Why Americans Don’t Like Soccer
Posted by
tgirsch
The first round isn’t even over yet, and there have already been five 0-0 draws. Five matches in which nobody scored. In the Argentina-Netherlands match, there were a total of six shots on goal in the match (three a side). For those keeping score at home, that’s one shot on goal every fifteen minutes (and that’s only if you ignore “stoppage time”). There were nineteen total shots taken, if you include the thirteen that weren’t on goal. So barely over one shot every five minutes, on average. When Americans complain that “nothing happens” in a soccer match, this is exactly what we’re talking about.
While I’m on this rant, there were six 1-0 matches, three 1:1 draws (nine total draws), and fourteen other shutouts (twenty total shutouts if you count the 1-0 matches). So out of forty matches played, in 25 of them, at least one team failed to score at all. That’s a staggering 62.5%! (By way of comparison, there were fifteen baseball games today, and two of them were shutouts; in all but 13.3% of the games, fans of either team had at least something to cheer for; and baseball isn’t exactly known for being the most exciting sport in the world…)
Contrary to what you commonly hear, it’s not just scoring that we like. We like things happening. That doesn’t have to mean a score, it can mean a decent attack, a shot, a scoring chance, a big play, whatever. Incessant passing and jockeying for position with neither team truly attacking or defending does not constitute “something happening.” Imagine what basketball would be like if 85% or more of a game was spent at center court, with teams just passing the ball around. And there’s no shot clock. Ugh.
So I think the appropriate question isn’t why the US doesn’t care about soccer, but why the rest of the world does care. What exactly are you watching?
On a side note, I asked a Canadian coworker, and she tells me that Canadians don’t give a shit “aboat” soccer, either.
Okay, you seemed to have deleted your “offsides” post cause I can see it in bloglines but not here. But wanted to say, I understand it no probs! Have known about it since I was a kid.
(nevermind that my dad was a soccer coach)
Comment 6/22/2006
Give me a break! You don’t understand the game so you can’t enjoy it. With your logic, baseball sucks because a great game is when the pitcher does not let any hits. A good in basketball is one that you wait all game exchanging basket to define in the last second. Football scoring is similar to soccer but you count points in sets of 6.
Please write about other things.
Comment 6/22/2006
Just a thought as I’m barely awake, but weren’t some of what were considered the greatest college football games ever really low-scoring affairs ? Wasn’t there a Army-Navy or some such game that was a scoreless tie that was supposed to be the all-time best ?
Comment 6/22/2006
tgirsch,
Judging by above two comments, it appears you have been sound-bited. The “things happening is good” thrust of your blog has been overshadowed by the “no goals is boring” lead-in.
I think the “things happening is good” concept can be sharpened a bit. I find entertainment in observing sport when I see displays of skill that I recognize to be considerably beyond what I can do. I think this explains why I enjoy occasionally watching professional pool players (I play a lot of pool) but have zero interest in televised golf (don’t play golf). In the case of pool, I have a deep appreciation for the level of skill being exhibited, with golf I do not. I suggest that “displays of excellent skill is good” is the key to enjoyment when watching sports - in the absence of a vested interest in the ultimate outcome.
I assert the shear athleticism of basketball, baseball and US football is significantly more evident than in soccer. My reasoning is soccer essentially ignores athletic ability from the waist up, and burdens the lower half with tasks better suited to the upper half, thus limiting player maneuverability and speed. The net effect is the sport is very imprecise with a lot of random action and little recognizable skill. At least to the non-fan. I honestly can not tell the difference between a high school soccer game and the finals of the World Cup in terms of the skill and speed of the players. That, coupled with the lack of measurable results, makes the game boring for me.
Something else that has not been mentioned is the incredible displays of racism and to a lesser degree fascism at European soccer matches. This is not a reflection on the sport itself, but it does tarnish the international leagues and fan base.
Comment 6/22/2006
I despise basketball because it’s too easy to score. May as well watch the last minute of a game, last team to sorce wins. Also, WAY too many timeouts and fouls, stoppage of play… Let’s see those freaks run as much as soccer players! (same goes for American football players. Half the players on each team look like they just won a competive eating contest)
Comment 6/22/2006
Ace:
A “no hitter” in baseball is considered a good game because it is recognizably an incredible individual performance, and even more importantly, because it’s highly irregular.
And (american) football scoring is nothing like soccer scoring.
Joec:
As I’ve pointed out before, scoring isn’t what’s important. Scoring chances are important. Basically, action is important. If a team mounts a great attack and that attack is thwarted, that’s exciting, no matter the sport. But if neither team attacks at all, or if the attacks are inept, that’s a lousy game. In soccer, a great deal of time is spent not attacking.
