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I disagree. I'm willing to bet that the average soccer player's vital signs trounce those of football players. And this isn't a jab at football in any way, just an observation. They're not as strong, that's for sure, but brute strength isn't a measure of being in shape.
It also depends on position. People who aren't familiar with the game seem to think all American football players are fat lumbering hogs. That really only applies to the linemen, although under the layers of fat is enough muscle to move a freight train so don't underestimate their athleticism despite their size. On the other end of the spectrum you have the pure speed players like receivers, cornerbacks and safetys. They're usually not much bigger than soccer players but they're usually more muscular and can run circles around them in a sprint down the field. Then you have the guys in between like the running backs and linebackers who will at the very least run toe to toe with if not flat-out beat a soccer player in a sprint down the field despite weighing a solid 40 to 80 pounds more, and then bench-press that soccer player all day long. The only clear advantage soccer players have over most American football players is endurance. They can run around at a decent pace all day while even the slim and fast football players will probably have a hard time keeping up.
Why do the British find haggis delicious when the rest of the world finds it and egregious affront to decency?
I mean, aren't they just wrong? otherwise wouldn't the rest of the world love it too?
It's almost as if this stuff is subjective.
Who says the British find haggis delicious? I am sure the percentage of people that like haggis is the same whatever their nationality? You haven't really answered the question have you? I think you miss the point.
First of all you shouting in all caps is doing nothing to change the perception that you are posts lack maturity.
The haggis or maybe blood pudding is a good example. Just because others love it does not mean we are wrong for not loving it. As I said before are you going to claim that I am wrong for disliking brussel sprouts because they are popular in the UK next?
You were raised on soccer, it was always big in your life so it was natural for you to embrace it. As I have said 3-4 times now the American sports fan has many other options. We didn't grow up living and dieing with soccer when there was college football, basketball, baseball, the NFL, the NBA, NHL, NASCAR etc to draw our attention. So since we only see it occasionally this does not give us the chance, or desire for that matter, to show the patience necessary to appreciate 2 scores in 90 minutes. So just like you see 10 minutes of baseball, a sport you have also not invested the time to learn, observe the slow pace and conclude it is boring you need to accept the fact that when we watch soccer the lack of scoring and pathetic flops to draw a penalty, not to mention the inability for fans to know precisely how much time is left in the game which is really lame, causes us to reject your beloved sport.
You haven't answered the questions, why does football get you so shirty? Why is the 'inability for fans to know precisely how much time is left in the game' only a problem with Americans? I couldn't give a f*** whether you like the game or not but your post doesn't actually answer the question, in fact its simply a good example about what I was saying.
First of all you shouting in all caps is doing nothing to change the perception that you are posts lack maturity.
The haggis or maybe blood pudding is a good example. Just because others love it does not mean we are wrong for not loving it. As I said before are you going to claim that I am wrong for disliking brussel sprouts because they are popular in the UK next?
You were raised on soccer, it was always big in your life so it was natural for you to embrace it. As I have said 3-4 times now the American sports fan has many other options. We didn't grow up living and dieing with soccer when there was college football, basketball, baseball, the NFL, the NBA, NHL, NASCAR etc to draw our attention. So since we only see it occasionally this does not give us the chance, or desire for that matter, to show the patience necessary to appreciate 2 scores in 90 minutes. So just like you see 10 minutes of baseball, a sport you have also not invested the time to learn, observe the slow pace and conclude it is boring you need to accept the fact that when we watch soccer the lack of scoring and pathetic flops to draw a penalty, not to mention the inability for fans to know precisely how much time is left in the game which is really lame, causes us to reject your beloved sport.
You keep talking about 'other' options but this isn't the answer because we have the same options here, we have basketball and formula 1 and track and field and hockey and cricket and rugby etc etc its just that football is more popular than all the other sports, the answer is obviously NOT that you have more choice.
It is really silly to try and claim Americans are jealous of soccer. C'mon. If we want soccer, we have our own pro league, we can watch yours on our 300+ TV channels at a small cost. Millions of our kids play it. We have our own form of football, the best baseball, hockey, basketball leagues in the world playing in our cities every night, have the best golfers in our country nearly every weekend, we have great auto-sports, we have world class tennis, the better question is what don't we have?
We win insane amounts of international events (check our our Olympic medal totals.......no real competition for 'Murica anymore) in just about everything too, including women's soccer, where we are a world power
So, yeah, why WOULD we care about soccer to the extent of Bolivia or the Isle of Man? Rather than trying to demand explanations on why Americans aren't in to this one sport, ask why the rest of the world is so obsessed by it? The answer is already out there. It is a simple game and nearly everyone can play it. Resource poor nations can compete with the big boys, boys play girls, young play old, rural people can play on dirt, or urban people on pavement, all good stuff. If you had to have a small handful of sporting equipment to invest in, soccer is the way to go.
We don't have that issue. The entirety of the world's sports are our oyster, and we can be selective. We have not chosen to embrace a low scoring game that isn't a natural fit for our more individualistic, short attention span, culture. Nothing wrong with that.
OK thank you for your input but to be honest with you I doubt this can be the answer to the question, are you suggesting the British, French or Germans love football because they are 'poor' or 'simple'? I don't think that can be the reason.
Exactly. When it happens on rare occasion that makes it special in it's own right but I wouldn't watch football either if 7-0 scores were commonplace. Looking at yesterday's scoreboard, the lowest scoring game was 17-6 and not one team was shut out.
