Why Americans Hate Soccer
At first glance it’s incredible that soccer– the most popular youth sport in the United States, and a sport whose worldwide audience dwarfs every other sport including basketball and American football combined– receives so little coverage. Without careful attention to ESPN’s secondary channel (usually devoted to poker, bass fishing, and bowling) you would never know that the World Cup– the most popular sporting event in the world– was making its once-every-four-years appearance. But it only takes a few conversations (or a little time listening to pinhead’s like ESPN’s Colin Cowherd to figure out why:
- Low Scoring. Americans will piss themselves when a pitcher manages a no-hitter and they’ll praise the low-scoring defensive games in American football as “good old fashioned teamwork” (and Canadians love their hockey), but the same thing happens on the soccer pitch and they are flummoxed. What would most football games look like if touchdowns were worth just one point apiece instead of 7? 2-1, 3-2, etc… are we just that bad at math?
- Subtlety. I’m a fan of basketball and American football. They are much more complex than they look. Soccer is at least as complex as either, but it lacks the shallow level of obvious spectacle that veneers these quintessentially American sports. Clearly Americans are capable of understanding this (after all, baseball is very siilar in this respect, the athletes are just fatter and slower) but they choose not to for other reasons to come…
- It’s Un-American. And I don’t mean this in the common, Imperialist/racist senses (though that plays a part sometimes), but in the sense that America has no claims to have significantly changed the nature of the sport… it hasn’t been embraced, extended, or adapted by America– we don’t own it, so we don’t like it.
- America Just Isn’t Very Good at It. It’s highly unlikely that Team USA will advance out of the initial round of group play and this year’s team is more talented than the 2002 team which stunned everyone around the world by making it to the quarterfinals. We could be more competitive if there were any national desire to do so, just as we have become dominant in many other sports– we have the money and the population to do so– but it’s highly unlikely to happen given soccer’s relative subtlety.
I also have to note the ridiculousness of the constant claims that soccer fans are elitist. Some of them are, just as fans of every sport can be exclusionary. But the reality here isn’t elitism, but Ugly American attitudes towards the game. Why else would we insist on renaming a sport much older than any of our own? Why else do we balk at using the right terminology (it’s not a field, it’s a pitch; they aren’t cleats, they are boots) when referring to the game. When a soccer fan mentions these things they are branded elitist, while any American sports fan would immediately correct you if you tried to call a touchdown a try, or otherwise misapply terms. Who’s really the elitist here?
June 17th, 2006 at 10:32 am
I would add some other reasons why Americans hate soccer:
1. Not shown enough. It’s the same reason why Europe (except England) hate cricket. It is just not on TV enough. People don’t know the rules, scoring, and then it becomes very borring and complicated. Same thing is with baseball in Europe. Why wouldn’t baseball be popular in Europe? It’s popular in Japan.
2. No comercial breaks. There are no breaks for the big companies. They think there is more exposure and more money can be made in basketball, soccer, football. There is no mandatory time outs. American football actual play time is 60 min (soccer play time is 90 min), but broadcast lasts 2.5 – 3 hrs. So, about 2 hours we are watching comercials. How can that be compared with 15 min half time break in soccer?
June 19th, 2006 at 5:16 pm
Fair enough (Oedipa noted the same thing in another comment)– and #1 is a direct result of #2.
Makes more sense than most of the other arguments I’ve heard. One of my favorites: the restriction against using one’s hands/arms is unfair and unsporting
June 26th, 2006 at 5:56 pm
Why do Americans call “American football” that? You don’t ever use your foot except to kick the ball between the two pronged shaped thing. For most of the game you use every part of your body except your foot, and it’s called “football”. Jeez…
June 27th, 2006 at 4:10 pm
You need to love football. Everybody do, only you are crazy but ESPN is broadcasting the greatest event in the World as they do the same thing with the Champions League.
June 27th, 2006 at 8:37 pm
I imagine it would be the same in the US as in Australia. We have high contact sports (Australian Football and both codes of Rugby). To me soccer is just a bunch of skinny blokes running around and rolling on the ground in agony when they aint even been touched. In Rugby of Footy if you did that you would get booed off the field, same for Australian Football. Hell, I was at the Collingwood v Brisbane (AFL) game this year when Blake Caracella got cleaned up and he was given a an absolute spray from the crowd at the MCG. It was later revealed he’d fractured his neck and bruised his spinal cord. Someone as tough as that would never play soccer.