Wkmaier:
I hate pro basketball for the same reason. In College and the Olympics, however, where offensive fouls and traveling are called, and where teams are actually allowed to play defense, the games are (IMO) much better.
And it’s true that soccer players run more than american football players do, but I’ll argue that most of them sprint less, and they don’t really have contact to worry about. The occasional “tackle,” sure, but you don’t have to worry about physically blocking other players, and you don’t have to worry about 300 pound guys trying to kill you every time you touch the ball. I do agree that American football has too many timeouts (or, more accurately, that the timeouts are often too long).
What I like about American football is that it combines the physical aspects of sport (running, hitting, throwing, etc.) with complex team interaction and strategy. As someone here pointed out (Ted, in another thread, I think), you can spend 10 or 15 minutes analyzing a single football play, because there’s so much going on there. And better still, American football doesn’t prohibit you from using the most useful tool that God gave us, the opposable thumb!
Comment 6/23/2006
Ted, watch Brazil play. Some of the most amazing running, passing and shooting I’ve seen in a long time. Against Japan, I think, at the 65 min mark they had 18 shots on goal. The US had a total of 4 shots on goal in three very boring games. The difference between the two teams is like day and night.
Comment 6/23/2006
Imagine what basketball would be like if 85% or more of a game was spent at center court, with teams just passing the ball around.
To make this analogy even better, every other pass would fail miserably so that the opponents would snatch the ball (only to fail themselves similarly in five or ten seconds), and many times the player holding the ball just throws it outside the field for no apparent reason.
Comment 6/24/2006
Canadians don’t care about soccer because they are not very good at the game. Say what you will about the United States, but we’ve made the World Cup finals five times in a row. That’s not bad for such an unpopular sport.
There’s a lot of merit to what you say, but in all sports there is a great degree of failure: Strike outs and ground balls in baseball, incomplete passes and busted running plays in American football, ice hockey is almost literally one continuous turnover, and the National Basketball Association is just ugly and has been since Bird and Magic departed as players. Who wants to see Dwayne Wade shoot free throws all night? What’s the difference between that and watching a build-up by, say, Portugal that does not result in a goal? Not a whole lot in my opinion.
This American enjoys soccer because there is a great amount of skill and cunning necessary to build up an attack and get scoring chances. I could do without all of the diving and rolling around after fouls, but I can see that watching Tayshaun Prince of the Detroit Pistons. As a previous poster pointed out, watching Brazil play would make most anyone a fan of the game. And there is a lot of skill involved for players from the waist up; heading is an integral part of the game, as is trapping the ball with one’s chest without being called for handling the ball. Body control and athleticism are absolute necessities to play the game with any modicum of skill and success.
Even though the game has not caught on here at the professional level, it is still enjoyable to many and I would venture a wild guess that the World Cup is outdrawing the Stanley Cup playoffs on television, even though most games are on cable and in the morning and afternoon.
Comment 6/25/2006
For me games like basketball are boring because it’s too easy to score and scoring loses its meaning. You can also object to the level of athleticism required by basketball. Guys that are 100-feet tall cannot actually move very well, and actually the same goes for 1000-pound linesmen (?) which are on the field only to act as a wall that someone runs into.
In addition, I would like to point out to fellow countryman Ilkka Kokkarinen that doing something by hand is 10 times easier than doing it by foot. In practice (pun intended) this means that while basketball etc. players must practice their passes 10 000 times to get the hand coordination, football players must do it 100 000 times to get the foot coordination. Hard work, which is something us Finns should be able to appreciate…
I think talking strategy really depends on whether you understand the game or not. Of course the things you understand are more appealing. I myself cannot imagine ever getting enthousiastic about American football regardless of its said strategic complexity. Sorry.
Comment 6/26/2006
Americans seem to like icehockey just like us finns. And why wouldn’t they? It’s like football with all the boringness removed.
Comment 6/26/2006
It’s funny how many emotional, ridiculously biased, or completely wrong comments people make
when discussing soccer in america. I guess that’s sports! But it would be cool
if every once in a while people backed up their opinions with facts.
- When someone says it’s “too easy to score” in basketball, do they realize that, on any
given possession, the offense has less than a 50-50 chance of succeeding? (a shooting
average of 48% is considered pretty good). That is, if you actually watch play to play,
basketball is almost perfectly balanced between offense and defense. Yes the final score
is high, only due to the fact that there are a lot of possessions, not because offense
has any sort of advantage.
