World Cup Soccer

Exactly, and you should be proud, very proud!  . 

 

Here is Mr Cranky's top 12 reasons why the World Cup is the most overhyped sporting event in America....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZFlh2m8DGI

 

 

That kids are getting excited about the World Cup shows how big of an inroad soccer has made in America. There's as much soccer on TV without the World Cup as other sports now. I was in a shuttle the other day that had Mike and Mike on the radio. They were discussing the World Cup. When we get to the next generation of kids there's going to be a lot of families where dad and the kids all played soccer. They're going to sit down and watch the World Cup like it's the Super Bowl.

 

I don't understand why anyone has issues with soccer. If you don't like it, don't watch it. The only issue I ever had with soccer is when I would see a team practicing on the baseball field. 

 

Soccer isn't going away. It's only going to get bigger. Especially with the concerns of football, concussions and dementia. What has gone unnoticed by the media is headers in soccer and the long term effects on memory. Youth soccer is considering banning headers.

I've tried to watch, and it just can't be done....so I don't.

1) It is boring and will not hold my attention.  Very little action.  I don't mind watching scoring highlights because some of those are very athletic and very exciting.   However, those scoring highlights last about 5-10 seconds. 

2) Games can end in a tie.  Ok, why play at all?   You've just played 90+ minutes and walked away.  Why on earth would I spend my time to watch that in the context of 1) above.  Not happening in my lifetime.. 

3) Flopping.   Also, one of the same reasons I don't watch the NBA. 

RJM, 

 

I don't have any problems with soccer or any other game I didn't happen to play or don't happen to know much about.  

 

However, the way soccer is promoted is very annoying.

 

I do resent the constant drumbeat of how resistance to the inevitable triumph of soccer is futile because soccer players worldwide far outnumber baseball/football/basketball players, the world has already picked soccer as the supreme expression of athleticism and the USA will soon fall in line.  Like the hatching of cicadas, this roar gets louder every world cup year.  Remember the hype of that red-headed guy when US hosted the world cup 20 years ago?  Remember how soccer was sure to be the dominant sport by the turn of the century?  Still waiting.

 

I have heard this inevitability argument all my life.  I grew up in St. Louis.  I heard it in the 60's when their short-lived NASL team enjoyed some moderate success.  I heard it in the 70's when their also-short-lived indoor team enjoyed some brief success.  And I definitely heard about when I was in college and for one glorious (to the soccer crowd) week,  the top ranked NCAA D1, D2, and D3 soccer teams all hailed from my home town.  St. Louis was going to be the flashpoint from which the wildfire of soccer swept the nation.  Thirty five years later, St. Louis has no soccer team that I'm aware of and the Cardinals reliably draw 3 million a year.  Ok, soccer guys.  If you're going to take over the sports scene, stop talking about it and get on with it already.  

 

I also bristle at the smug assertions that soccer is a "better" sport because it is such a refined, sophisticated game and the only reason it hasn't taken here is that Americans are  unsophisticated rubes.  This argument rankles on three levels because 1) sports are by definition matters of taste, so arguments about which ones are better are inherently pointless, 2) Americans are quite capable of grasping the strategies of continuous action ball-in-net games, and the parallel strategies in soccer unfold more slowly than in lacrosse, hockey, or basketball, and 3) soccer enthusiasts need to get their story straight because there is a basic contradiction between saying soccer will prevail because it is the choice of teeming third world masses and British hooligans on the one hand and claiming on the other hand that it is a complex, sophisticated refined game.  Which is it? 

 

Finally, I am skeptical of the imminent dominance of soccer because of my own observations of parents who put their kids in soccer, as opposed to those who put their kids in other sports.  Most parents who put their kids in sports do so because they love the game (even if they weren't very good at it) and want their kids to share their passion learn the important lessons of sports in the context of something they love.  Other parents put their kids into sports after evaluating their children's athletic gifts and thinking one sport or another will reward and develop those gifts.  

