Why don't Americans like football (soccer)?

it's a boring a** game, usually the score is like 0-0 or 0-1 or 2-1 or something like that, no thanks.

 

Soccer is life.

 

To be honest while I enjoy the World Cup I always find it less fluid and in turn more conservative than the majority of league games around the world.

 

I'm surprised nobody brought this up yet, Americans LOVE stats. Thats one of the main differences between Football and Soccer. In soccer the only stat that matters is goals scored. I'm not even sure if they keep track of other statistics.

On the flip side, our big three sports are all HUGE on stats like points, rebounds, assists, rushing yards, passing yards, hits, RBIs, etc. All these things make our games meaningful IN BETWEEN the scoring. I regularly check box scores of all three sports and as a kid I loved looking at the stats on my basketball and football cards.

I think the cultural aspect is the most important though. Just as someone said earlier, Southerners like NASCAR, Canadians like hockey, Americans like football. People tend to follow what other people around them follow.

 

Ignorant? You can't kick the ball in basketball, but you sure as hell do a lot more with your feet in basketball than soccer players ever do with their hands. Do you honestly believe that using your hands for "balance" and "coordination" (whatever that means) is even remotely akin to running, stopping, juking, pivoting, shuffling back and forth and jumping? And that's not even mentioning the coordination a basketball player has to do when it comes to the number of steps allowed after picking up a dribble. It's many orders of magnitude more complicated than in soccer. Now, this is somewhat offset by the necessity for soccer players to learn to use the other parts of their body. You'll never see a basketball player use his head to pass the ball.

But I don't enjoy seeing a player bounce a ball off his head anywhere near as much as I appreciate the majesty of a guy running full speed up the court, stopping on a dime and spinning away from a defender, crossing over another and then going up for a dunk in traffic. It is the perfect blend of a full body coordination, in my mind. That is the problem I have with soccer.

Can you actually provide anything better than "balance" and "coordination" when it comes to the role of the hands in soccer, or are you just going to rely on the "ignorant" comment and not back up your argument at all?

I'm sure this has a lot to do with why many kids never enjoy the game. But I never paid any attention at all to professional sports until I was in late junior high/early high school. Long after I had rejected soccer. My contention is that there are far more kids who fall into my category than fall into the category you suggest, which is that they would love soccer if given the proper exposure. There is no real argument here. I don't think anyone could provide anything more than anectdotal evidence and that is largely meaningless when discussing an entire nation.

Intellectually, it is obvious that each score in soccer means more than other sports because of the rarity. But that in and of itself doens't mean anything to the people that can't really appreciate or enjoy the soccer scores on their own merits anyway. All it really does is give them a little better perspective on why soccer announcers completely lose their **** when a team scores a goal.

I don't think you will find anyone arguing that soccer players run more than baseball players. Not sure what the point is there. But running isn't interesting. It's the reason for the running that is. To me, a player running 90 feet full out to beat out a ground ball is more entertaining than watching 20 minutes of soccer players running back and forth, back and forth, losing and gaining, losing and gaining possession of the ball until finally, FINALLY someone gets a halfway decent shot on the goal.

I've watched MLS. I've watched World Cup. Probably the most World Cup I watched was the year the US team made it further than they ever have (was it the final 4 teams?) and lost to Germany. I watched because I had some Asian friends who wanted me to get into it. I gave it my best shot, with them explaining strategy and everything. It didn't do it for me. I am fully convinced that no amount of further exposure would have increased my interest, and I believe that to be the case for most of the people in the US that aren't interested in soccer.

 

Americans are lazy and dumb, that's all. No offense to anyone but really. They don't understand more complex sports and don't care to. Part of the reason is it's not an American sport and the other part is they just don't see anything than the obvious, players running a lot. Soccer is more exciting than any other sport in the world I think a Hockey playoff game in overtime is on par with it though too.

You have to understand the importance of games in soccer, there is rarely ever a game played that may or may not cost so and so team their chance to win the championship of their respective league. Literally every week is a big game if you follow a good enough team. There aren't any playoffs in leagues, so it puts a huge importance on the season as it decides who is the champ. A draw here or a loss there sometimes basically loses the title for you. Plus there are different competitions throughout the season that are basically playoffs so there is always something that your team has a chance of winning, or losing.

I'm a huge fan of Liverpool and the title chase in the EPL has been amazing this season they just beat Man U I hate Man U! Anyway last season the title wasn't won until the last game of the season and by 1 single point. Win = 3 Draw = 1 Loss = 0 obviously. You won't get that in any other sport. The only thing I hate about Soccer is when games are decided by penalties and the flopping.

