Immaculate Pasta said:DalbeyINUK said:Someone in here mentioned the World Cup this summer as well. I think ESPN is pushing it extremely hard and will be airing every match. It could really prove a big boon for football in the US as I don't ever remember ESPN pushing it like this.
Isn't it being aired on ESPN when previous have been aired on ESPN 2?
samharris said:Dr.Faustus said:This came up on the quote section of my google mail...
"If God had wanted man to play soccer, he wouldn't have given us arms."
Mike Ditka
Have attitudes towards football changed now the American team is reasonably good?
why do they call it American football when its mainly thrown..that always gets me too.
hgblue said:American sports bore me shitless. It's no coincidence that nobody else plays them. Couldn't care less that they don't like football.
teddykgb said:The absurdity of this thread actually got me to register, as an American it's sort of hard not to laugh at the ridiculous generalizations some of you are making. You all act like we Americans are some separate breed of human, but let me tell you, our heads don't explode when a match ends in a 0-0 finish.
All in all, this is very easy. The sports isn't as big here because we haven't had a high level of play league here, which makes the most interesting variety of this sport still European. Many people in the US support and follow European teams, which makes sense in two ways. First, the most talent is in europe, and when you include champions league football you've got a very compelling and entertaining product. It would be silly not to follow it because it's European. Secondly, all of our best players play in Europe at this point, so if you got into this sport via the World Cup that was here or some variation of our National Team, you're going to follow the teams those players play on, which sadly led many Americans to examine Fulham but that's beside the point.
It is true that the sport is surging here, but mostly at the youth level. Every young kid in America plays football with their feet at some point in their youth it seems. It's a more forgiving sport than baseball for the uncoordinated and it's cheap and outdoors, so it's got a mass appeal to parents. Time will tell if that translates to something as far removed as our National team, and I'd guess that it won't because overall, our best athletes are playing other sports, and for more than the foreseeable future they will continue to make that choice because there will be a lot more money in basketball, baseball, or american football for these athletes than there will be in the MLS. It'll probably take 3 or 4 dozen american youth trailblazers getting hyped and bought at a young age, sort of like the Adu saga, but the players probably need to work out better than Adu before anyone would seriously consider it.
Finally, as an American, some criticisms of how all of you follow sport. It's been one hell of a ride following the lot of you on this forum this season. Maybe there's another forum that has more of an analytical bend, but it's very surprising to me as a follower of many American sports how little thought goes into the arguments presented here. Maybe it's the nature of the sport in that it carries few statistics, but on any forum for the Boston Red Sox, as an example, people are just as passionate as you folks are, but when arguing about the team you always bring detail and data to the table. As an example, as a City fan I agree with the consensus that right now the midfield is not performing and it's causing serious issues, which is an improvement on the leakage the defense had earlier this season, but I've yet to see anyone try to use any pass completion % data or any other data set to try to see where the team is actually failing. Or, in the absence of stats, there's a true dearth of people really talking about formations and tactics, pretty much every thread follows the same guideline, initial post, someone mentions hughes, someone mentions mancini, someone mentions mourinho, everyone makes fun of MUFC, someone claims to be ITK, everyone harps on that person. There's a slight variation of this where if you say something negative you're accosted for not loving City enough, and the thread moves into yet another discussion about whether love for team should overcome ability to criticize it. I don't necessarily expect this last part to be particularly well received, but if we're going to talk about a society's approach to sport, I'd say that as an American, it's surprising to me how much of the approach of this team's supporters, at least, seems to be more about the soap opera than the sport itself.
Dunno if you are American or not, but its all about marketing over there from what I hear (was gonna make a life over there for myself and bought a one way plane ticket and then those twats flew planes into the towers and subsequently fucked up my way in - fuckers). If you ask me, the yanks had it right. Get on the Mayflower. Have a civil war (which we'll do soon) and embrace life.Dr.Faustus said:Joycee Banercheck said:This 'American's don't understand football' shite gets on me tits.
They do. They'll probably prime it into kid's heads soon too. Say what you want about them, but they want to win everything and they probably will. You've gotta like them for that.
Apart from terrorism, obviously.
I don't think American's don't understand football; it is more a question of enthusiasm for the sport and preferential treatment for the 'big 3' as to why football is not more popular in the USA.
Well said, Frank. Again.Frank the Yank said:When i started playing football back in about 1975(!!!!!!! EGADS), some pundits used to say how many kids are playing it YADDA YADDA YADDA!! Football will NEVER be a major sport in America!! yers ago it bugged me but now I dont ive a shit. he internet helped and the fact that I can watch 1-5 Enlgish games every weekend helps a lot. The coverage here has gotten a lot better over the past 10 years.