 

With soccer, I see a completely different dynamic.  Many soccer parents didn't play the game and don't particularly love it.  They pick soccer because of their (erroneous) assumption that it is safer than baseball and football, because it has a certain amount of snob appeal, and because you can protect a kid's self-esteem longer in it because individual failure is less obvious and less quantified.  Obviously, some very athletic kids placed into soccer for wrong reasons will blossom and excel, and lots of less exceptional athletes will learn to love the game with the same love that grinders in baseball do.  But I suspect the non-sports motives of soccer parents will tend to lower the overall yield of lifelong soccer fanatics from youth soccer.   

 

(As an aside, of the two fast-rising youth sports often cited as drawing players away from youth baseball, I've seen far more cases of parents putting non-athletic kids into soccer and far more cases of athletic kids tend talking their parents into letting them play lacrosse than the other way around.)

 

I don't doubt soccer will continue to grow in the US because everything grows in the soil of our freedom of prosperity; and I don't begrudge soccer earning a place in our televised sports calendar because there are enough fans to constitute a market worth serving.  But spare me all the talk about how it will become the dominant sport.  

 

 

 

I am old enough to remember Dick Young crying and beside himself because the fans at a Yankee or Mets game gave Pele a standing ovation when they realized he was there. Remember, Young took him there to prove that baseball fans didn't care about soccer. Swampboy I do agree with you that I do not think soccer will ever become the dominant sport, but as RJM said, if you don't like it, don't watch. As I don't watch  poker on ESPN.

The red headed soccer player was Alexis Lalas. Soccer is never going to become the dominant sport in America because very few of our top athletes head in that direction. But as I pointed out earlier, by the availability on tv and the number of kids playing the sport it's becoming mainstream. What bothers me is people who don't know the game comparing kiddie ball rec soccer with real soccer. It's about as real as kiddie rec ball baseball and real baseball. There aren't kids at any level of travel soccer hiding their failures in the game. They're not making the team.

 

I won't note there's a soccer game to watch on tv. But if there's twenty, thirty minutes left in a good game between two good teams and I'm channel surfing there's a decent chance I'll watch. The last entire soccer game I watched was a high school game with my son playing. Then again the last girl's volleyball, basketball or softball game I've watched my daughter was playing in high school or college.

There are a lot of people who think baseball is as boring as watching paint dry. There are a lot of people who think baseball is an easy game. After all, all you do is throw it, hit it and catch it. How hard is that? People do that in their backyard every day.

 

With any sport it's a matter of understanding the game. One of my son's soccer teammate/friends from U9 through high school had a dad that played World Cup soccer for Nigeria. We became good friends as our kids became good friends. I stood or sat with him at games and asked a lot of questions.

Wow.  Swamp, I was just reading one of your other posts thinking you really need to post more often.  Regardless of where one stands on the subject, that was an awesomely interesting and informative post.  I do think soccer would be 1000 times more exciting if there were no off-sides and if flopping were penalized instead of rewarded.

At one time, I would have said that soccer is the worst sport around. Then I had to work a high school wrestling match. Give me the soccer game. I've also said the best thing about a game of soccer is the clock doesn't stop...

 

also, just heard that the. English physio just dislocated his ankle while celebrating a goal... Oops

Its obvious the previous post is from a regular who has decided to be a troll. They can't make a coherent, intelligent post so they don't want to attach their name to it. No one would join a baseball board to make a first post about soccer. They just don't want to have the pure ignorance of their post attached to who they really are. A Joe Average could take the field in a world class soccer match and blend in with the game?  Thank you for the nonsense. Like I said before, what's to baseball? Anyone can play MLB baseball. You throw the ball, hit the ball and catch it. What's so hard about that. A little kid can do it. At least I'll admit to being absurd with my statement about baseball since I know the game. What I don't understand is why anyone would take the time on a baseball board to post their hatred for a sport that has absolutely nothing to do with baseball.