 

I've read this entire thread. Reading the ignorant things people have to say about sports that I know a lot about (I won't comment on specifics--no reason to offend) makes me realize that people are generally ignorant about sports that...they don't know a lot about.

Duh, so that's the definition of ignorance. Point is, I think people who dislike soccer and like football..or vice versa, seem to not know enough about the sport they "dislike" to actually appreciate it.

Myself included, because I "don't like" soccer. I probably would have posted some reasoning as to why it's boring, and at first I agreed with one long post. But as I read some of the opposing points against other sports that were formulated just as well but sounded ridiculous, I realized it's just something that comes from knowing intricacies. One sport I will comment on is baseball--I've always tried to explain why I like baseball, because it's obvious why some might think it's boring. To explain all the nuances and intricacies of the game is tough, but when you understand it all, the game becomes interesting and enjoyable.

One last point...I never watched hockey until recently. The major reason being that I wasn't exposed to it in Houston or from my friends. In the last couple of years, my friends out here in DC tried to get me into it, and I finally tried to learn. I've taken the time to learn and understand and ask question like I did a long time ago with other sports. Over time, I've come to appreciate the game, and though I'm not overly proficient yet, I understand a lot more now, and I can see the strategy and complexities that I never knew about before.


So when it comes down to it, I think any of these sports we're talking about can be good in its own right if people took the time to REALLY understand it. But without being exposed, being willing to spend the time, AND actually having the time to get down into the nitty gritty.. it's not gonna happen.

But I don't know if I can let all this hold up for NASCAR...is that really a sport?

 

Nice generalization there.... I am sure NO American will take offense to that statement.

 

This is one of the dumbest things I've read. You're serious when you say Americans are lazy and dumb. And yet you don't mean to offend anyone?

Ignorant on all accounts. I'm saying it specifically because you're calling out a large percentage of this board while at the same time trying to call yourself smart, apparently.

 

I apologize, I didn't mean it literally. It's just annoying when people hate something cause they don't understand it, like I said when people only see the obvious of players running a lot and passing the ball back and forth it's ignorant to me.. The same way some would think about people who hate baseball while they love it. Maybe they understand where I'm coming from.

 

If the Brits would have won...

 

Teams are more conservative since a loss is much more costly, there is also the fact that the players don't play with one another as much as they do with their league teams. I also think there's a bit more diving to get calls in the World Cup and a lot more injury faking to kill time and stop attacks.

 

You’re such a hypocrite.

I love this implied argument that the only reason people don’t like soccer is because they’re too dumb to understand it. Do you like NASCAR? No? Just a bunch of cars driving around a circle? Well, I guess you’re just too stupid to understand it.

And your mother is a w****. No offense, though. I didn’t mean it literally…..

 

I love Soccer, Football and Basketball. I like Cricket as well and baseball but not as much as the other 3.

And Im American. I think what it is, is the slow pace and low scores. Too me I find that exciting.

 

Baseball betrays everything you just said. If you wanna lock down comparisons of soccer to baseball in terms of complexity, good luck.

 

Good point, I didn't realize it til now but with how big Fantasy Leagues are blowned up I can agree. I see there is a Fantasy Soccer League with Goalies, Strikers, Mid-fielders and defenders.

As for the topic, it's got to be EXPOSURE. Americans probably don't get the amount of exposure and marketing compared to other countries. I probably have seen more poker than soccer on espn where it runs a lot. I can probably name more poker players names than soccer teams out there.

 

But you said that Americans are lazy and dumb...implying that your country's people are not. And you said Americans don't understand complex sports...implying that your country's people do.

So you're telling me that either:

a) most of your country's people like baseball OR

b) you lied, because your country's people are lazy and dumb also, and they also don't understand complex sports (due to lack of baseball)

 

Only the best soccer is enjoyable to watch -- think English premier leagues -- everything else is boring. This is post is brought to you by someone who has actually played soccer for 25+ years -- it is much more fun to play than to watch on TV.

I've tried to watch MLS -- I just can't get into it -- it's an awkward mismatch of defensive play with a touch of South American ball control and not nearly enough English long ball and attacking.

If the MLS were more geared toward attacking and long ball it would be much more successful.

 

Soccer isn't TV-friendly and it isn't stat-friendly and it's low-scoring, and those things for sure reduce American interest. Add to that the fact that MLS is a very minor league in the world scale.

But something else that's always bugged me about international soccer leagues is the lack of playoffs. The English Premier League, for one, declares a winner based on overall record. If the records are the same, they go based on goal differential, and then based on goals scored. People whine about College Football, but at least they have a championship game! What's the point of having a professional league, and not deciding the winner on the field.