The National Team is OK but, lets be truthful, the only reason we get into the World Cup every four years is geography. CONCACAF is probably the weakest section. Its dead easy for us to qualify.
I doubt we will be contenders for WINNING a World Cup at any time. hell, how many countries can actually think about winning it aside from about 60 million deluded English!!! The fact is our best athletes dont play it. Why?? Econmic, historic and cultural. The country gets more "hispanic" (I really dont like that word) every year. Perhaps thats a pool from which we can garner football stars?
Americans favor American invented sports. Have a look, the three (by far) most popular sports are 1) Yank football (I love it) 2) Baseball and 3) Basketball. Do you lot have a go at the irish because they love Gaelic football and hurling? If thats what they like, then so be it.
Also all American sports league have what world football leagues dont-playoffs! if a team has by far the best record and doesnt win the playoffs, then their season is a failure. I think they best team over the course of an 8 month season, is well, the best team. But without playoffs you dont have that drama. The playoffs conjure up some of the most compelling, interesting, dramatic moments. Thats something you dont get in The prem, La Liga or Serie A.
Lets face it sometimes football matches can be boring and dire and I am not even saying this coz we are City supporters and know how shite the games can be.
Also football can be a game of nuance much like baseball. Baseball is even MORE nuanced as there are MANY decisions the manager must make during the course of one game that may or may not ahve an outcome on the game. You can dismiss it as a girls game of rounders but by saying that it just shows ignorance.
The bottom line is different horses for different course. Vive le differance!!!
teddykgb said:The absurdity of this thread actually got me to register, as an American it's sort of hard not to laugh at the ridiculous generalizations some of you are making. You all act like we Americans are some separate breed of human, but let me tell you, our heads don't explode when a match ends in a 0-0 finish.
All in all, this is very easy. The sports isn't as big here because we haven't had a high level of play league here, which makes the most interesting variety of this sport still European. Many people in the US support and follow European teams, which makes sense in two ways. First, the most talent is in europe, and when you include champions league football you've got a very compelling and entertaining product. It would be silly not to follow it because it's European. Secondly, all of our best players play in Europe at this point, so if you got into this sport via the World Cup that was here or some variation of our National Team, you're going to follow the teams those players play on, which sadly led many Americans to examine Fulham but that's beside the point.
It is true that the sport is surging here, but mostly at the youth level. Every young kid in America plays football with their feet at some point in their youth it seems. It's a more forgiving sport than baseball for the uncoordinated and it's cheap and outdoors, so it's got a mass appeal to parents. Time will tell if that translates to something as far removed as our National team, and I'd guess that it won't because overall, our best athletes are playing other sports, and for more than the foreseeable future they will continue to make that choice because there will be a lot more money in basketball, baseball, or american football for these athletes than there will be in the MLS. It'll probably take 3 or 4 dozen american youth trailblazers getting hyped and bought at a young age, sort of like the Adu saga, but the players probably need to work out better than Adu before anyone would seriously consider it.
Finally, as an American, some criticisms of how all of you follow sport. It's been one hell of a ride following the lot of you on this forum this season. Maybe there's another forum that has more of an analytical bend, but it's very surprising to me as a follower of many American sports how little thought goes into the arguments presented here. Maybe it's the nature of the sport in that it carries few statistics, but on any forum for the Boston Red Sox, as an example, people are just as passionate as you folks are, but when arguing about the team you always bring detail and data to the table. As an example, as a City fan I agree with the consensus that right now the midfield is not performing and it's causing serious issues, which is an improvement on the leakage the defense had earlier this season, but I've yet to see anyone try to use any pass completion % data or any other data set to try to see where the team is actually failing. Or, in the absence of stats, there's a true dearth of people really talking about formations and tactics, pretty much every thread follows the same guideline, initial post, someone mentions hughes, someone mentions mancini, someone mentions mourinho, everyone makes fun of MUFC, someone claims to be ITK, everyone harps on that person. There's a slight variation of this where if you say something negative you're accosted for not loving City enough, and the thread moves into yet another discussion about whether love for team should overcome ability to criticize it. I don't necessarily expect this last part to be particularly well received, but if we're going to talk about a society's approach to sport, I'd say that as an American, it's surprising to me how much of the approach of this team's supporters, at least, seems to be more about the soap opera than the sport itself.