Jaboo has OBVIOUSLY never played, really watched or knows anything about soccer. Soccer happens to be on of the most physically demanding sports in all of sports, period. Having said that it doesn't diminish my love of, appreciation for or my interest in baseball. Which happens to be my love outside of my family.With college football being my passion. Soccer is more then just kicking a ball Jaboo, much more then that. As much as baseball is more then throwing a ball or swinging at a ball. I don't know what kind of shape you are in but I would love to see you try a bicycle kick in a full run. Now that would be a sight. Pardon me for my attitude  but to totally trash something that someone has obviously no knowledge of is childish at best and very ignorant and prejudicial at worst. How one feels about a particular sport is no concern of mine but to blatantly bash something and put it down and to compare yourself with the best in the world is just too silly. And by the way I don't care how relatively fit you are you are nowhere close to soccer shape, NOWHERE NEAR. So just sit back, discuss baseball if you can and leave a sport alone that you definitely do not care for. And by the way, if you would ever get on the field with the best they would make you look very foolish at the best , tip, soccer defense is more then' staying in front of your man'. Oh yea REAL NICE LANGAGUE

WHAT? Don't even trivialize something like WW2 with a statement like that.

Maybe the reason there is more and more soccer on TV is because of the ever increasing Hispanic immigrant population in our country. As others have said, I distinctly remember when I was growing up in the 70s everyone saying that it would soon be the next big thing. Just hasn't happened.

Sometimes having something or someone to hate defines you and puts you in a group you are comfortable with.  If you hate soccer with a passion, it's your world, I'm just passing through.

 

At the national team level, soccer is an amazing and fascinating sport played by the world's best athletes.  At the league level, it doesn't interest me much. 

It sure is interesting that anytime anybody talks about a sport, they mention how that sport has the "world's best athletes."

 

And for it being such a popular sport, there are a lot of empty seats in that stadium too..

Soccer is a big meh for me.  I will watch some of the World Cup if and when I get caught up in a story.  I think it's a pretty good youth sport to play and to watch, and I especially like the indoor version --really fast and full of offense.  I do think the rules badly need revision, especially flopping and offsides.  But the best thing about soccer I think is that it's probably the easiest and best team sport that adults can continue to play.  Adult leagues are huge in soccer-playing countries and in areas of the US with large Hispanic populations.  Watching those games you see a real love of the sport.  Even if you don't love the sport yourself, that is cool to see.

The easiest adult sport to play is softball. Players sometimes drink beer while they play. Even adult basketball is easier. There are adult half court leagues. Instead of hustling on defense players just turn around and play defense.

 

My girlfriend is a high school and NCAA soccer referee. In the off season she does adult leagues. She said they're harder to ref than high school and college. The players lose their cool. School athletes can't. 

 

She's half Czech and half German. She looks Eastern European. Because her father was in the oil industry she grew up in Venezuela. She's fluent in Spanish. When a Hispanic coach yelled something really offensive at her in Spanish she turned around and told him in Spanish where he could place the ball after she ejects him. End of problem.

I said "easiest and best"   not easiest.  I've played plenty of beer league softball. It's not really a sport.  Fastpitch and modified is different, but you don't see much being played.

There are three and 1/2 global team sports, Baseball, Basketball Soccer and Ice Hockey. 

 

1)  Basketball will rule over time.  Although interest in the US will wane as our dominance ends with this generation of players. Already we can see kids all over the world leaving soccer to play basketball with great success.

2)  ML Baseball could sustain itself for another century or more if it goes to Japan and South & Central America.

3)  Soccer has probably surpassed hockey in the US and will continue its slow upward popularity as the population diversifies and kids participate and stay active in the game in larger numbers.  It is ahead of baseball globally.  Basketball is the only sport that will give it a run there.

4)  Ice Hockey is a North American and European thing and will stay that way.  Ever the wannabe.

