Making The Call: Time To Watch Soccer

Not another lament about how most Americans just don't sufficiently appreciate soccer. They just don't, get over it. If you like it, fine, just leave everyone else the fuck alone please.

The reason it wont catch on here is because we already have enough things to do to be be bored with We dont need anynore boring activities especially one involving grown men kick a ball

I tried watching the game Sunday but those damn horns in the background make it very annoying. They should ban the horns before the World Cup or the crime and lousy transportation will not be the main reason if the event is a flop.

Advertising breaks has zero, ZERO to do with soccer's back-seat to other sports here. That is the lazy logic answer. Advertisers go around this with field ads, jersey ads, sponsorships. Same with Nascar.

The sports establishment will just have to make room for soccer because it will build popularity. The immigrant population are exclusively soccer fans.

We don't spend over a trillion dollars a year on the biggest, baddest military on earth just to have to watch somebody else's game. Soccer is for the countries with Saab fighters.

I grew up playing soccer, through the high-school level, and used to be one of those people who fervently hope that it will catch on someday as a spectator sport here in the US. No more. After watching the last few World Cups, I've decided that the game is fundamentally flawed. When a game can be decided because someone fakes (badly, usually) a foul in the box and a penalty kick is awarded... and that's the deciding goal of the game... that's a big problem.

And don't get me started of that fakery. It's PATHETIC. Sports is supposed to celebrate physical achievement. Grace, power, speed, determination, quickness, agility, etc. etc. you get the point. But the rules of soccer drive world-class athletes to flop around on the field like a pansy after being brushed by another player. Which, besides rewarding dishonesty, makes a clear point: winning vastly outweighs self-respect and honor and just plain BEING A MAN (or being a strong woman). It's sad, lame, and it disgusts me.

Yeah, basketball players fake offensive fouls, but it's not quite the same. They don't writhe around on the court, clutching their knee like it's full of shrapnel, and then get up and jog away, completely unhindered, without even a hint of embarrassment on their face. And it also rarely decides who wins the game.

I only realized this from watching the World Cup, as opposed to playing, because, at least when I was in HS, no self-respecting player would pull a wuss move like that, even though the rules allowed it. He'd have been completely bitch-slapped by all. Coach included. And considered an embarrassment to the team.

Bingo.

I also can't stand all the hugging and kissing after every damn goal like it's the gay pride parade.

They should outlaw flopping like hockey did.

The continual feigning of injury is a real problem for the sport. Interestingly, this is one of the reasons why the US team has won over many foreign journalists. The US (and Aussie) teams play honestly, rarely trying to con the ref and rarely faking injury. Let's hope that catches on overseas (though I doubt it).

(The beer stand is next to vendor selling plastic horns that annoy everyone, except for South Africans).

Thanks mate. Nothing beats a nice cold Guiness before the riots break out.

OK. You convinced me. I am not a soccer fan anymore. Where is the beer stand again?

The US is very much a team worth watching now, and they will continue to get better. They came back from a bit of a rough patch, in which they played very poorly against Costa Rica in a WC qualifier and poorly early in this tournament.

The performance in South Africa should go a long way in earning the team respect. In fact, media in other countries are already singing the praises of the US team. Now if only ESPN could get the clowns on Sportscenter to stop mocking the sport and actually learn something about it. They may be too much to ask of "professional" sports journalists, though.

As for the argument that people in the US don't care. I can tell you from the bar I was in yesterday afternoon (and from many previous Saturday mornings), that there are plenty of people who care. The sport will continue to gain fans here, and the US team doing well will only help that happen. Eventually, the same kind of people who cream themselves over a pitchers' duel or the nuances of a baseball game will realize that what goes on between goals, and specifically, the buildup to get those chances on goal, are what makes soccer compelling.

OK. You convinced me. I am now a soccer fan. Where is the beer stand again?

A big reason for less interest in soccer in the US is the lack of natural breaks for commercials. If you don't believe that you're being naive.

Go to the Parade Grounds in Brooklyn on the weekends. There are thousands of kids playing, yet they never put it on TV at home. They wear Mets and Yankees Jerseys, not the bloody Red Bulls.

Really? I don't know, pretty much the last thing I'm thinking while I'm either watching or ffwd'ing through yet *another* car/insurance/beer/boner pill ad during an NFL/MLB/NBA/NHL game is, "Wow, thank god for all these commercial breaks!"

A big reason for less interest in soccer in the US is the lack of natural breaks for commercials. If you don't believe that you're being naive.

