Blogcritics Comments on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Comment by john on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Fri, 6 Jun 2008 16:46:48 EDT

Sport fits Culture. Americans praise individualism, so American Football, Baseball and Basketball are very attached to Americans. That all of these three sports system run on individualism, a Hero, as of quarterback, and each batter takes turn, or alpha male on the basket ball court. So most Americans praise and worship 'hero', such as celebrity, or quarterback... But in a soccer game, hero's butt gets kicked often, almost every game. In American game, quarterback gets protected and run the ball, main player handles basketball. Secondly, American culture is about Utility, scores and scores and scores, which is best influenced by the economical requirement, markets. People do not like sport that 'don't gain anything', to many people is just wasting time. So people need a sport that satisfy their ideal and purpose of striving. Third, soccer is a common sport, worldwide game; but Americans want to be different, standing out of the rest of the world, people do want to change or participate, because it really takes away their supposed identity. People cannot have a sport that everybody is playing, people want to have a different one. Anything that is different, surely soccer cannot satisfy people in US. Fourth, soccer is too difficult for American to play, because there are no any form of menu to follow. Not like American football, that for every position is a simple strategy, even there are 500 pages running choices, still each one is pre-set for everyone; and basketball, a small court and point-to-point scoring system that is simple for everyone to know where to attack; baseball is taking turns and everyone is provided a chance. Soccer is most simple to play, but hell difficult to master or to score. it is not a 1+1=2 equation for people to understand, so people don't want it. Why people need something or game with a bag of unknown possibilities? Fifth, Marketing is involved and control sports, which most of sports are already set for commercial benefit, why would those large business would change or invite another foreigner to share a slice pizza? America already got three major sports that drawing the cash flow. And soccer won't adapt to commercial? OMG! It's like marring a beautiful lady that only shops on 5th Ave, and don't make money. Idiot.

Comment by STM on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 04:05:35 EST

Argentina should be admitted to SANZAR, the southern hemisphere governing body. Finishing third in the world cup makes that imperative IMO. I love the style they play too. Their set piece stuff is mechanical, especially the scrums where they have been schooled in the bajada technique, which - loosely - involves reversing their foot placement so as to concentrate all the force of the scrum through the hooker, who you'd hope would have thick neck. What it does do is splinter an opposition scrum. Argentia win plenty of scrum penalties from this, especially on the wheel. They also quite often will push the best packs off the ball at the opposition put-in. Combined with that, their backs (most of whom play in France, and which is probably one of the reasons why it would be diffucilt for them to join the Tri-Nations), have inherited the gallic flair and unpredictability of French backs, who are dangerous every time (the bastards!!) they get their hands on the pill. They have certainly come of age as a rugby-playing nation, and deserve to be rewarded. Interestingly, the Seppos played OK too in the last world cup ... thank God they don't know much about the nuances of the game, or play it at a high level in the US, or they'd grow into a world rugby power.

Comment by Dr Dreadful on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 02:32:39 EST

Switching the topic brutally from club to country, there was something on the BBC website earlier about whether there should be a play-off game between the Six Nations and Tri-Nations champions. Seems to me that if it ever actually happens, there'd be no need for a World Cup. And then maybe the winners of that game could go and get their arses kicked by the Argentinians.

Comment by STM on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 00:49:56 EST

One of the things I love about the end of summer/heading into autumn in Australia. The soccer, basketball and cricket seasons are over, and the proper football season (you know, those games where people use their hands AND try to break their opponents in half), is about to begin. Southern hemisphere international Super 14 Rugby is already underway and going gangbusters leading into the 3rd round (all four Aussie teams doing nicely early), and the National Rugby League starts in a few weeks. Can't wait for that ... a bit of good old-fashioned biffo on TV! The only blot on the landscape is that abomination, Australian Football, or Aussie Rules (no fu..ing rules!), which will begin in a few weeks and will at least I suppose keep all the deluded heathens in the southern and western states (are they really part of this continent??) quiet for the next six months.

Comment by Dr Dreadful on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 17:05:26 EST

Well, it doesn't help that since Kev arrived we've had to play the combined might of the Roman Legions in quick succession, so things aren't quite as dire as they seem (although we certainly shouldn't have lost 5-1 at home, even to the Eleven Footballers of the Apocalypse). We just need to win one to get some confidence up. We've got Blackburn at home next week, and they're beatable, so I have hopes.