 

NFL?  Think boxing in 1975.  It is going to topple from its throne in the US over the next generation or maybe slightly more.  As the risk of the permanent damage done becomes understood just like "punchy" boxers, kids will stop the sport.  It will disappear as a youth sports option (hello soccer) and may be gone from HS by 2030 or sooner.  Only the NFL money involved will delay the inevitable but not forever.  If college football blows up in the next 10 years this could become a real problem for the NFL.  Think of a real minor league instead of colleges.  Tuscalousa Barons vs. Gainesville Mud Cats won't be the same as Tide and Gators.  And like every professional non NFL football enterprise except College Football it will fail.

 

So here it is:  Most upside if you have a couple billion probably is NBA but the MLS might be the best investment.  Millions into billions by 2050.  Think Donald Sterling.  A MLB franchise can be a good steady deal but if I bought the Rays, I'd be talking to MLB about Mexico City or somewhere not Tampa or that GAWD awful dome.

 

And by the way watching Soccer is like watching paint dry except generally less action.  If the guys running the NFL take it over and start messing with the rules, then forget about it.  Here are three I'd institute after watching just 2 World Cup games:

 

1)  Dump the offsides - Let's get some fastbreaks going

2)  Free substitution -  put fresh legs out there like hockey

3)  Take about 3 or 4 guys off the field to create the space needed for plays to happen.

 

It might not look like soccer does now but nothing looks the same as it used to, everything changes over time. 

Offside rule in soccer is probably the single most counterproductive rule in all of sports. It  turns the game into a defense dominated endeavor and makes what might otherwise have been a somewhat exciting game a  practically unbearable spectacle.  IMHO

 

The thing I really don't like about soccer is that most moments in a soccer game are of almost  no significance and contribute nothing whatsoever to the overall "narrative"  of the game.  

 

Just think about the frequency of what in other sports would be called turnovers.   (Pardon my ignorance but is  there even an  official soccer word that means turnover?). contrast the significance of a turnover in Soccer with the significance of a turnover in basketball or football  (American style).   No comparison.   The ball changes feet with such regularity and with such ease that possessing the ball at any give moment means almost nothing.  So most of the back and forth and back and forth is, well, pointless or at least devoid of entertainment value. 

 

I love basketball.  Except for the fact that it suffers from the same defects that all games with a count down clock suffer, it is a beautiful game.  Soccer is sort of like the negative polarity basketball.   Opportunities for scoring in basketball are pretty plentiful.   Not scoring when you have the opportunity to score is a pretty big deal.   Opportunities for scoring are rare in soccer and even when the opportunity presents itself rarely is the opportunity seized.  The intrinsic difficulty of scoring  makes for a lot of back and forth and back and forth, on and on, to no real point.  Not denying that it's exciting when somebody does break through and score.   A lot of delayed gratification in that.   And in a way it is sort of dramatic.  Notice I'm not complaining about the lack of scoring per se.  I'm complaining about the intrinsic lack of opportunities to score.  I absolutely LOVE low scoring, pitching  and defense dominated baseball.  Not much scoring there.  But that's because skillful pitching and defense take away scoring opportunities that would otherwise be present.   The lack of scoring opportunities is built right into soccer.  And so it's pretty much a pointless game.

 

Don't know why anybody would call it the beautiful game.  Now baseball,  THAT"S a beautiful game. 

It's amusing when someone who doesn't know the game analyzes it. Yet if someone who doesn't like baseball told them a 1-0 baseball game is boring they would jump down their throat and tell them they don't know what they're talking about. You must really hate hockey. The puck often changes possession every twenty seconds.

Sorry Sluggerdad, I'm with RJM on this one.  You'd prefer to see the goalie kick it 100+ yards downfield to one or two offensive players camped out in front to the opposing goal?  That's what happens without offsides.  And if you're saying you long for the return of the four corners offense in basketball, oh boy...

Don't long for the return of 4 corners at all. That was awful.  I wasn't referring to the shot clock.  the shot clock is great.  I was referring to the fact that with 3:00 minutes to go and a large enough lead, the game is essentially over and everybody knows it.   In baseball, the game isn't over until the last out, there is always, at least hypothetically, a chance to come back.  