Go to the Parade Grounds in Brooklyn on the weekends. There are thousands of kids playing, yet they never put it on TV at home. They wear Mets and Yankees Jerseys, not the bloody Red Bulls.

There is little point in debating entertainment as it's all a matter of taste.

I can't stand the notion that a 2-1 baseball game is somehow more inherently interesting. Watch an international level match with someone knowledgeable about the game and I guarantee you'll find as much strategy, if not more, as in a baseball.

Because everything in soccer is kinetic -- the ball, the clock, and the bodies never stop moving except after a goal score -- it's not the same as watching baseball players stand around while Mr. Manager flashes sign language or languidly trots out to change the pitcher. But the game's every bit as complex.

Who cares whether everyone likes soccer? I mean, really. I love it and watch it and go to games, but I don't expect baseball geeks to get it.

Soccer will continue to gain popularity in this country because it's inevitable. The BS arguments about scoring, commercials, etc are all just excuses.

Soccer IS popular in the US of A. But the mainstream media has yet to cash in on soccer like they do with Baseball, Football, Basketball. People sometimes just have to show a little bit of interest. I didn't like football before because it's boring and slow, but I wanted to get better at it to play with my buddies so I started watching, and I love it.

today, my brother in law who doesn't come from a soccer background noticed how those 45 minute halfs went so quickly, and I explained to him. It's because of the emotional level it puts you in, and watching and analyzing the game with a group of people makes the game exciting.

Fellow Americans, soccer's not a bad sport, and it isn't a Mexican sport or a third world country sport. No third world country has won the World Cup. Now, if you consider Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay third world countries, you need to take the red pill and pull your head out from your deep ass.

Enjoy soccer.

Yawn. We don't use metric either, and we're just fine.

I can watch a 2-1 baseball game -- there's plenty of strategy to enjoy. I just have never gotten into two teams kicking the ball up and down the field and maybe, someone scores. I've tried to dig soccer and tennis, but just can't get into either.

www.forgotten-ny.com

Soccer is the most popular sport in the world.

Yes many poor countries play it because it is so accessible - and the british invented it.

The reason it isn't popular in the us is because most americans have never played it, don't have the patience to watch something for 45 minutes at a time, and fail to understand something that doesn't rack up many points.

Wake up and watch the real football.

I'm not saying you are totally full of shit, but you are very close.

Soccer in the United States has been played by many, many, many individuals for at least two generations. So why isn't the US team better?

Go over to Pier 40 in the Village and you will see all these unfortunates kicking each other in the shins from morning into the night. From the age of four to the age of forty plus. EVERY MONTH OF THE YEAR!

The soccer hooligans play in rain, snow, sleet, etc. etc. They don't care. And you know what? They waste the field space for others that would like to play a serious sport.

Soccer is a real man's sport. It takes real endurance.

The only way American football could rival this sport in awesomeness is if the field were 300 yards long, 10 downs, no commercials, no timeouts, and no sauced-up overpaid meatheads.

Sports: serious business

Wow, what a sales pitch. So what's the over/under on the Giants sweeping the preseason?

The reason that soccer will not make it in the states is because there are no timeouts that allow commercials. Plus the game is a third world country game and mostly boring except for one or two minutes.

GOOOOOOOOOOOAALLLLLL!

Big deal.

Make the field smaller and then maybe it can get exciting. I doubt it, but maybe so.

It's kind of like raise the basket in basket ball. One really doesn't get excited about guys that are over seven feet tall dunking a ball do they? Oops, yes I guess they do.

Watched a bit of the games-not that interesting to me. I enjoyed watching the Cosmos and the NY Arrows back in the day. These tournaments are a snoozefest for me. Watching the South African games was a chore with that incessant buzzing from the crowd. It's great that kids enjoy the game-maybe it isn't thuggish and gangster enough to be popular. No that many high schoolers going straight to the pros either

I watch DC United when I can but when I started to root for Barca and then they went on to kill it this year, that's what really got me watching it more. So it was nice to see the US team play as well as they did.

It was like two different teams for each half. Did it seem like the brazilians were a lot longer than the americans? They looked like giants out there. Anyway, they put on a good show since the confederations cup is basically the JV league tuneup for the world cup to let the host nation get a taste of the action. We all saw how the yanks were favored in the 2006 world cup to maybe get into the semis because of their high fifa rankings but they tanked and Bruce Arena was sent packing.