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Forums - Sports Discussion - Why football failed to catch on in certain countries

MTZehvor said:
DonFerrari said:

The main reason you don't like soccer is that you haven't played or watched as a kid so you just get lost

Neither of those statements are true. I played soccer through middle school, and I followed the US national team up until the end of high school, when I had a lot more time to watch sports on my hands.

I'd appreciate it if you kept your baseless assumptions to yourself, especially when I'm simply trying to respectfully engage in discussion.

So you played it for several years without liking or enjoying it?



duduspace11 "Well, since we are estimating costs, Pokemon Red/Blue did cost Nintendo about $50m to make back in 1996"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363

Mr Puggsly: "Hehe, I said good profit. You said big profit. Frankly, not losing money is what I meant by good. Don't get hung up on semantics"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9008994

Azzanation: "PS5 wouldn't sold out at launch without scalpers."

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DonFerrari said:
MTZehvor said:

Neither of those statements are true. I played soccer through middle school, and I followed the US national team up until the end of high school, when I had a lot more time to watch sports on my hands.

I'd appreciate it if you kept your baseless assumptions to yourself, especially when I'm simply trying to respectfully engage in discussion.

So you played it for several years without liking or enjoying it?

I wouldn't go so far as to say I didn't enjoy it at all, because a lot of my teammates were great. With that said, I probably wouldn't have played if I wasn't being forced by my parents. I'm not sure if this is unique to the US or if it happens elsewhere, but at least here, many parents will sign their kids up for recreational soccer leagues or school teams, usually as a way to get them some exercise and have someone else take them off their hands for a few hours a day.



Random_Matt said:
alternine said:

You keep believing that buddy lol We all need to sleep at night.

Then I'm sure you will sleep soundly.

Rugby players are wimps compared to golfers.

https://www.golfmagic.com/golf-news/golf-more-dangerous-rugby-reveals-new-report



Ka-pi96 said:
Teno said:
I think the fact that most popular sports like soccer and basketball are still heavily growing especially in other nations like China, Japan and in terms of soccer even in the U.S. are good signs for both of these in the future. However there is always room for more and since interest in athletics, tennis and motorsports are declining since 2016 I'm interested in the runner ups for place 3-5. Maybe even eSports....we'll see ;D

Source?

As for places 3-5, football is undoubtedly #1 and cricket has surely got to be #2, but that still leaves quite a few sports in the running behind them though. I don't think anybody's mentioned boxing or golf in terms of popular sports yet, but they've surely got to be up there too (probably not top 5, but a decent shout for top 10).

In terms of annual sporting events, the biggest are (according to this link).

1.UEFA Champions League Final
2.IPL Final
3.Super Bowl

But the IPL and NFL are probably mainly just due to huge ratings in one country. But other than football I don't know any team sports league that is popular throughout the world.

https://www.livemint.com/Sports/f0arJvs9Rpl4qRy7I4FQRP/IPL-Indias-T20-cricket-league-bats-for-global-sports-crown.html



Ka-pi96 said:
HomokHarcos said:

Rugby players are wimps compared to golfers.

https://www.golfmagic.com/golf-news/golf-more-dangerous-rugby-reveals-new-report

Doesn't that suggest the opposite?

I mean, a strong non-wimpy person shouldn't be getting injured in the first place so...

It was more of a joke, not meant to be serious.



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MTZehvor said:
DonFerrari said:

So you played it for several years without liking or enjoying it?

I wouldn't go so far as to say I didn't enjoy it at all, because a lot of my teammates were great. With that said, I probably wouldn't have played if I wasn't being forced by my parents. I'm not sure if this is unique to the US or if it happens elsewhere, but at least here, many parents will sign their kids up for recreational soccer leagues or school teams, usually as a way to get them some exercise and have someone else take them off their hands for a few hours a day.

I'm sorry to hear it, perhaps being obligated made you appreciate it less and now as adult you don't like it?

In Brazil rarely would a parent need to obligate his kid to play soccer =p Here is more common to obligate to take english classes. Perhaps nowadays that kids stay more inside house and play videogames there may be parents that force kids to sport. But when I grow up was more like kids begging parents to enter a soccer school.



duduspace11 "Well, since we are estimating costs, Pokemon Red/Blue did cost Nintendo about $50m to make back in 1996"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363

Mr Puggsly: "Hehe, I said good profit. You said big profit. Frankly, not losing money is what I meant by good. Don't get hung up on semantics"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9008994

Azzanation: "PS5 wouldn't sold out at launch without scalpers."

NightlyPoe said:
pastro243 said:
I always hear this "offside rule is stupid" from people from the US. Without offside the game would turn into a million meaningless goals with poachers as forwards and boring long balls to them. Seriously, it's more than the goals, watch the midfield and try to get what happens there.

Read the actual comment.  Once again, I said the rule should be dropped when it gets carried to a certain point on the field.  Call it an attacking zone or whatever.  It wouldn't change the midfield game at all really.  It would just stop the defense from getting bailed out next to the goal.

As for telling us to watch the midfield game.  It's really not that hard to follow, nor is it all that interesting.  That sentiment is almost a demonstration of why soccer is such a lousy sport to watch.