Comment by Colin on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 12:55:34 EST

Oh but they can be Doc! Oh but they can... He played his part, but he arrived fairly late in the title-winning season, in fact, he fair flitted through Leeds, sadly. It's an extraordinary story (apply the salt of hearsay) but I believe Sir Alex, or one of his Satan-badged minnions rang up to enquire about a different player and we said, "Why not have Eric instead?"... Madness! Your lot better start winning soon though Doc: Derby are down, Fulham probably too (sad that, I like Fulham, nicest ground I've been to) but it's all a bit tight after that and you keep getting thwacked!

Comment by Dr Dreadful on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:20:36 EST

Come on, Colin, he did help you win the league. Your grapes can't be that sour. Leeds wouldn't have won it again with or without him. The writing (in the form of Manchester United's formidable bank balance) was already on the wall, and I think Monsieur Dropkick knew that.

Comment by Colin on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 12:33:40 EST

Skin up = construct marijuana cigarette. Cantona = big-nosed French Judas bastard... A bitter Leeds fan. Still. Always actually, go figure!

Comment by Dr Dreadful on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:10:30 EST

A sport in which almost no one uses their hands makes Irish step-dancing seem not so foolish A sport in which no-one uses their hands... You mean, like track? Yep, that Jeremy Warriner. What a pussy.

Comment by zingzing on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:34:26 EST

ok--so your music and dance theories were right. but sex? so you just pound away at the missus until orgasm is achieved, children are born and the years just melt away into death? no, no. but yeah, ok. but you seem to be missing something here as well. i appreciate american football. i also appreciate soccer. that leaves me one up on you! (and i also like [college] basketball, [pro] baseball, [women's] tennis, [pro] hockey...) maybe you have some all-sport consuming passion for soccer, but it ain't the only thing going on in the world (of sports). maybe it simplifies your life. i ain't judging. soccer's a good choice. i like it. it's fun.

Comment by Christopher Rose on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:26:21 EST

Trust you to bring up the exceptions to the rule, zingy, whilst ignoring the irresistible and elegant beauty of my point! The goal I missed was at a live match, not on TV, still narked i missed it though.

Comment by zingzing on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:51:28 EST

"Great sport is like great music, dancing or sex, it should be a continuously flowing series of moves that build to a crescendo, not some weird variation of coitus interruptus." ahem. you've never heard of the minutemen, the vogue or changing position? and for your tv point, well, see, you have missed a goal because of a bathroom break, even if it was for drugs instead of bladder issues. (and "skin up" is a pretty nasty term, i say, especially when you are doing so in the "bog.")

Comment by Liberal on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:35:14 EST

1. Lowering the heart rate reduces the effects of stress. Boredom lowers the heart rate. 2. A sport in which almost no one uses their hands makes Irish step-dancing seem not so foolish 3. Sorry, I can't think of a third reason to watch soccer.

Comment by Christopher Rose on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:16:53 EST

Stan, the demand for a result can be as strong from the fans as it is from clubs or administrators. If people have travelled to the finals of an event such as the FA Cup or World Cup and the match is tied even after extra time, the players will need time to recover. Many players are running as much as 15 km or more (10 miles for the non metric) in 90 minutes and can loses several kilos in weight. It is sadly just not fair to fans who have possibly saved up for a year or more to attend such an event to have a replay, just as it may not be possible to use the venue again or to fit an extra game into club schedules. The penalty shootout is the best answer people have been able to come up with. I was set against it myself for a while but, having now experienced a few, they do have a certain dramatic intensity of their own. In other words, they can be bloody exciting. zing, I'm disappointed you can't see my point but I think you kind of don't want to. I don't have a "problem" with the game at all, I just find it a bit dull, rather like rugby league. You may like the stop/start kind of play interesting but I get bored at the constant interruptions. Great sport is like great music, dancing or sex, it should be a continuously flowing series of moves that build to a crescendo, not some weird variation of coitus interruptus. I still can't concede your point about it being a great TV game either, for the reasons I wrote above. I will admit that I love that camera system that can track over the whole pitch though, that's one trick that would be a great addition to many sports, including football. No, at 45 minutes each half, I'm going to watch all of any game that I really care about, although I did once miss a classic Eric Cantona goal for Manchester United when I went to the bogs to skin up!

