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Old 09-13-2017, 12:10 AM
 
2,002 posts, read 1,635,834 times
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First off, I want to say Im not a sports fanatic,Ill watch a little tennis, xgames are always interesting and I love a good baseball game. having said that I thought id try watching a little soccer or as the rest of the world calls it -football.There are plenty of full matches on youtube to watch.No amateur stuff I decided to go with the top teams in the world.The first thing that struck me is the size of the crowd, it was massive,holy crap, Id say 80K??far bigger than you would ever see in any stadium for any type of game here.
A few minutes into it I can see why many people find it boring, there is a lot of action but no much forward movement,the ball get kicked here, it gets kicked there ,back and forth it goes.I wouldnt call it boring but monotonous. Goals also seem random, nothing ,nothing then bang a goal, even the players seem surprised.
But I think the biggest problem with soccer and I think the biggest reason why its just not taken seriously as a professional sport is how inaccurate the kicking at the goal is.These are suppose to be some of the best players in the world in some of the best teams in the world and most of the kicks are way off, and I mean by quite a bit.If a basketball player can throw a basketball though the basket thats not not much bigger than the ball and a baseball player can hit a 3" ball going 90mph,why in the world cant a soccer player kick a ball though a soccer net that is 24' by 8' ??? goodgod at the distances they are kicking they should be able to do with their eyes closed.How long would a basketball player last if every throw he missed the basket by 5ft like they do in soccer? hed be laughed off of the team, but in soccer this is considered normal.So why is it so popular around the world? I think its because that team represents your city or on the international stage it represents your country.
Having said all that I think its a fine game for kids,its far safer than american football and its great exercise but I just cant see as a professional sport.
p.s. dont get me started on those tacky soccer kits.
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Old 09-13-2017, 04:35 AM
 
Location: Preussen
536 posts, read 320,209 times
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In soccer , it is much easier to get more dramatic than in other sports . It is because of the fact that scoring a goal is so hard , but at the same time you don't have to score much to completely change the course of the game . Scoring the points in basketball happens all the time , so there is no much emotion attached to it .
Watch the 99' champions league final , 05' champions league final , or for example Croatia vs Turkey quarterfinal , absolute boredom for 120 minutes and then everything changes , and the last minute of that game was worth sitting through those 120 horrendous minutes .

Soccer is also much more competitive than other sports . There are no weak teams any more . Iceland got to the top 8 best european teams , eliminating England on its way . Wales got to semi finals . Luxembourg has just drawn with France . It is so competetive , global sport , that even countries , where it is not very popular sport , have decent teams . Like for example the United States or Australia . It is the only sport , where for example americans can gather together and root for its country playing against other countries , and where the level of the game is competitive . You don't have that in baseball , basketball , american football , because there are not many countries competiting in those sports en masse . And international games are always much more emotional than games between different clubs for average fans .

That is why I think soccer has so much appeal .
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Old 09-13-2017, 06:46 AM
 
Location: Tejas
7,599 posts, read 18,375,694 times
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Scoring wise vs basketball. Basketball is setup that you can score from pretty much anywhere on the court and you generally dont have people standing right in front of it charging you down or covering angles like you would in football.

There is always forward motion in football but its fluid. The players have to tactically figure out how to get past the opposing team while they are being closed down so sometimes you do have to go back to go forward. Compare that to say, American Football where you play for 4 or 5 seconds and then get to discuss your next move for the next two minutes.

Some of the kits are lame ill agree, but at least theyre not wearing tights and helmets =)
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Old 09-13-2017, 06:47 AM
 
Location: Morrison, CO
34,172 posts, read 18,460,701 times
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I'd rather watch paint dry, or a middle school girls softball game.
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Old 09-13-2017, 11:08 AM
 
167 posts, read 124,694 times
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Every sport is silly and a waste of time and every sport is awesome. Depends on where you are from. All sports are driven by media and tribalism. You watch sports that everybody around you talks about, that your family and friends and colleagues watch. You want to be part of the tribe.

Amazing crowds is what drives soccer. People care about soccer because other people care about soccer. People care about soccer to a point where people beat up people and kill people because of soccer.

I've watched about 1 hour each of NFL, baseball and NHL. Out of curiosity, to find out why so many people care so much about them. I could see no objective reason why they do. They aren't more entertaining than other sports, as far as I could tell. But if I grew up around people who loved those sports, I'm sure I'd be a fan.

Often I think that basketball is a pretty silly game. But I will watch basketball till I'm dead because I'm from a basketball obsessed country, basketball obsessed family. I care about basketball not because it's some amazing concept in itself but because I'm a social animal and I need to care about something together with people around me.