 

As for the offside rule in soccer.  I see your point about the complete obliteration of the rule as it stands. So you'd have to replace it with something.    But you got to admit that it turns soccer into a super defense oriented game.   And one consequence of that fact is that the score in a soccer game, need not reflect the relative quality of play.  a team can spend the whole game attacking and attacking, and generally outplaying the other team, and still lose.  

 

As for hockey.  I like the speed of it and, well, the fights.   

Now that I've become AD and have to go to soccer games (until two years ago you could count the number of soccer games I've watched on two hands with 10 fingers left over) I can honestly say I've developed an appreciation for the sport.  I'll never watch it on TV and won't go out of my way to be near it (guess it changes meaning when I'm watching kids / teams I care about playing) but I am truly amazed at how much skill these athletes have and the stamina it takes to play as long as they do.  I have a new found respect for the game.

 

My one question (well two if you're counting what in the world is offsides - I've had our coaches try to explain it to me but I'm just dumb I guess) is why do games end in ties?  I mostly get the whole two overtime periods (why not just play 20 mins instead of two 10 min periods????) but after that go to penalty kicks.  Those are fun to watch and should decide the game.  I feel we lost out on a chance to win conference this year because one of our conference games ended in a tie instead of going to penalty kicks (obviously if we had lost the game on penalty kicks then same outcome).

 

Anyway regardless of the sport anytime you can go around chanting USA, USA, USA it's a good thing.

The simplest explanation of offsides is it prevents goal hanging (aka basket hanging in basketball). The offensive player can't receive the ball behind the defense on his team's offensive end of the field.

Love penalty kicks? There's a guy whose kid isn't a goalie. . I only enjoyed them when my son's team was up three or more goals.

I still remember going to Steamers games as a kid in the 80s, and Ambush and Storm games in the 90s that would have 15-20k at the old barn. I actually got to play in one of those pre-game youth games at the Arena. We were the last game before warm-ups and played in front of about 10,000. Saved a penalty shot to hold the lead. 

 

Will it ever take over popularity in America? Probably not. It is still a very regional sport like lacrosse.  

 

I also believe you are right about soccer being able to "shelter" kids longer than other sports. You can't hide on a football field, baseball field, or basketball court. 

Ok I'll try the offsides explanation this way... If you are familiar with hockey at all think of the last defender, not the goalie, as a "moving blue line". No offensive player can be behind the last defender before the ball is kicked in his direction.

One other thing I forgot to mention yesterday that may one day boost the popularity is when we get really good at the game.

 

I think if the US team made the Semi's this year for example and the game was played in prime time in July there might be an all time audience for soccer showing up to watch ESPN.  If that happens ESPN will start really pounding the sport and that will definitely amp up the viewing. 

 

When I turned on the TV last night I must have seen that corner kick a dozen times in 30 minutes.  ESPN was jacked up and in full overdrive on it.  They also pounded we play again Sunday against Portugal...I wonder if the audience goes up with the win. 

1st of all I really don't think you can use the World Cup as any kind of example of the growing popularity of soccer in the US.  The World Cup is all about USA vs. anyone.  It is really more a matter of patriotism than the popularity of the sport.  Of course if the USA makes it to the semi finals or finals of the World Cup a lot of people will be watching it.  I just really don't think that will translate to a huge increase in people watching the Columbus Crew play the New York Red Bulls (yes, those are real teams, but I had to look it up on Wikipedia to even know the name of a single Major League Soccer Team).  

 

It's the equivalent of the Olympics.  How many of the Olympic sports do we watch and take an interest in other than every four years when they are played in the Olympics?  Not a whole lot of them.  This is another case of more patriotism than actual full time interest in the sports that are being played.

Not implying we'll have Monday Night Soccer anytime soon or anything.  The Olympics analogy has a lot of truth in it but I think there is more to Soccer than say Gymnastics or Swimming.  In my lifetime I have watched the game grow from "communist" to my kids playing FIFA '14 tournaments with their friends on Play Station. 