- In contrast, in futbol (aka soccer), a team might get a “scoring chance” on 6 out of 90
possessions, and might score once out of 90 (average score in the world cup so far has been
2.2 total goals per game). That means on any given play, if you are defending Ronaldhino you have
a 93% chance of shutting him down completely and 99% chance of stopping him from scoring. If
offense in basketball had the same probability as defense in futbol, the average basketball score
would be 190-200.
- When someone says basketball players and Am.football players are not athletic by singling out
interior linemen or centers, and ignoring the other 80% of players who are freakishly fast
and agile, that’s pretty funny. (Check the 40-yd dash times of 250 lb. linebackers. They are
published and easily available because it is so important to be very fast and strong
in the NFL.)
Oh, and put Terrell Owens next to Ronaldhino. Seriously, google some pictures if you must.
Compare body type and build and see who LOOKS faster, stronger, or can jump higher. You
don’t need numbers.
Now baseball players, that’s a diffrent story…
- “Failure” in baseball, Am.football, and basketball is very different than failure in futbol.
A strikeout, an incomplete pass, or a missed shot does not mean a COMPLETE reset, like
a turnover does in futbol. In american sports, there is a sense of progress, defined by
field position, men on base, or a 10-0 run in bball, that extends for at least several minutes
before resetting.
In futbol, when you change possession, you’re completely starting over, losing any gain
you made last time. Every 30 seconds or so, you pretty much wipe your memory. Unless there
was a shot on goal, there’s basically no stats, nothing. This gives
fans who are used to American sports a sense of frustration, of rhythmic failure after
failure. American sports reset too, but not as frequently, and at least you get some stats
to prove that you accomplished something.
- I would not say that there is “little recognizable skill” in futbol. Anytime you’re doing
anything with your feet, it’s pretty skillful. And everytime someone “catches” a pass with
their chest and lays it down perfectly at their feet for an immediate dribble, that’s pretty
cool. As everyone knows, you come to appreciate skill the more you watch.
However, the problem that cannot be overcome by “learning the game” is the sense that there
is little reward for skill in futbol. Someone can make the most brilliant move ever, and
more than 90% of the time it will result in nothing. No yards gained, no bases, no shot,
nothing. The key, I guess, is that futbol fans are “rewarded” just by seeing the skill,
and they don’t have to have any result from it. “The journey is the thing”, not the
destination. I’m quite sure this will never be fully accepted in America.
Futbol fans might criticize this as “Americans have a petty need for stats and can’t
appreciate the actual game”.
However American sports fans might say, “we demand to be rewarded for effort, we want
the score to reflect that effort, and we don’t celebrate failure”.
Comment 6/29/2006
I do buy the argument that spectators like frequent scoring as PART of the popularity of football, and the relative lack thereof in soccer as the reason for its mediocre popularity. I also buy the argument that basketball, baseball and football have a ‘monopoly’ in the American sports marketplace.
But I believe that a big part of the dislike of soccer in the U.S. is simply the fact that most Americans are what isolationist and largely ignorant of the rest of the world. Most have never traveled abroad or do not speak a foreign language. At the same time, the best soccer is played in countries the majority of Americans could not find on a map and with players whose names people could not pronounce. There is a great deal of “cultural laziness” involved here.
Comment 7/3/2006
Why don’t Americans like soccer?
Simple: same reason most people don’t like Grand Prix, LeMans or Moto GP racing. If it does not say Chevy or Dodge on the side, it is no good in the minds of your avergae American.
Comment 7/3/2006
I’m indifferent about soccer…However, I love to watch hockey!
Hurray for the ‘Canes!
Comment 7/4/2006
RAK Stated:
“But I believe that a big part of the dislike of soccer in the U.S. is simply the fact that most Americans are what isolationist and largely ignorant of the rest of the world. Most have never traveled abroad or do not speak a foreign language. At the same time, the best soccer is played in countries the majority of Americans could not find on a map and with players whose names people could not pronounce. There is a great deal of “cultural laziness” involved here.”
Let’s disect this statement. The US is a very large country and has almost every vacation want that a person could need. Beaches on the entire east and west coast, Hawaii and the very close Carribean islands for tropical destinations. Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Vermont, New York for Skiing and winter sports, New York, Las Vegas, Washington DC, San Franciso for city getaways, and many other states that have their own reason for going there “on holiday.” The US is bordered by two countries. Canada and nothing else to the North and Mexico to the south. The next closest country is another few thousand miles after getting through Mexico.