June 29th, 2006 at 4:49 pm
I’m a European who’s lived 5 years in the US and I must say I never quite got into watching US football… It is so boring to watch on tv, you basically watch advertising! Very little action out of these 60 minutes of play and these are diluted over 2 to 3 hours !
Football (’soccer’) just is more intense and intensive! An hour and a half of pure action with a 15 minute break, just so you can go take a leak! Perfect for watching on tv without getting bored ! Well, for a “Euro”, at least…
One other thing, it really pisses me off you renamed a game the rest of the world has allways known as “football” into “soccer”. I’m sure the name itself (reminescent of the term “sucker”) has a lot to do with the feeling US citizens have towards a sport that is often called “gay”, “for girls”, “for pussies”… This allways makes me laugh out loud as to me, “american football” seems like a very softened version of rugby, a “pussy” version of rugby, rugby for girls… A bunch of queers wearing a helmet and pads and having breaks in the game every 30 seconds to 2 minutes, just to be sure everyone can rest and no one got hurt… When I lived in Atlanta, I tried to play “US football” a couple of times in the backyards of friends… I didn’t understand the rules very well. I do remember trying to teach them a much simpler game, rugby, the way we played it at school and backyards in Europe…Nobody liked it, they allways tought it was too violent and tiring…
Just to add up to the confusion you created, I think the rest of the world should agree on renaming “American football” to “soccer”… So any non-US reading this site, hear my invitation: “American football” is too long to pronounce and type…It’s even pretty wrong as for more than half of the american continent football is what the US calls “soccer”…. Calling “US football’ just “Football” simply isn’t possible, the name is taken. So let’s call it “soccer”, shall we ? Don’t you think it’s a nice name for a softened version of rugby ?
No offense to anyone, just my opinion: it sucks you changed the name of the World’s greatest and most loved sports.
June 30th, 2006 at 1:28 am
That’s why rest of the world hates America
June 30th, 2006 at 5:46 am
Could be part of it…
I’m not sure tough… I think it illustrates once again that the USA is very different than the rest of the world, in the sense that they don’t have the same passions as the rest of us.
The way they are trying to impose the name “soccer” via the medias (like Nike advertisings during this World Cup… they know damn well that “soccer” is the name given to the sport by the only country of this planet NOT interested and still they use it for the rest of us…) might actually remind some people of the tendency the USA has of imposing it’s will to the rest of the world rather than opening a dialogue… You know the wars I’m refering to…
Then again, myself I can’t say I hate America… For one there is a lot of people in America that live outside the USA. Also I have many US friends. It’s their government and especially their international politics I don’t like. But “hating americans” is a bit excessive. I think many europeans have preconceived ideas on the US people, but that’s because they only know them via movies or short hollydays. If they all lived there a couple of months to a couple of year, they’d probably change their mind and realise all the good stuff there is in the USA.
Mind you, the same goes the other way around. If US citizens travelled and lived a while in Europe, they’d see us differently too.
In any cases, I still dislike football being called soccer and think soccer as a name suits “american football” better…
July 1st, 2006 at 4:39 am
if u cant make an appropriate comparison between different sports then why the hell are you trying to ,you have just made yourself sound like an idiot.When are all you people (Americans) going to wake up and be part of the REAL world in regards to FOOTBALL (its not soccer-never has been) instead of living in your own little…. American world.oh and as for boring sports lets not get started, the rest of the real world dosent have interest in american sports (NFL,Baseball,Hockey etc.) for the obvious reasons,i forgot americans still dont get it,sorry never will get it because they live in their own little world,and as for comparing physical sports like rugby or AFL to Football there is no comparison the sports are totally different so im cofused as to how there can be any comparison.
July 3rd, 2006 at 3:15 am
One more reason: the best soccer in the world is played in countries most Americans could not locate on a map, with players whose names they would have difficulty pronouncing.
Same reason Americans do not care about Grand Prix or Moto GP: “if it don’t say Chevy on the side, its bad, boring, elitist, etc.”
July 3rd, 2006 at 7:40 am
For the record, I hate the word “soccer” too. I noted in my original post how arrogant it is to rename a word (and that’s not the only one), particularly given that we are in no way a majority of soccer fans nor a powerhouse in the sport.
