Originally posted by: mariok2006
Originally posted by: ThePresence
Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy
In order of popularity in the US:
Football = Lots of action - plays last 5 seconds
Baseball = Occasional action - plays last 5-8 seconds
Basketball = Lots of action - plays last 40 seconds
Hockey = Lots of action - plays last 2-4 minutes
Soccer = No action - plays are timed with a calendar
Note the length of a play. The popularity of a sport falls off exponentially with the amount of time we have to pay attention to it to follow the action. Soccer is an affront to the average american's attention span. If you can go make a sandwich and not miss anything... why bother?
Five seconds
5-8 seconds
40 seconds
Couple minutes
Ages and ages
Hard to imagine Soccer being big in the US.
BS. The strategy in football and baseball involve thinking. People like to think what the next play should be. People try to manage and coach in their heads. The true fans anyway. Soccor doesn't really have that. Sure, there are plays drawn up, but not nearly on the football and baseball scale.
plays are created by the players in split seconds...only set plays require coaching...the rest is pure imagination, vision, and skill. I say that is more impressive than systematic plays that can be predicted.
The reason why AMERICAN FOOTBALL comes out to be more exciting than SOCCER... THis is exactly why countries that start adopting AMERICAN FOOTBALL (i.e. Japan, Taiwan, etc) enjoy it
First of all, football has SHORT TERM GOALS. There is the first down. Then there is a longer goal, the touchdown. Every snap has the potential for a 60 yard pass or a rushing touchdown. You know when it starts when it ends and you never know what play they'll run. This element keeps fans screaming because they want to achieve a short term goal, the first down while aiming for the long term goal, the touchdown.
Basketball has a short term goal, the basket. Why do you think fans are on their feet all the time? Every basket is like a completed pass in football. That is why people cheer every few seconds. The long term goal is to dominate the quarter.
Soccer has a goal, it is the goal. It may happen once a game, 3 - 4 times a game, or even never. The bottom line is plays happen out of nowhere and it requirse you to keep your eyes peeled and staring at no action most of the time. Imagine an American football game where the winning team wins 3-0 with a field goal. Most of the time you're driving and failing passes so you punt. How fun is that? I'll tell you certain games like the Cal Oregon game was exciting because Cal was getting punt returns and insane interceptions and lots of passing touchdowns. When your QB is struggling though and neither team is scoring and offense/defenses are choking, how fun is that? This is the same. Every time you take the soccer ball and you drive it down to the goal and you can't take a shot, it's like a football team unable to get a first down and having to punt it and give up posession. How fun are those football games when neither team can score?
Most of the time in soccer you're going back and forth with a minimal chance of scoring. Same with hockey.
Why do you think hockey viewership and soccer viewership = so low? I fell asleep during the NHL finals and I only woke up when they presented the Stanley Cup. Who the hell cares.
Baseball may be boring because scoring rarely happens too, but its not that boring. Why? There's a short term goal. Hit the damn ball. So there's a pause and there's a pitch. You expect something every pitch, and thus there is excitement and anticipation. You never know. There can be a strike, a home run, a double, a foul, anything...
Soccer is a great sport, don't get me wrong, but I'll take a college football game over ANY soccer game ANY DAY. The way you jump up and down on defense and clap your hands for 3rd downs and yell across the stadium goinig "GO" "BEARS" just beats the atmosphere of any other sporting game. Why do you think superbowl = biggest TV viewership?
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