So to say we are “Isolationist” you are correct but you are very off in your reasoning for it. I feel I am a very educated American. I have been to Belize once and Britain twice. I cannot just hop on a train and 7 hours later be in another European country that has thousands of years of history to soak up. I can hop on a plane and fly for seven hours but I also will have to pay a few thousand dollars to do this with my family. We are isolationist mostly because of geography reason. It is 3,000 miles to Europe which is far more a economical powerhouse than Canada or Mexico so we are also economically isolated. As far as learning a second language. What for? I would love to be bilingual. However I live in the Northeast US where 99.9% of language spoken to communicate is English. I will never be immersed in another language to be able to learn it. I do not have another country 100 miles away where they speak a completely different language where I might need it to communicate. You are quick to pass a ignorant blanket statement/judgement on Americans for not being open minded and are ignorant about the reasons for this judgement. Baseball, Football and Basketball are American games and what we grew up watching. Americans like games that have a purpose and a quantitative result. We like to see statistics and scoring not “the beauty of the strategy” of soccer.
Comment 7/5/2006
There are three main reasons why Americans don’t like soccer, especially at the World Cup level.
1. American’s don’t like to see athletes “fake” injuries…
If you are lying on the field, wreathing in pain, you better have a broken leg, back or neck. From an American perspective, in soccer it appears that every three seconds a player is lying on the field in pain, only to jump back up and begin to play like nothing occurred in the first place. Americans love the guys who play hurt and don’t show it. For example, the Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Shilling who pitched in the World Series as his ankle bled from surgery he had the night before. He didn’t complain nor showed that he was hurting. In every play in American Football, those 400 lb linemen bust, break, or tear something. They simply get back up and head back to the huddle for the next play. In fact, many American sports require a player to be removed from the game if they cause a timeout. If you want to improve soccer, stop allowing these highly paid soccer players from feigning injuries.
2. Americans like hitting…
Why American football is so popular is because of the constant hitting of the sport. Let’s face the fact; American football has the world strongest, biggest and fastest athletes. They are constantly pounding on each other. Americans also like hockey over soccer because of the checking and fighting involved. Americans don’t understand, but really admire Australian Rules football and rugby because of the hitting. If you want to improve soccer, allow checking and get rid of the silly yellow and red cards.
3. Americans use hands and arms…
Americans like using their hands in sports. They like throwing. They use their feet for running. There is a great sport called European handball which allows the use of throwing to score goals. If you want to improve soccer, allow players to carry and throw the ball.
I hope this gives you soccer from an American perspective.
Comment 7/6/2006
In the end, we should all agree to disagree. So, Americans don’t like football. It’s because they weren’t exposed to it and can’t understand it, period. There’s nothing wrong with that. They can’t see what I can see in the game. Sure, it’s the “beauty of the play.” But it’s also the joy, excitement, and release of the goal; one appreciates things that aren’t that plentiful. Also, one appreciates things one has grown up with and understands. I wasn’t exposed to American football while growing up, and now I think it’s boring. I don’t understand it. To me, it seems that nothing happens most of the time. Too much downtime. And too often it looks like a circus, a commercial orgy. A bunch of yards gained? So what. Give me a Riquelme play any day, even if it doesn’t result in a goal; now that’s something beautiful. Hitting? Please, that’s disgusting. Again, I didn’t grow up with it, so perhaps I don’t understand the beauty of it. As I don’t understand the beauty of professional wrestling. Or cricket, for that matter.
Comment 7/9/2006
I can’t be arsed watching football but I can still spot a pointless argument about one….
Americans are on a different wavelength when it comes to many things from economic policy to sport. You could mount a similar argument against cricket and rugby which the Americans don’t care about either or you could criticise another European game, golf, which Yanks do enjoy.
Each nation to their own. Pointless trying to rationalise.
Comment 7/14/2006
I really love soccer, and i think that bush is a terrorist worst than Husein… i hate u all fuckers.
Comment 8/1/2006
Hi iam from argentina , and i love football (soccer) and i love basketball aswell, and i really would like to say that u tgirsch , dont have any clue of what football is
how can u say that football is boring because you watch a few games of the world cup that ended with 0 goals or only a few goals.
Football is not about scoring goals only , its about technique , tactics ,skills,pasion,u dont know anything about football , i can enjoy just watching good moves of players without even shooting to goal and they are amazing , and iam not going to speak about baseball or any other of your sports because i really dont know about it and i dont want to do the same thing u are doing , talking about something that you are not familiar with
If u want to know anything about football , you can watch a boca juniors - river plate match and i can tell u that it doesnt matter whether if it finish 5 - 0 , or 1 - 1 , people will love it
Bye
Comment 8/1/2006
Ya know, I think that soccer is one of those sports, where to really enjoy watching it you either, have to play it, or, you have to be obsessed with it. Because there are certain things in a soccer game that people who play it would say, wow that was really nice, and others wouldn’t even see what they were talking about. You have to know alot about soccer, to enjoy watching it.