BUT, it is hard to get rid of a word one has been raised with for so long, and when I use the term “football” with a primarily American audience it causes a ton of confusion. I can say American Football and they understand. But if I just say “football” they assume American Football. Saying “non-american football” just seems silly
July 3rd, 2006 at 11:12 am
Can’t you locate England, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Spain, South Africa, Italy, Germany, etc, etc?? You should be quite ignorant, shouldn’t you?
Take care and be more respectful,
Daniel
PS: By the way, I don’t think ‘Americans’ hate soccer.
July 3rd, 2006 at 11:13 am
Well, soccer was invented many time ago by some people here (in the US) in a University (or universities) coplex. Some people started to play the greatest and most popular game. I am not pretty sure if that was in the USA or Great Britain. By the way, it is another name for football such as calcio, futebol, futbol. La esencia es la misma y eso es lo que cuenta.
Take care,
Daniel
July 9th, 2006 at 7:46 am
You are partially right about American football. There is alot of standining round, waiting for plays, the referres, commercials, etc. I get sick of nothing going on for a good portion of the game. But don’t think for a minute that bunch of guys jogging some, running some, walking some, endlessly going back and forth, is pure action, as in “soccer.” You would probably say that two people jogging for exercsise is action, and would be willing to take a chair out and watch them doing it. American football has more direct contact, is more violent (not talking about the burning down of stadiums by the fans), is more complex in terms of strategy (compare the playbook with a “soccer” playbook, if there is such a thing. As you pointed out yourself, you didn’t understand the rules very well. Could it be that you understand “soccer” and appreciate it because it is easy to like, but do not like “football” because it requires some effort to learn? It has been a ritual in America that husbands spend countless hours explaining to their wives what is going on in a “football game.” Does that occur with “soccer?” Anything worth a damn requires some effort in learning it.
As for Americans changing the name… You mean to tell me that the whole world is upset because of what the Americans call your beloved sport? Why would anyone care? And do not think for a minute that anyone in America would care what non Americans called their game.
One last point… Some people say that “soccer” does not catch on in America because the national team sucks, and that there is no time for advertisement on tv. Not true on both counts. The national team could go to the WC finals, and noone in America would hardly give a rats ass. And advertisement happens when the company believes there is an audience to target. The audience does not come to the event because there is advertisement. Corporations do not determine the popularity of the sport; the fan base ultimately does. Should “soccer” ever catch on in America to the point where corporations thought that they could make some real money, they would come up with some way to advertise on the screen while the match is in progress.
July 9th, 2006 at 9:20 am
Football has also a lot of rules and it is more difficult to play than ‘Northamerican’ Football.
You must care a lot. Americans must recognize the most important sport in the World. That is a fact. We also explain ‘our’ wives or girlfriends what’s going on the pitch and it is not only running we need special skills to play it.
They must think about it. Thanks,
Daniel
July 10th, 2006 at 8:36 am
It looks like this argument ended a few days ago, but I wanted to throw in my two cents as well. Forgive me for calling it “soccer”, but when you grow up learning that the color green is green, you’re always going to call it green no matter how many people try to tell you that it should be blue. Make sense? I didn’t decide to call it soccer, someone who is probably long dead decided that a long time ago. Also, trust me, not every average American hates soccer. I myself do not care for the sport, but that doesn’t make it any less a sport. I’ve had plenty of people try to convince me that it’s a great sport, but I just don’t agree. It obviously takes skill and athleticism in order to play it at the level that the guys in the World Cup do. Even though I don’t like the sport, I thought that maybe I should watch the championship match of the World Cup since there are so many people who do like it. I tried to be as open minded about it as I could, but I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed. I was just surprised that it ended up being decided by taking turns kicking the ball into a practically open goal. Maybe they should back up about 20 more feet (about 6 meters) when they do a shootout like that. Just seems like if a game is going to be decided that way, it should be a little more difficult to do it, but then I’m a ignorant American who just doesn’t understand the game, I guess.
July 27th, 2006 at 3:18 pm
Davo…..AMEN TO THAT!!!!!
