to watch. I like football (soccer), rugby and ice hockey.

 

For a real hardcore game try hurling. Take a hard hard ball, get stick, hit at person height with stick at up to 90mph. Now try being the goal keeper with no pads :P

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurling 



Yes