Comment 8/24/2006
the amount of ignorant xenophobia here is astounding
Comment 9/17/2006
hey, seriously, you guys stop making fun of american football when you have never watched or played it before. working 100% on every play is way harder than walking on a soccer field. I bet you wouldn’t be able to run a 4.2-7 40yd dash.
Comment 9/17/2006
I have seen a american football game and it bored the shit out of me. I sat there watching a game for 3 hours, to see 3 touchdowns. Hey,I know soccer could be boring at times but at least they don’t stop the game every 10 minutes to allow T.V stations to broadcast their commercials. And whatz up with all those downs 1,2,3 etc. Let the fucken guys play sure they could run 40yrd dashes but they hardly ever do in the games. There just standing there like fat lards waiting to takle the person with the ball. How is that strategy I bet you that if in soccer players went around tackling a player every time he has the ball it wouldn’t be so popular. Yeah players throw themselves sometimes in the games when they barel even touch them but it is all part of the game. In the world cup Italy and Australia were tied only seconds were left untill the game was over, when Totti dribbled the ball into the box and threw himself on a small contact by the australian defense he could of kept going but he threw himself instead in the box and what do you know it was a penalty that goal shot by totti himself gave Italy the pass to the next round or else who knows what could of been the World champion.I also don’t understand why they pay football players so much money all they do is stand around and tackle opossing players and do a little run once in a while. So you can’t argue that a soccer player just stands around in the field and if you did I’m sure it wasn’t soccer.Oh, And one more thing when there is a football there is 44 players in the field no wonder it’s so boring it appears as if everbody is in a big renioun and wants to got to a stadium and sit around 3 hours when your only watching 60 minutes of play and supposebley you guys like the action sports. FUCK FOOTBALL
Comment 10/15/2006
I can tell u right now that not one of u that left a comment here could ever step out on a field and run for 90 minutes straight, know exactly whats going on and actually understand the game of soccer, i’ve been playing for 17 years and am on a professional team in Europe but i will tell u now not one of u could ever step up and go through what it takes to get to this leave.
Comment 12/4/2006
I am the Governor of Pennsylvania and I say that the “sport” of soccer is boring and Shane Keeley is a douchebag.
Comment 12/13/2006
I am the president of Bolivia. I just want to say that the only thing that kept me through the football and baseball “sport” games that I watched was the food and entertainment, otherwise I would have literally died of boredom.
Comment 2/26/2007
By the way, by “football” I mean American football (even though it should actually be called “Sissypants ball”).
Comment 2/26/2007
Who’da thunk the president of Bolivia was an Ole Miss student named Tommy…
Comment 2/27/2007
soccer the so called beautiful game, its called that for a reason i truly believe if you dont like soccer its only because you dont understand it, I used to watch a lot of basketball and baseball but i started watching soccer a few years back and i realized how gripping , passionate and amazing it is. no other sport compares,soccer isnt just a sport its a religion
Comment 3/10/2007
the american sports are shit compare with football (soccer)
Comment 5/8/2007
Okay, who exactly told you that Canadian pronounce about (aboat).
The f*ggots from south park in just bullsh*ting
Comment 5/27/2007
I actually spend quite a bit of time in Canada. Usually Toronto or Vancouver, but sometimes also Montreal and Calgary. In Toronto in particular, they pronounce it “aboat.” (If I were to take South Park’s word for it, I would spell it “aboot.”)
Comment 5/27/2007
Hi
my name is Mustapha, i am from Liberia. Talking in term of soccer in the United States is just…its inexplicable. people who say soccer is this, is that, do not really understand what soccer is. soccer is the world greatest since the history sport. If you don’t know about soccer, don’t say anything about soccer. People will call you an idiot.