I won't bash soccer. It's a worthy sport and I'll occasionally watch a game, typically the USA in World Cup matches, but here are the reasons I generally don't bother with it. (And I'm not asking the sport to change for me because many of these are precisely why some love it).
Low scores. I'm just not interested in watching scoreless activity. There are flukes in every sport but a fluke play carries too much weight in a very low scoring sport. A lucky bounce or bad call that results in an unexpected score early has almost no effect on a basketball game and minimal effect on football or baseball. It matters but a score doesn't put you deep in a hole.
Too many players. I love seeing "fast breaks" where a couple of attackers are going against a couple of defenders. This is where the footwork and ball control really shine to me. Take away 2 or 3 players on each side and let the stars show their skills.
Too little control. What I mean by this is it's hard for a team to maintain possession for more than 30 seconds unless kicking it around in the backfield where the defense isn't challenging them. A football team can control the ball for ten minutes and basketball long ago put in a shot clock to keep teams from killing the clock. I'm not wanting longer possessions just better ball control, which really goes back to too many players.
Too few breaks and pauses. The other sports have too much down time but there needs to be some breaks for the sake of the fans. Geez, I'd like to go get another beer or take a pee without hearing the announcer go bananas screaming "gooooooaaaaaaaallllll, gooooooooooaaaaaaaalllllll" in the 30 seconds I'm gone. And just like that, after watching 70 minutes of scoreless activity, I missed the big play of the game. The pauses also give announcers a chance to add color and back stories on the team and players.
Score clock. I'm sorry, we just don't trust refs to keep the time remaining to themselves and abruptly tell us when it's over. I don't want to wonder if there's 30 seconds or 3 minutes "extra" time. Just stop the clock when there is an injury and not have extra time.
Thank you for your reasons I can certainly respect your views but it doesn't answer the question - why does the rest of the world love it so much? I personally LOVE the fact that you don't know when the ref is going to 'blow' exactly it fills the end of the game with a LOT of tension, I only wonder why in the US you guys seem 'different' in what you like in sports, nobody seems to be able to tie down the answer without throwing insults.
OK thank you for your input but to be honest with you I doubt this can be the answer to the question, are you suggesting the British, French or Germans love football because they are 'poor' or 'simple'? I don't think that can be the reason.
Nope, I didn't suggest that. Here is what I said:
The answer is already out there. It is a simple game and nearly everyone can play it.
The sentence you reference points out that the game is a relatively gender, age, resource independent sport. Just an example, but it would be really odd to find a resource poor country excelling at a sport with obscure rules and expensive equipment. I do think this is the reason soccer is THE WORLD's sport because of this quality. Everybody can play, and they do, even the US.
As for European counties, the game is your invention, so no surprise it is so popular. An earlier poster pointed out that soccer was a very good approximation of war because of the collective mentality, the difficulty in achieving victory, the advantage of defense over offense, all good points. I think this suits Europe really well. I think you guys have had your fill of actual war, and soccer is an excellent proxy for nationalist conflict that doesn't get out of hand.
I am not saying America is better.........but we are like, nearly continent sized, and have historically looked much more inward than outward. Our "nationalist" battles are internal grudges and fought out mostly in college sports. Ohio St. vs. Michigan in football is a battle of border rivals. UNC vs. Duke in college basketball is a battle for the soul of the central part of the state.
Same idea, just different outlets because of our historical differences and which sports are local to our areas.
You keep talking about 'other' options but this isn't the answer because we have the same options here, we have basketball and formula 1 and track and field and hockey and cricket and rugby etc etc its just that football is more popular than all the other sports, the answer is obviously NOT that you have more choice.
Why don't Germans like Baseball? Afterall is super popular in Japan, Korea, Costa Rica, the Dominican, and the US?
People like what they are familiar with.
Football is the cultural core of Alabama. Baseball is the Heart of NYC.
Hockey defines the winters of Minnesota and New Hampshire.
It's just different.
And yes, when Brighton, MA has more ice rinks than London can you really say they truly say they have equal access to Hockey in the U.K. As they do in parts of the US and Canada?
How many pewee football teams are there in the U.K.?
Why don't Germans like Baseball? Afterall is super popular in Japan, Korea, Costa Rica, the Dominican, and the US?
People like what they are familiar with.
Football is the cultural core of Alabama. Baseball is the Heart of NYC.
Hockey defines the winters of Minnesota and New Hampshire.
It's just different.
And yes, when Brighton, MA has more ice rinks than London can you really say they truly say they have equal access to Hockey in the U.K. As they do in parts of the US and Canada?
How many pewee football teams are there in the U.K.?
Thank you for your post, the UK has plenty of opportunity for ice hockey, or field hockey, or basketball, table tennis, etc, even baseball if you wanted to play. At school personally I played for my school in football, cricket and basketball, I was ONCE a sub in field hockey and though I liked rugby was never good enough to play for the school team. Ice hockey was NOT an option at my school though. To be completely honest with you it is not the lack of options that makes football (soccer) so popular. Popular culture does have an effect on sports for sure. People that go on about it being 'boring' are obviously just venting off steam, yes it may not be ones favourite sport but it obviously isn't 'boring' because most people find it tremendously entertaining (unless Americans are different beings to the rest of the human race), the question being asked I think is why is it that football (soccer) brings out such an adverse reaction in 'SOME' Americans?
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