Comment by Dr Dreadful on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 12:06:58 EST

there is a certain joy in soccer that does not even exist in football. First of all, it is a hell of a lot easier to play. All you need is a good pair of shoes, some decent shorts, and sun shining down on a pitch. Actually, you don't even need that. It's the simplest game in the world to play because there's no special equipment necessary. People in Africa and on the beaches of Brazil play barefoot. Kids in Britain use piles of jackets for goalposts, or a goal drawn on the wall with chalk. When I was a boy, my brother and I converted the backyard into a stadium - much to our father's chagrin. Two lime trees were the goal at one end (there was even the chain-link fence which separated our property from the railroad to serve as a net!), and either a pair of bamboo stakes or our imagination made do at the other. You don't actually even need a soccer ball. A tennis ball will do or, if push comes to shove, anything that can be kicked. I've played with a crushed coke can many times... although I don't recommend heading one of those bad boys!

Comment by zingzing on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 09:39:46 EST

"Just cos there is a lot of strategy doesn't mean it isn't a simple game. They are not mutually exclusive terms." waffling? yeah. meet its definition. "Furthermore, I don't hate American Football, and I'll thank you not to attribute statements to me that I haven't made, which is a pretty common habit of quite a few of you sensitive Yankees." shut up! i'm gonna cry... ok, i didn't. anyway, "hatred" was a strong word, i'll admit it. but you certainly have enough of a problem with the game to go off on it for no particular reason... "And if the best justification of the game is that it looks good on TV, well that's pretty tragic too." now, you know i didn't say that. so stop that, you angry american. i said that being a great tv game is "one advantage" that football holds over soccer, which often doesn't quite translate. "I don't actually agree with that opinion, as most of the off ball movement takes place off screen while the camera focuses on the quarterback, then cuts to the intended receiver..." proving, once again, that you haven't watched much football... about half the plays are running plays, and about half the passes are for short yardage. long passes only happen about a 1/4 of the time, and usually, the camera will try to follow the ball, as the camera crew usually doesn't quite know where it's going to end up... "The argument that gridiron fits in nicely with ad breaks is just sad really. And if you need to go to the bathroom THAT often, you need medical help! In the end, it just comes down to that old cliché of different strokes for different folks." ok... i got a couple of problems with this. #1, are you going to say that you have never ever missed a goal because you were on the pisser? ha! i call you liar if you want to claim such a thing. you know how beer and sports go together. one tends to pee a lot during a 3-hour game. and #2, is it a medical issue or is it "different strokes?" can't be both.

Comment by Silver Surfer on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 09:23:43 EST

Rosey, I like the top flight european games ... EPL, Serie A, etc. But the rest of it, I hate to say it, is a snore-a-thon. The other factor is this: Any top sporting competition that decides its champions on penalty shootout is flawed, badly ... and too often soccer championships even at the highest level are decided by penalty shootout. That's not entertainment Rosey.

Comment by Ruvy in Jerusalem on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 08:36:19 EST

Having watched the ball go back and forth here, I'll say this much. Football seems like a bunch of dumb jocks in heavy pads trying to score ten yards (or more) by advancing a pigskin. For the most part, that is what it looks like to me. If I didn't understand that there are complicated strategies involved in attempting to accomplish this, I'd forget the game altogether. I mean, really - why should I give a rip about 300 pound jocks running around in pads and tights? Nevertheless, football is like chess - a simple game - and like chess, it requires complicated strategies to accomplish its simple goals. I say this as a chess player, not a football fan. ON THE OTHER HAND, there is a certain joy in soccer that does not even exist in football. First of all, it is a hell of a lot easier to play. All you need is a good pair of shoes, some decent shorts, and sun shining down on a pitch. If you can run, kick, and head a ball, you've got it made. So the poetry in movement is much easier to enjoy, because you too can be such a poet. What is frustrating for Americans about soccer is the low scoring - what is frustrating about football is the fixed positioning, the stops and starts, the time seemingly wasted while a bunch of jocks in pads and tights stand still. Someone used to the poetry of movement will be bored by the fixed positioning in football. Now, living here, I can shut off the hype about kadur-regel found in the local sports pages, and just concentrate on the poetry in movement created by the sportscasters as I listen to the soccer games on Sunday night, riding hone from J-lem police patrol. Saleski and zing-zing are right. Soccer is just not in American culture. Baseball and football are. But on the other hand, in this little country, baseball and football will always just be imports for the Americans and wannabe Americans to enjoy. Living here means breaking out a bag of sunflower seeds, opening up a bottle of Tapuzina and screaming yesh!! when Beitar Yerushalayim actually does score.... They do - once in a while.