I read it, still would make the goal hanging effect. Also, I don't know what would you establish as an "attacking zone", beyond half? Penalty boxes? Cause the only way I don't see it detrimental to the game is it being the goalkeepers box

 

Still, it says a lot about it being "lousy to watch" when most sports watchers on earth stand 45 minutes watching a half of "uninteresting" midfield play opposed to other sports where their main events are based on tv ads and big artist shows that have nothing to do with the actual sport. (great thing about football is that no one cares about those shows)



outlawauron said:
NightlyPoe said:
It's more surprising that it's as popular as it is in the world in general. When being a spectator, the main draws of a game are the ability to tell a narrative and for excitement to build with a climax. Of the five biggest sports in the United States I'd rank them as follows.

1. American Football: Easily the best narrative of any sport. The game can be sub-divided into three separate categories mini-dramas on almost every play. The need to get 10 yards in 3 plays to continue a drive, the narrative builds as the make-or-break 3rd down approaches. Where the team is on a drive, the closer to scoring the team is, the more exciting the play, and the overall score within the game. And, of course, there are big plays that happen within the narrative that scramble the whole story.

No other sport comes close to this level of narrative brilliance, and that's why it has eclipsed the others.

2. Baseball: Surprised to see this so high? You shouldn't be. Baseball is highly underrated as a spectator sport. Like football, it has a rising narrative and multiple dramas within each pitch. The tone of the game changes based on whether the count is 0-1 or 3-1. Whether someone is on base, how many outs there are. It's more nuanced than football, so it requires a bit more knowledge, which drops it well behind the other sport.

Tied for 3rd: Basketball and Hockey:

Ironically, these are the two fastest-paced games of the five, but they both have huge deficiencies in their design.

Basketball's flaw is that a goal is worth so little. You could watch a player make the most amazing play ever, and it'll still only be worth two points. Roughly 1/50th of what's needed to win a game. You get a lot of them, but there's more of a feeling of watching whose point total can go up faster than a sense of who is really doing better. If a team wins by a typical score of 105-95. What does that make them? 10% better? A few, almost random makes and misses that seemed meaningless when it happened and that score is overturned.

Hockey might well be my favorite, but its flaw is that the scoring feels almost random. It's hard to know when a goal is going to be scored or the goalie is going to make a save. There are a decent number of goals per game, which is good, but outside of powerplays, it's hard to know when to expect them. Spectators are left to cheer when something happens instead of expecting something to happen and occasionally being blindsided by a big play. Instead it's all or nothing.

5. Soccer: Oh boy, this is bad. Take all of hockey's flaws, make the game slower, lower scoring, and toss in the dumbest rule in sports, the soccer offsides rule, which inspires bad defense so that the ref can bail them out (toss the rule out once they get to the top of the box guys), grown men crying on the ground for minutes at a time as a delaying tactic, and a weirdly all or nothing penalty system. 90 minutes and pretty much nothing can happen until it randomly does. Because the goals are spaced so far apart and come so out of the blue, there's really no edge of your seat excitement until just moments before it happens. So you're watching a long, boring game, punctuated by a few moments. It's the worst of all worlds and by far the least exciting sport to watch as a spectator.

Baseball is so far behind Basketball as the 2nd most popular sport. There's literally no metric or data to support the notion of it being more popular than basketball.

What's even more laughable is that you tied it with hockey. You must live in an area where baseball and hockey are popular as they're both regional sports. Not national sports. Basketball is popular everywhere and does big numbers. Baseball is very popular in the market where the team is, and hockey is popular in specific pockets of the country. 

ETA: If this is just a rank of your personal preference, then by all means. Baseball is worst sport to watch on TV, and is enjoyable in person. That's about my extent. I don't even think my hardcore baseball fan friends enjoy watching a full game of baseball on TV.

I used to live in Michigan in the Detroit area, and there the Tigers and Red Wings were far more popular than the Pistons and the NBA.



Ka-pi96 said:
Teno said:
I think the fact that most popular sports like soccer and basketball are still heavily growing especially in other nations like China, Japan and in terms of soccer even in the U.S. are good signs for both of these in the future. However there is always room for more and since interest in athletics, tennis and motorsports are declining since 2016 I'm interested in the runner ups for place 3-5. Maybe even eSports....we'll see ;D

Source?

As for places 3-5, football is undoubtedly #1 and cricket has surely got to be #2, but that still leaves quite a few sports in the running behind them though. I don't think anybody's mentioned boxing or golf in terms of popular sports yet, but they've surely got to be up there too (probably not top 5, but a decent shout for top 10).

Actually my Source was this Bloomberg report: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-12/soccer-is-the-world-s-most-popular-sport-and-still-growing

Edit: I think soccer and basketball growth is also really well reflected by vgchartz numbers and sales for NBA2k and FIFA sales each year, noticing the small decline in favor for digital sales, both games usually peak all 2-3 years, while Madden had it's peak more than a decade ago. The gaming demographic is usually a lot younger and is at least a great source for visualizing trends at least within the digital games playing nations.

Last edited by Teno - on 24 July 2018

This idea that people who don't enjoy watching Football are somehow incapable of understanding the nuances of a sport is ridiculous.  All sports have nuances and the sports fan who understands the nuances of something like Baseball or Basketball can certainly understand the nuances of Football.  That's a very weak excuse.

Also, I'm puzzled by the "Football doesn't have breaks" thing.  That's simply not true.  There are stoppage breaks quite often--and, no, actual stoppage time is usually twice as much as the really confusing "official" stoppage time.  More than that, it's one of the games where it's pretty much safe to go into the kitchen and make a sandwich without anything much happening.  Most World Cup scores came from set pieces.

Random_Matt said:
It's just America self segregating itself, always was. And American football is embarrassing, bunch of wimps Rugby players laugh at.

That's pure ignorance on both fronts.