Comment 6/6/2007
Why do people keep mentioning that because soccer players are great athletes and have great skills and endurance, than inherently the sport is great. Cyclist and Marathon runners are great athletes too, but most people find the sports boring. I think soccer players are great athletes, but I am bored as hell watching the sport. I thought the post from slantpass was great. Marano’s later post only proved his point. Non-Americans enjoy the actual skill and moves of soccer players without focusing on the results of the action. This just does not go over well with Americans. We need tangible results to sports. As slantpass eluded to, soccer resets its action too often where great moves and great drives almost never end up in an actual goal. In addition, many goals are scored on fluke plays were the ball redirects to the right guy in the right place and a goal in scored. Also, football may only have 3-4 touchdowns a game, but when you include field goals, the average football score is about 24-17 which means that scoring occured at 7 different occasions. In addition, football very rarely ends with a team getting shut out, which means that a team usually has a reason to cheer in at least some point in the game. Lastly, one thing soccer fans do not take into account when they talk about soccers athletic advantage over football is that every player in a football game for the 7 seconds of the play is using every last ounce of effort and is usually taking some sort of bodily punishment whether on offense or defense from the opposing team. When this happens 50 or so plays a game, the level of punishment on a body is intense. On the other hand, soccer is for the most part a noncontact sport where athletic endurance usually revolves around running around. Soccer players do not go all out for more than 10-20 seconds at a time whereby play slows down and the player returns to a jog to relax for a short while until they reinvolve themselves in the action. Both sports require incredible athleticism, but don’t be fooled by all the standing around in football, the ation is intense.
Comment 7/17/2007
Who cares about this argument? Like whatever the fuck you want to like. Soccer sucks, baseball sucks, everything sucks. Who cares what others think!
Comment 8/18/2007
Wow. Ugh! the stupidity is unbearable! I’m shocked at how ignorant and simple-minded some people are, specifically, but not exclusively, Ted - what a blatant idiot. To be frank, soccer is the greatest sport in existence; no other sport demands more strategy, skill, and athleticism. Don’t get me started on football. First of all, football sucks. Secondly, You don’t use your damn foot, other than the occasional field goal, which only counts for 1 point or something, whatever. Also, football relies more on bronze than brains. The game consists of a bunch of drugged up meat-heads who plow their way across the field with brute force. Most of them don’t know how to recite their ABC’s, mainly because their brains have been rendered useless. Some may argue that football is the roughest, toughest sport of em all. Bullshit. Let’s take a look at Rugby, which in my opinion makes football players look like pussies. Rugby players don’t wear pads. In fact, there’s no need for them, unless you’re afraid of a little contact. Oops!. Also, they don’t have “downs” in rugby. Instead they play constantly until someone makes a goal, providing gameplay that is significantly more strenuous than football, in which the players get time to catch their breath in between all of the senseless heat butting that they call “strategic gameplay”. Football is the most one dimensional sport, next to golf, of course. Listen to Mustapha, he’s got it right.
In retrospect, fuck football!
Long live Fútbol!
Comment 10/8/2007
To be frank, soccer is the greatest sport in existence; no other sport demands more strategy, skill, and athleticism.
All that strategy might explain why watching a soccer match is almost every bit as exciting as watching a chess match.
Face it, 95% of soccer is an elaborate game of keep-away played at midfield. Every once in a while, almost by accident, it seems, there’s an attack.
And if a team goes up by two goals, forget it, you may as well go home, because the game’s over.
Comment 10/9/2007
so if the game goes up by two goals, you should forget about the game and go home huh? i realized that in american football, if you are up just by one point at the end of the game, you can just relax and waste the last minute off the clock and play keep away by kneeling down. what the fuck is that shit?
Comment 10/19/2007
Yes, because that’s oh-so-much worse than just hanging out in the corner at the end of a game and forcing the opponent to foul you or kick the ball out of bounds.
Comment 10/19/2007
Hello. I am an American who use to play and watch American football, baseball, baketball and hockey. I came to Europe to study at University and I was introduced to soccer. I started playing, going to games and watching the big soccer matches on tv. Now, after spending 3 years in Europe I am totally hooked on soccer. I would never go back to watching baseball, basketball or American football etc, they are too boring once you are use to soccer. As a former baseball player and someone who now plays soccer I can tell you that soccer requires far more skill and fittness than baseball. Now when I come home to the USA on holiday I don’t watch MLB, NFL or NBA. Instead I watch Major League Soccer…go San Jose Earthquakes! Soccer…I love it!!!
Comment 1/10/2008
If it wasn’t for the tailgate parties, cheerleaders, popcorn, hotdogs, beer, jumbo tron tv, half-time rock concerts and loud music blaring through the public address system, American sports would be played in half empty stadiums.
All of the above are there to distract people from the fact that the sport (American football, basketball, baseball) iself is actually pretty boring. American sports need all this extra entertainment to make them exciting and to get people to come and fill stadiums.
Comment 1/10/2008
Alex:
If it wasn’t for the tailgate parties, cheerleaders, popcorn, hotdogs, beer, jumbo tron tv, half-time rock concerts and loud music blaring through the public address system, American sports would be played in half empty stadiums.
