For the same reason we cannot "kick" in basketball. You dribble with your hands in basketball, you dribble with your feet in soccer. What an ignorant thing to say. Soccer uses your entire body for things like balance, coordination, etc. Part of that reason is kids grow up watching D Wade and Lebron, like how many of us grew up watching Jordan. What other sport requires 20-30 seconds setting up a play. Maybe golf. In soccer, the clock never stops. Like someone mentioned, excitement in soccer is like American football where a lot of the close calls - like shots-on-goal are like plays in the red zone. Goals are hard to come by and celebrated like touchdowns. And ONE SCORE can decide the game, moving on to the next round, or the championship. Like I said, goals in soccer are like game-winning buzzer beaters in basketball. You can't get much better than that in terms of excitement. The average soccer player runs 7~8 miles a game. In baseball, to-and-from the dugout. A lot of chewing gum, and Hi-Definition close ups of the pitcher's nostrils. By the way, I played both sports growing up. But baseball is one of those sports that is fun to play but boring to watch. Watching soccer beats watching baseball hands down.
Optimists view the cup as half-full. Pessimists view the cup as half-empty. Most soccer teams have never even seen the cup.
i'm american.. and i'm the exact opposite.. i greatly dislike football/american football.. despite their being a "home team".. it's just so agonizingly dull.. and I just simply don't understand the fascination, never ending hoopla, and extreme commotion for the superbowl.. yet enjoy football/soccer.. world cup competition.. to be precise.. i've even found myself rooting for some of the teams.. which have zero connection to where I was raised or cultural background.. as it were.. as much as I have and do for the Astros and Rockets.. Nascar.. now there's an "activity" or "sport".. whose very existence and fandom.. i cannot begin to comprehend.. i'd probably enjoy Hockey.. haven't really given it much of a chance.. lack of having a team to root for..
i don't understand the hate for the original poster, sure you can explain the lack of interest in soccer because it is a foreign tradition, but american culture appropriates foreign traditions frequently, so that's not a satisfying answer after all. posting general articles doesn't clarify anything about the original context in which soccer arrived in america, which may be helpful.
What? Anyway... There is an easy answer to this all. It has NOTHING to do with the actual game itself, and everything to do with culture. Americans are raised with watching football, baseball, and basketball on TV. Not soccer. There's a reason why many people who are first generation Americans from another soccer popular country like me, love soccer, because my parents and family still had the soccer imprint in them. You take an Argentine to a baseball game and the reaction is "boring". You take an American to a soccer game and the reaction is "boring" What? You know this only applies to referring to USA as "America" not its people. What else would we call people from USA?
It's odd, because most of my friends are in LOVE with soccer and never shut up about it. Personally, I find soccer to be sheer boredom. The argument that goals in low-scoring games are like buzzer beaters is a good one, but you have to understand, it takes... so... long... between... goals... that I fall asleep. It's not like in football where there's people getting annihilated between the few scores. Basketball is fun because it's high scoring, and to those of you who say baseball is boring as hell... you are correct. But honestly, the best sport is lacrosse. You get non-stop play (except for quarters and timeouts), you get to watch people get laid out and crushed, you get to watch a sport that still has the grace of basketball and soccer, and it has quite a few goals a game. So, in summation, 1. Lacrosse. 2. Football. 3. Basketball. 4. Soccer 5. Baseball (A VERY distant fifth.)
The reason I dislike soccer is because players have such little control over the ball. Control switches back and forth so quickly and so sloppiliy that the team strategy seems lost to me. This is also why I'm not a hockey fan. The reason football and basketball are so popular in America is because, in addition to the physical challenges, they're much more strategic than soccer or hockey.
Give me a break. The strategies are endless. Only by understanding the complexities of the game can you truly appreciate soccer.
This is laughable if you really understand all of the games. Soccer is one of the most strategic sports around. All sports are very strategic with, perhaps, the exception of baseball where the strategy doesn't lie so much in formations or plays but in matchups which is strategy just not the type I think you're talking about. It takes a long time to understand the strategy of any sport but I do believe that soccer may be one of the more strategic out there. Hockey is also pretty strategic and it's harder for the players to pull off the strategy given that they are flying in and out of the field of play every 90 seconds.