 

It is kind of weird for me because my kids will watch Soccer before the Yanks and Sox and they played the game of baseball and never played soccer beyond 6/7 years old.  So given the chance ESPN will pound the game because it can probably pick up a ton of content fairly cheap and there are young people watching.

 

I think the game is now like moss...it won't blow up the way people have been predicting for 40 years, rather it will continue to make incremental inroads.  It is not a purely American game like Baseball, Basketball and Football so does not have the roots those sports have.  It is building them and it isn't going away.

 

 

Last night, my son and 7 of his classmates went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the USA-Ghana game.  All 8 rising sophomores, played 2-3 of the following sports their freshman year in high school:  American football, basketball, baseball, lacrosse and rugby.  

 

Notice I did not write soccer.  All probably played at some point in their lives but none currently.    To them soccer is not a sport to be mocked but a sport to appreciated for the skill and stamina needed to play at a high level.  Younger kids grow up understanding the sport.  A soccer match is a hard game to win. They understand that is tie is an acceptable result at times and at other times it is completely unacceptable.  

 

They had a great time and enjoyed watching the game with a couple hundred people.  They were truly pumped.  As I was listening in my car on the way home from work.

Soccer has its plusses, don't get me wrong.  But the key to its success in the US is TV revenue.  That's the key to success for every big money sport.  And you do have to admit that  in terms of being  made for TV soccer really isn't. 

Dunno, 45 - 50 minute running time with banners and ads running in the corners where people stay put.  Might be the PERFECT TV vehicle going forward.  You have no choice but to watch the commercials to watch the game even if you record it. 

 

With all the crap on the sidelines and everywhere else whoever is running it isn't missing much.

 

 

 

 

That's the other thing that bugs me about soccer.  They claim that the clock never stops, so it's non stop action.  Well, that's not really true.  They do stop the clock for some things, only they don't really tell you.  So you have a game that is scheduled to be for 90 minutes, they you see 90 pass, then 91, then 92...  Why don't they just stop the clock when there is a reason to??  Why keep people guessing as to when the game will actually end?  How can you have a true "buzzer beating" goal when you don't know when the buzzer is going to sound?  Certainly, the technology is there.  And why not just count down like every other sport in the world?  Why do they count up?  

 

This isn't a make or break point, but just another thing that doesn't make much sense to me.

 

And luv baseball make a good point.  The only break in these games are half time.  Although you can scroll advertisements across the bottom of the screen, they don't have the impact of regular commercials.  You will never get the ad revenue for the advertisements you will in other sports.  Add to that, I don't think the American population has the attention span to watch 45-50 minute halves without a break.  And who is going to go to the fridge to get the beers while the game is going on?  They may miss the only goal of the whole game!!!   

The major increase in MLS attendance will come with the next generation. That's when dad and son played soccer growing up and may not like baseball. It would never be the case with my son and me since even though my son played travel and high school soccer he's gone further in baseball and we like baseball better than soccer. Pro soccer in a spring/summer sport. We would rather go to a Red Sox or Phillies game if he has time.

The MLS is minor league soccer compared to European Premier leagues. It always will be. This impacts American popularity. In other parts of the world chances are the best athletes play soccer (with some basketball and hockey). In the US the best athletes typically play baseball, basketball and football. The notable exception was Kyle Rote Jr, the son of a pro football player who played soccer and won Superstars several times. Soccer continues to grow. It's mainstream on tv now. But it's not going to beat out the other American mainstream sports.

bballman - The answer to that my friend is a cooler for a leg rest.....

 

If the Brits are any indication it might be the proper way to watch the glorious game.

You beat me to an important point. With a clock that runs constantly advertising comes at the expense of missing action. The worst thing a sport can do is be in an ad when a score occurs. In soccer they have to go to tape and lead with "while you were away ...." It kills excitement. 

 

But there is MLS and Premier League Soccer on TV every week. I've never watched from beginning to end to pay attention to how advertising is interjected.