Then how do you explain the fact that in the US, soccer games are played in half-empty stadiums despite “the tailgate parties, cheerleaders, popcorn, hotdogs, beer, jumbo tron tv, half-time rock concerts and loud music blaring through the public address system?”
But in any case, your take has given one of my theories greater credence: I believe you have to play soccer (or, at least, have to have played it a lot at some time in the past) to like it. (I feel the same way about baseball, actually.)
In any case, you’re more than welcome to love soccer. Most of the world does. I’ll stick to sports in which opposable thumbs aren’t irrelevant, thank you.
Comment 1/10/2008
Soccer is the greatest sport on the planet. Period.
If there was a more exciting sport out there, it would be more popular than soccer. But there isn’t. Soccer = KING of sports. Period.
Comment 2/4/2008
lol @ how threatened americans feel by soccer. You go to such great lenghts to bash soccer and proclaim american superiority.
During world cup, Your journalists pump out articles bashing soccer and the american blogs fill with “soccer is unamerican/communist/terrorist/pansy/boring/suck/gay..etc” shit.
Meanwhile no one outside america gives a flying fuck about your little sports and certainly don’t waste time bashing something so insignificant as american football. We don’t feel culturally threatened by your sport. You do by ours.
Comment 2/4/2008
Bilson:
Threatened by soccer? Hardly. In case you haven’t paid attention to recent history, when Americans feel threatened by something (rightly or wrongly) we bomb the shit out of it. Until there’s a bunker buster in Wembley, I don’t think it’s fair to say we’re threatened by it. We just don’t get it, is all.
And as to nobody outside the US “giving a flying fuck” about our “little sports,” if you haven’t figured out that we couldn’t care less what the rest of the world thinks about us, you simply haven’t been paying attention.
Now, I’m not saying I endorse this view (in fact, I hate it), but that’s how America is these days. You like soccer, that’s fine. I don’t really get it, and one would think that should be fine, too. But to accuse me of “proclaiming American superiority?” That’s just paranoid and weak.
Comment 2/4/2008
I would love yo see you “bomb the shit out” of soccer. I really would. GO ON. bomb the shit out of “sawker”. Go on do it. It is by far bigger and superior than any american sport could ever dream of. Go on, bomb soccer.
Soccer = WORLD DOMINATION.
American sports = IRRELEVANT.
PERIOD. You feel threatened by it, so you hate it.
Comment 2/29/2008
Soccer = Old and Busted
American sports = New Hotness
:)
[Disclaimer: I’m just talking smack for talking smack’s sake. I like all kinds of international sports — and don’t like certain American sports — but I find this sort of posturing amusing.]
Comment 2/29/2008
the point is, hating soccer is ugly americanism at its worst. THERE is NO REASON whatsoever to hate any sport, let alone one as loved by billions of people as soccer. Hating soccer is like hating heterosexual sex. Its fucking retarded to hate something 95% of the world loves, especially because its “un-american”.
Comment 3/22/2008
Bilson:
Great. Now tell me where I ever said anything about hating soccer. I simply said I don’t much like it, and that Americans generally don’t care about it, both of which are much different. (Hating, after all, would involve caring.) Perhaps if you wouldn’t read your anti-American prejudice into what I write, you can see that.
Soccer fans often complain about Americans not sharing their love of soccer, and often ask why this is. I figured that question deserved an answer. I don’t think anything I’ve written here deserves the attitude that you came in here with. I’ve tried to be civil, to be tongue-in-cheek, and to have fun, but it seems you’re just too fixated on assigning our differences in taste to some sort of character defect or malicious intent. WTF is up with that?
Comment 3/22/2008
You are the one writing articles insulting soccer. You are the one going out of your way to make a bunch of ignorant claims about soccer which make no sense whatsoever.
If you don’t like it, don’t watch it. Why whine and bitch and insult the majority who does like it?
Comment 4/1/2008
I was merely answering a question. It’s clear that you disagree, so why hang around? If you don’t like the answer, then don’t read it. Why whine and bitch? Soccer will survive any slights to its honor that I may direct at it without your help.