Soccer just does not translate well on TV and most Americans watch their sports on TV. Same with hockey. Being at the game for both those sports is a night and day difference then watching them on TV. I can't speak for European pro soccer vs MLS level of play, but comparing AHL or other minor hockey leagues to the NHL is also night and day (in person at the arena). The speed of the game and players are much faster at an NHL game. I have no idea why NASCAR is so popular in america, watching cars go round in circles is not my idea of compelling drama.
I was referring to your comment about foot soldiers. I was assuming you were implying that since you use your feet in american football all is well. So I was just saying that you use your feet in most sports. The English coming up with the name soccer I did not know. You learn something new everyday.
Soccer will very likely never gain significant ground in the US. I say this and the following as someone who will watch World Cup games, with a rooting interest in Brazil and Argentina. Compared to football - every yard gained is meaningful, there are spectacular plays, and every first down is a like a scoring chance in soccer. It's absolutely the most team-oriented major sport in the world. However, a mid-season low-scoring game between two nothing teams is boring to me. Compared to hockey - hockey is a lot like soccer - except it's much faster-paced, and there's hitting, and there isn't any freaking flopping. Overall, it's a better game than soccer for the casual person watching, but it can't gain any ground in the US because people don't have rooting interests and weren't raised to watch hockey. Compared to basketball - basketball is pretty decent to watch, but individual baskets are pretty meaningless and it's manipulated more than any other sport to have artificially exciting endings. I need to have a team I am cheering for or an event to watch - like the playoffs or March Madness. Compared to baseball? Awww, who am I kidding - baseball sucks. I may catch a World Series game or two. The market for sports fans is tapped. MLS would have to have mass sections of free attendance with cheap beer for 5-10 years to gain any traction in this environment.
the whole premise of the argument is Why don't Americans like football (soccer)? My response was culture, which is why, it's exactly why, watering the response would be childish, I'm actually giving the OP the respect of a nice well rounded answer, as for him going to learn about culture and why soccer hasn't infused into the American cultural lag, that's up to him to find out. This is as stupid as asking, why don't Americans eat Chinese food everyday. You do what you were raised to do, we were raised to sit down and enjoy a baseball, football, basketball game, many in the south also enjoy watching cars make left turns for 4 straight hours. New Yorkers may enjoy hitting a small rubber ball with their hands onto walls over playing a game of pick up basketball, the same New Yorkers may favor their beloved Yankees over Giants or Jets. The residents of Queens love their Mets, but not the Yankees. Southern Chicago residents love their south side hitmen, but not the other team. So I guess the real question is.... Why don't Europeans like Football (football)? And anyone with a decent amount of intellect will tell you it's because of the culture. For you to say my answer was not helpful is a direct insult to the intelligence of the board. There is no need to reduce the rest of us down to the idiocy of the OP. Learn culture, take up a sociology class, read a book.
It was originally dubbed a form of "football" because there was initially no forward pass or passing in the game. The ball was advanced "on foot" as opposed to through the air. Throwing the ball didn't come until later. It had nothing to do with contact with ball and feet. Just as a foot soldier is a soldier who advances "on foot" as opposed to a mounted soldier. It has nothing to do with how he fires his weapon.
It's because of history. The big three pro leagues are all over 50 years old, and involve sports played in the US for over 100 years. That's many, many generations of fans. Soccer won't have made it in the US until the best American-born player can score more tail in Houston than a guy like Brad Ausmus. Heck, Shane Battier makes about the same money from the Rockets as David Beckham's base MLS salary, and Beckham's salary is three times higher than any other MLS player.
i don't know, i would argue that many young people are exposed to soccer as a child. maybe it depends on the region, but many of my friends at my college participated in soccer leagues (much more than basketball leagues or pick-up games, which is what i'm more interested in). judging by the quantity of the intramural soccer teams as well, the interest in the sport is not dead. so yeah many americans are raised to like soccer, but often this doesn't seem to translate into an interest in viewing the sport as adults. why is that, i don't know, which is what i assumed to be their question. no one's doubting you're assumption that you do what you were raised to do, i mean that's evident enough which is why i said your response wasn't helpful.
So we judge whether a sport has made it by the number of gold diggers chasing the players? I will say it's an interesting concept. I wonder how we would rank the sports as it is: - NFL - NBA - MLB Then where do NASCAR, NHL and MLS fit?
Soccer isn't as bad as I used to think. World Cup is really exciting to watch, and even premier league as well. But it will never live up to NFL football or NBA basketball in my mind.