Comment by Christopher Rose on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 07:11:06 EST

Thanks for the dialogue, Mark, it's been, well, disappointingly juvenile really. Enjoy your sulky walk home though. Laters.

Comment by Mark Saleski on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 07:05:54 EST

whatever you'd like...enjoy the void. goodbye.

Comment by Christopher Rose on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 07:01:18 EST

Mark, I don't have a chip on my shoulder, but you do seem to be sporting an entire bag of French Fries. It's not a look I expect to catch on... I ignored your question because, as I'm sure you know full well, you don't really seem to want an answer. You're just carrying on a big strop because someone dared to make the obvious and true statement that gridiron is a simple game. Ever since you've just been clucking like an outraged rooster. You're over-reacting like a moody teenager. Football isn't a complicated game either and it doesn't take very long to get a good understanding of it. You clearly just don't want to, presumably because you just don't like having your comfy old world view adjusted? zing, you're just waffling. Draughts is a simple game too. Just cos there is a lot of strategy doesn't mean it isn't a simple game. They are not mutually exclusive terms. Furthermore, I don't hate American Football, and I'll thank you not to attribute statements to me that I haven't made, which is a pretty common habit of quite a few of you sensitive Yankees. Touchy much? I rather think so! Try paying attention rather than making stuff up, it makes you look uncharacteristically dumb. And if the best justification of the game is that it looks good on TV, well that's pretty tragic too. I don't actually agree with that opinion, as most of the off ball movement takes place off screen while the camera focuses on the quarterback, then cuts to the intended receiver, just as in Football the camera focuses on the player with the ball and not the other players. In fact, you could argue that as good football is a passing game played on the ground rather than the aerial long ball, it is more suited to TV than your game. The argument that gridiron fits in nicely with ad breaks is just sad really. And if you need to go to the bathroom THAT often, you need medical help! In the end, it just comes down to that old cliché of different strokes for different folks. STM, your prejudice in favour of the oval ball over the round ball is well known and noted. Personally, I like both. El Bicho, thanks for popping by with one of your characteristic comedy routines, it's as much appreciated as it is hilarious. I reckon the AF fans have as intimate a relationship with reality as our pet mystic does. And just as much charm, grace and respect for other views too...

Comment by El Bicho on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 03:56:40 EST

"[ESPN is] not about to waste time and money on a crap sport." Are you kidding? I have seen them show Strongman competitions, professional dominoes, and aerobics. "It has been scientifically proven that darts is superior to any other sport ever invented." If you can drink beer and get better at it, technically it's not a sport. "Jesus Christ, you're the comments editor. You're better than that." Suss, I am guessing you haven't seen how often he and Ruvy dance around discussing the existence of God. One of them is about to break any day now. I can just feel it.

Comment by STM on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 22:20:15 EST

Saleski: "i don't know much about australian football...but that finger-pointing thing that the weird officials do is surreal!" You're not missing much. I think those officials are carpark attendants who've somehow found their way into the ground. "How long's yours again?" "This long." (*holds two fingers nine inches apart, the bloody liar). Only philistines from the heathen-populated southern and western states play Australian football.

Comment by zingzing on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 21:25:37 EST

i have a hankering for some clotted cream right now. and i still drink my tea the english way, although my sugar intake is far less than it used to be. as a result, so's my waist! on the other hand, if dentistry is such a significant breakthru, why hasn't it made it over to england yet? harharhrahar.

Comment by Mark Saleski on Three Reasons Americans Should Be Watching Soccer

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 21:16:26 EST

a. why isn't clotted cream more popular? it's quite good! b. curling might beat out march madness if they'd go back to wearing top hats c. i don't know much about australian football...but that finger-pointing thing that the weird officials do is surreal!