Soccer is doing ok in the US right now because US soccer businessmen understand this tribal aspect. MLS clubs target 20-40 y.o. white educated hipster males and offer them tribes of similar people.

All sports are made popular by hype, tradition and basic human instinct of needing to be part of a group. It's purely accidental that US cares about baseball and not cricket, or basketball and not field hockey.

Last edited by Chukcha; 09-13-2017 at 12:16 PM..
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Old 09-13-2017, 01:34 PM
 
Location: Tejas
7,599 posts, read 18,375,694 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pilot1 View Post
I'd rather watch paint dry, or a middle school girls softball game.
Cool story, needs dragons.
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Old 09-16-2017, 06:44 PM
 
482 posts, read 396,489 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hifijohn View Post
A few minutes into it I can see why many people find it boring, there is a lot of action but no much forward movement,the ball get kicked here, it gets kicked there ,back and forth it goes.I wouldnt call it boring but monotonous. Goals also seem random, nothing ,nothing then bang a goal, even the players seem surprised.
Apparently one man's trash really is another man's treasure, because in soccer the randomness of goals is exactly what keeps many fans engaged. A fan who's into a game sits on the edge of their seat the entire time, getting more and more emotionally invested in each shift in the movement of the mass of players. The fans and the players all know margins of error are extremely slim, so players will go hard at one another the entire time, and the winner and loser will be determined by perhaps one mistake on one side, plus one or two exceptional plays on the other. As a fan I often find it frustrating to have to take my eyes off the action for even a few moments, because the slim margin of error makes each moment that much more gripping.

I actually first became a soccer fan watching it live. I think if a person is used to higher scoring sports like football or basketball, it's very easy to get turned off by what seems like monotony or lack of action in soccer when one watches it on tv. Watching it live helps a fan really "see" how the non-scoring activity can also be engaging. Most elite-level games have this steady roar of players sprinting, jogging, sprinting, defending, sprinting, dribbling, cutting, sprinting ... you see a large group of guys working as a team with each person pushing themselves to their last breath, because they each know that the moment for making or breaking the game could come at any point ... and they, for better or for worse, could be a part of that moment.

Then the goal happens. And it's either the biggest rush or, if you're for the opposing team, the biggest letdown. But the intensity of that moment is addictive in either case. You can't wait to do it again ...
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Old 09-17-2017, 07:02 PM
 
3,759 posts, read 5,292,278 times
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Futbol (soccer) is a game that has to be watched. There is an ebb and flow to the play. There are tactics which are directed by the players on the field themselves, not by a gang of coaches on the sidelines with headsets and spotters in the stands.

It is a sport of creativity and the creative ones become legends (e.g., Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Rijkard, Van Basten, Zidane, Messi, the Ronaldos, and etc.). There are moments of brilliance, and you have to be watching to catch them. The ball is moved around quickly, looking for an opening, space to pass into with a teammate running on to the ball. And as dallasgoldrush said, there is much off-the-ball movement that is missed in TV viewing. Players try to exploit space, anticipating a pass from a teammate not to where they are now, but where they could be in a few moments.

Once you watch enough matches, you start to pick up on the nuances and fall in love with that great big green sward. I hate how the gridiron pitch is marked to death, lines everywhere. And natural grass >>>>>> artificial turf.
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Old 09-19-2017, 09:19 AM
bg7
 
7,694 posts, read 10,523,116 times
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Soccer is a flowing game. cf American Football which is a game for people with ADD - perfect for the internet generation really.


But what do you mean "not taken seriously as a professional sport"
Its the biggest, highest grossing, highest paid sport in the world. You seem to have a very parochial outlook. Its like someone on South Uist island in Scotland who plays shinty saying "Basketball is not a professional sport" because no one plays it where he is.

Last edited by bg7; 09-19-2017 at 09:42 AM..
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Old 09-19-2017, 10:46 AM
 
Location: Austintown, OH
4,263 posts, read 8,142,927 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chukcha View Post

Amazing crowds is what drives soccer. People care about soccer because other people care about soccer. People care about soccer to a point where people beat up people and kill people because of soccer.
Agreed.. Once you've been to a European Soccer Match in Person, or even in town when one of the championship matches are being held there, you see that it has no comparison to sports in America when it comes to passion. I went to a Benfica match in Lisbon last year, they were playing Maritimo of all teams, they won 6-0, and it was the most fun I've ever had at a sporting event, and I've been to some pretty good ones.
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