Comment 4/1/2008
In Football (soccer)The art of defending goes hand in hand with the attacking part of the game. It seems to me that for Americans get it, you would have to stop defending every 5 minutes to let the opponents score.This of course would be bollocks as the integrity of the game would be gone.Which brings me to my point which is this, you have to earn the right to score which is difficult and thats the point. It has to be a moment of individual brilliance or a great piece of team play that unlocks the key sometimes. Usually the first goal is the hardest one to get in football(soccer) because defending is so vital because it only takes 1 goal to loose. Its usually after 1 goal goes in that the games open up because the mentality of the other team has to change and take risks. The problem is when you gamble in football by over commiting players forward, you risk being caught on the counter attack, especially in the top level european leagues. The pace that these players can move at with or with out the ball at there feet can be deadly. If you find your selves 2 or 3 goals down the game is usually over as a competative spectical. At this point if your team is losing you switch of the telly or leave the ground. If there winning you keep watching knowing any tension you were feeling has gone and you just want to see them rub there faces in it and score more goals. If your neutral you just keep watching for passive enjoyment.Anyway it is this fear about conceding the first goal that sometimes leads games to be dull and with little incident. Its not just Americans that dont like 0-0 draws but i would rather that result then be defeated. This mentality is obviously difficult for the average American to take. The problem is teams that play to expansive attacking football(soccer), with poor defensive structure are great to watch but ultimately don’t win. Ask any Newcastle United fan about the 96/97 season, great to watch but threw the title away because they could not defend. Trying to win matches 5-3 or 6-4 week in week out backfired dramaticly. By the way what is going on when players pass the ball about in the midfield is not pointless. The team that dominates the midfield finds themselves in control of play in the attacking third more often. This means they get the chance to attack the defenders more the the other team. Because it can be hard to get behind defences the more attacks you can mount the better chance you will get to score. I think that as Americans dont understand this concept, they dont have the patience to watch. They like faster turn overs and all the action to be in the attacking areas. Which is fine but football (soccer) is not stuctured this way. Americans would probably enjoy indoor 6 aside soccer where turn overs attacking is easier and leads to higher scoring matches. In England they play the masters football, which is ex pros playing this form of the game. Each game lasts 10 minutes and can be very enjoyable to watch.
Comment 4/28/2008
If you’ve never had a team to root for, if you’ve never felt the release that a goal on 90′ that means that your team is champion, then you’ll never understand soccer. The release that a goal represents in insurmountable when compared to the bland scoring of basketball/football/baseball. There’s a rush of blood, a release of all those emotions you were holding back and secretly wishing to let out.
Find a team to root for, watch a few matches, feel the team and interest yourself for the results–you’ll see that the experience is much more rewarding.
Comment 6/30/2008
(By the way, the Argentina - Netherlands match of 2006 was boring mainly because both teams had already qualified and weren’t playing at their fullest. You should have mentioned the past week’s Argentina 6 - Serbia and Montenegro 0. A beautiful display of skill).
Comment 6/30/2008
Hate to break it to you Euros but Americans don’t like soccer, we just don’t care. Nothing personal, we just don’t like the game. Its really funny actually, there is this girl in my class who is who loves soccer,she plays it, wathces it and talks about it at any chance she gets. One day she proclaimed it was the “Greatest sport ever!”. Everybody laughed their ass off. A barage of comments were thrown at her, “Okay 22 guys on a field said ‘lets all kick a ball into a net but miss half the time.’”, “22 guys on a field and 1 does a tap dance with the ball.” Stuff like that.
Another day she came to class and asked if anybody saw USA beat Cuba. Everybody said no, they were watching the Giants play the Redskins in the NFL season opener that was on that same night.
We even have an exchange student from Germany in our class who said she doesn’t care about soccer either, the soccer loving girl couln’t belive it. She was beside herself. During Euro 2008 the only team she rooted for was Germany.
Anyways, I’ved watched plenty of soccer mathces. It was the only thing ESPN would show during the summer besides baseball, and I know all of the rules of the game, the soccer loving chick was more than happy to explain them to me. I understand the sport, it mechanics at least. I just don’t like it. When you say Americans don’t like soccer because they don’t understand it thats a cop-out. It is not a hard sport to understand. Any simpleton, any knuckle head can learn the rules of soccer. There aren’t that many. What I don’t understand is why you love it so much. Explain that to me.
And I don’t want to hear any crap about its a “beautiful game”, I don’t wanna hear about “the skill!, the beauty!, the passion!” I can rip that arguement apart quickly, try me. I want to know why YOU like it. What makes it so special to you?
On a side note… You wonder why we call it a pansy sport for losers and girls. Look no further than your own nick-name for it. “The Beautiful Game.”
Football is an amazing sport and basketball is pretty badass
and they both have their share of “wonderful, unbelivable, perfect, and sick plays” but “Beautiful Games”?
Leave it to the soccer fans to come up with that one.
Comment 9/7/2008