For me, baseball I could watch 3 World Cup soccer matches in a row but I couldn't watch 3 baseball games in a row. One is enough for me.
It's not an overnight process, soccer's basically only been relevant to mainstream U.S. sports fans since the 90's (if that). In comparison to how long basketball/baseball/football have been around in the states, it's fairly young. It's practically a toddler compared to soccer in England where some teams are 100+ years old.
Having European parents I can't vote on this one. I've always played soccer and always love the game. Biggest disappointed for me so far in this WC: Jozy Altidore Biggest surprise's so far: Comeback Kids, Bradley (son), Howard, USA's overall performance, especially against Slovenia who is stronger than advertised. Hopefully AWTY alum Stuart Holden will get some playing time in the next game. Bradley is going to get PAID somewhere, if its not in the EPL its going to be in a team that plays the Champions League somewhere else.
Oh also hopefully you guys will start following American players over here in Europe. Games are more exciting. Watch out for young American Axel De Buyl!
And also an option that says, "I've always been a fan and will continue to be one regardless how the U.S. does".
It's really odd that soccer is perceived by Americans as a game for children and women. It's very much a contact sport and I've been hurt more from playing it than I did playing high school football. It's a very challenging game and when I'm amazed injuries aren't more common in pro matches. It requires a very high level of fitness, and even the best players don't last very far into their 30's, other than goalkeepers. There were three things that got me into watching the game: 1. Mexican league (this is pre-MLS), I found myself watching matches on Univision, and eventually realized Monterrey was no further away from Corpus Christi than Houston was. I still consider them my team. 2. Eric Cantona. I suggest watching clips on youtube and reading about Cantona. The guy really made me into fan, especially in his campaign in the mid-90's to revive Manchester United. Cantona made me as much a fan of soccer as Hakeem did for basketball. 3. The US National Team. The team used to be a joke. I had a roommate that was a mega-fan and used to never miss a friendly or a WC qualifier match, and eventually I was hooked. When I lived in LA I saw lots of matches. Not so long ago the US team was mostly a collection of guys who played in an indoor league and ex-NCAA players from a few schools with good programs (Virginia, UCLA, Oregon come to mind). That was all they had. In the last decade or so, so much has changed. The MLS is slowly getting better, and many guys are going at a young age to good teams in Europe and playing for good teams (Man U, Liverpool, Ajax, Rangers, etc). It's really exciting to see the team becoming competitive and a participant on the world stage. Overall, soccer for me is second only to basketball. I don't think there's any coincidence that soccer and basketball are the world's #1 and #2 most popular sports.
Were are you from? Dave, so you feel someone is an athlete if you can see it from his frame? If that is the case very few athletes are "real" athletes. I played soccer and Basketball, And I had a much bigger chance of playing in the NBA than playing for the Dutch national soccer team. I was among the best Basketball players in the country when I was young (still the Netherlands are just terrible at basketball, so it is not an accomplishment), with soccer I was never even close. Ok I’m not your average person (6"7 and 211 pounds). But it is much more difficult for me to be able to do the things with a ball that professional soccer players can do, than to jump high and dunk. I do not care if people do not like soccer. Everyone has his own interests. I like Basketball, tennis and soccer the most, but I do not hate sports like Baseball Rugby or Football (I actually quite like them). I for one do not like Field Hockey, even tough the Dutch are among the best in the world with it. It is just not my game. What I do not like is people ripping on Soccer without giving it a chance. But reading the last posts of Dave he does have an open mind.
Basketball is no way the second most popular sport in the world. The guy who posted that must have never left the States or living in some sort of bubble. I would say tennis ranks above basketball amongst world fans.
Do you want to follow the NBDL after watching the NBA finals? is an equivalent question to: Do you want to follow MLS after watching world cup? I'm selling MLS short comparing it to NBDL, but the point is that this is not a top league. It's tough for Americans to follow anything but the best sporting competition since we're used to being home of the top leagues in most other sports. I think you will see more people pick up on international soccer, but it's still not really going to take off. The game of soccer needs a great, marketable american player before it takes off here. If the US could produce someone like Messi who was dominating international play the sport will take off here. People need a big American star to get behind, that's when this thing will really take off.
It's actually cricket due to the fact that it's the most popular sport in highly populated countries like India.
They changed the OT rules for the playoffs next year, i.e. the Favre Rule. Both teams will have a chance.
How cool would the NFL be if the clock never stopped? Each quarter could be 40 minutes (with 5 minutes between them) and a 15-minute halftime. The games would still be just over 3 hours but the clock would never stop.
I just realized what this thread reminds me of: <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6gu3mbl8SAk&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6gu3mbl8SAk&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object> :grin:
