Baseball and NASCAR are boring as hell, too. People like baseball and NASCAR for the same reason people like soccer/football... what that reason is, I have no idea. I know with NASCAR at least you can see a nice wreck!
Soccer is awesome. I don't get how people always say its boring because there's not enough scoring. Do you know how GOOD it feels when you watch a World Cup game and the team you are rooting for (your country) scores a goal? The sheer bliss at that moment is like watching a game-winning buzzer beater in basketball. You like buzzer beaters don't you? If you want to talk about BORING, let's talk about baseball. I can't stand watching baseball on TV. Most athletes besides the pitcher don't even break a sweat all game. And you call that a SPORT. Soccer has to be one of the toughest games to play. And it's a team sport.
Soccer and American football score about the same amount of times... I love Soccer, LOVE it.....and I love American Football too. Once you are exposed to it, the sport is wonderful...but then I am a lot cooler than most people so... DD
I've tried watching soccer over and over and just can't get into it. It's like almost getting a date with a hot chick... repeatedly... it just becomes a letdown after a while. Back and forth ... closer to the goal... fwap... back the other way... d'oh d'oh... fwap... back the other way... a lot of running that takes forever and leads to .... back the other way... I think chess is more exciting. Now a chess match... there's a sport...
I agree, I have no idea what the English were thinking when they did that. As far as the original question, there's many reasons, some of which have already been mentioned. People have been following other sports for generations and they're ingrained into the culture here, people are used to having easy access to the top leagues, and there seems to be a fear/dislike of things "un-American". The fact that most people don't like it isn't that surprising. What baffles me is the people that for some reason have developed a level of hatred for it.
Using this argument almost all sports should be called football. I agree with the poster, I never understood changing the name of a sport when all the world calls it by one name. Then give it to a sport that you made up. And what makes it worse is that the sport you gave it too hardly you hardly ever use your feet on the ball.
I was raised in the U.S. and was exposed to basketball and football at a very young age. All my friends and neighborhood kids would get together to hoop or play some football (even baseball sometimes even though its boring as hell to watch) While my cousins were raised over seas and were exposed to soccer at a young age and all of their friends and neighborhood kids would gather to play soccer. So it has to do with your surroundings and the exposure to the sport. BTW I like soccer, but I just don't have the time to follow it. But I agree it is a man's sport and next to rugby, it is probably the toughest sport to play.
Again, the word "soccer" was invented by the English and not by Americans. I love the sport. I used to be ambivalent towards the sport but quickly caught the bug. It is now my favorite sport. I don't mind people who don't like soccer. I do wonder why some people feel they have to go out of their way to make it known that they hate the sport. It really makes no sense.
Americans do love soccer. Argentina, Uraguay, Paraguay, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana and Ecuador. All these American countries LOVE soccer.
Okay, I can't speak for everyone, but for my own personal reasons, my biggest problem with soccer is the freaking RULE against using your hands. One of the biggest physical attributes that sets us apart from most animals is our hands and ability to use them to perform intricate tasks. So what do you do with that? OUTLAW IT. I'm sure these guys are in great shape running back and forth constantly and I'm sure they are wizards with their feet, but coordinating the activities between your feet and hands is far more impressive to me. And to those that love the game, don't bother pointing out that players do use their hands for things other than handling the ball (like holding other players, pushing people, etc). And for those that state that Americans in general don't like it because they are biased against it from an early age, I take exception to that. Growing up, damn near every kid I knew played soccer at least one year or two. It was like a requirement for kids sporting activities. Personally, I hated the game. Hated playing it, hated watching it, and that was based on my own personal experience and had nothing to do with whether or not my parents liked watching me play every weekend. Most kids I know were the same way. But those same kids lit up at the opportunity to play a game of baseball or basketball (never played football much as a kid). Perhaps it's just part of our DNA here in America...I don't know. But I really don't believe that further exposure to the game would suddenly result in a dramatic increase in interest. Most kids get their chance to become enamored with soccer at some point. Most reject it. I think that is meaningful. And to address the whole NASCAR and baseball thing. Personally, I hate NASCAR for much the same reasons I hate soccer. What those drivers do is difficult and physically taxing...but it involves you sitting down the entire time. I have a hard time enjoying that. It also doesn't help that they drive in freaking circles. Baseball, I do enjoy. But what makes baseball "slow" is all the time in between the significant portions. If you can get past the 20-30 seconds in between pitches, then the action that DOES occur is entertaining, to me. And anyone that truly believes that most MLB players never break a sweat during games has never played the game, I'd wager. That's ridiculous.
It's just a matter of how the sports/cultures evolved. There was football (known as Association Football) which spawned Rugby Football, which spawned American Football. In most of the world people shorten Association Football to football. Here people shorten American Football to football since it is the more common sport. Australian Rules Football is also called football for the same reason.
For the record, I played baseball and can verify that it's very possible to play an entire game without breaking a sweat if you're not playing in 80+ degree weather. It doesn't really affect how I see the sport. I never understood the "soccer is boring" argument when its the only sport that has constant action going on.
Most sports related to soccer/football are called football : Rugby football Association football (soccer, btw, named by the English, not "us" Americans as you suggest) Australian rules football Canadian football (ok, I'm kidding... bwahaha)
American Football TD = 7 points (With XP) Field goals = 3pts. In soccer each goal is 1 point, but if you have a typical 3-2 soccer match, some people think that is low scoring....but if you give 7 points for every TD, that makes it a 21-14 game. No imagine if all the shots that were CLOSE were Field Goals....so each team got 3.... Now it is a 30-23 game.... Soccer and Football are about the same in scoring there are just no points for near misses in Soccer where in football you get a FG. DD
Soccer is fun, and a lot of Americans (as evident by responses in this thread) likes it, especially playing it. However, it doesn't have enough of history and interest here for it to sustain a top shelf professional league, which is fine. Think about cricket, huge in in India, Pakistan and such, but the rest of of the world don't care. Or table tennis, Chinese people love that sport but you'd be hard pressed to find professional players outside of China. Don't even know why this is such a touchy issue for everyone here, just go with what ever flows your boat. And as far as soccer vs. football goes, why does it matter to anyone else what Americans calls a sport? Should we be calling elevators lifts too? How bout some Chips with that burger?