August 15th, 2006 at 5:05 am
iv just come across this ‘chat’ and as an English man would like to clear one or two things thing up, that is if any one is actually bothered about letting a small thing like truth spoiling a perfectly good argument. Soccer is actually an abbreviation of ‘association rules football’ as in the ‘Football Association of England(the FA), the original and remaining governing body that rules over England’s football leagues from amature/ junior level all the way up to the professional ballet dancing of the premier league. Now you may ask why such a nickname is required and how and why it has remained, well there are also other ‘codes’ of football originating from the same source as ’soccer’ ie rugby, which some time referred to in this country as ‘rugger’ an abbreviation of ‘Rugby Football Rules’. the two nicknames of rugger and soccer were first used to easily distinguish between the two codes way back in the mid part of the 19th century when their well documented ’split’ was facilitated by the University ‘old boys’ (students and ex students) that originally drew up their respective rules. Now if you consider international variations upon these codes that have been created, read Gridiron/American/north american football, Gaelic football, Australian rules football etc, it may well be explained as to why everyone endears their version with the same name! having said that it is quite obvious that ‘Soccer’ Is The original and therefor has greater claim (if any) to the name Football. and now for my next trick….world peace…..
August 31st, 2006 at 7:59 am
Daniel if you claim to know so much about football (i am english) then why do you think it was invented in u.s.a it was in england u dumb ass ………the reason america hates footy is cos their shit at it and don’t know what offside is i bet all americans don’t know where chelsea is or manchester or arsenal i don’t know shit about american football and i don’t care americans don’t try bother 2 understand it
LEDDS . UNITED . 4 . LIFE
August 31st, 2006 at 8:00 am
Daniel if you claim to know so much about football (i am english) then why do you think it was invented in u.s.a it was in england u dumb ass ………the reason america hates footy is cos their shit at it and don’t know what offside is i bet all americans don’t know where chelsea is or manchester or arsenal i don’t know shit about american football and i don’t care americans don’t try bother 2 understand it
LEEDS . UNITED . 4 . LIFE
September 1st, 2006 at 8:54 am
well lets get 1 thing right amreican football is rugby in armour and that in footy n rugby u havve 2 work for the full 90 – 80 mins u dnt stop for a lil tea break etc and as the guy in greenstreet (its a film watch u amrecans mite learn sumfin bout foorbal and the hooligains ) says baseball if he can throw a ball at 90 mph means he can jus ave a wank faster but u try shootin from 30 yards out with power n accuacry n then tell mi if football a pussy game. next we come to the fans of football if u didn no england have a sense of pride in football as shown in many world cups we wud fite for our country and club 2 prove a point we many onot always be the best fans for the poilce etc but we r the best for our country our natiaonal anthen wud ave bin sung in every pub house who was watchin it wud it happen in amrecan football not because only amercan play it. n another y does amceraca have world series if they only play it im sure tht if it was world series other counties wud play it. Rugby another sprot tht put it 2 shame wen u get clacked u can feel it if i was wear a hemlemt n sum massive body armour it wudnt feel the same n then stoppin 2 recover how sads tht ave they gt no stamia tn there aload of sted heads (steroids) which is illage in all sports over here.
LOVE UNTIED HATE GALZER
WATCH THESE FILMS GREENSTREET FOOTBALL FACTORY MEAN MACHINE (WHICH AMERICAN FOOTBALL ALSO COPIED IN LONGEST YARD ) IF U WATCH THESE FILMS U WILL LEARN WHAT THE PASSION IS ALL ABOUT !!!!!
September 8th, 2006 at 10:31 pm
Firstly, be more respectful and educated before talking or writing, then we can talk or PLAY football (soccer o whatever you want to call it) whenever you want, especially indoors or ‘futsal’. Please, don’t hesitate to contact me.
It is not my problem if Northamericans like or don’t like the most important, popular and beautiful sport (game) on Earth.
Leeds siempre la casco y Uds. parieron ante el seleccionado de uno mi paises (supuestamente inferior) en el Mundial 06 y Becks tuvo que resolver todo. Por algo juega en el Madrid. You must thank God that Cole could block ( a little bit, no more ) the shut of ‘Carlitos’ Tenorio, otherwise Ecuador could have won such a game. Luego ya todos sabemos lo que paso con Inglaterra en cuartos (como casi siempre). Keep playing and trying to win the World Cup for a second time and the EuroCup for the first time in your whole life.
Sincerely,
Mr. Alfredo Daniel Jacome
PS: I am sorry, as far as Football WAS invented in England. Even though in Central America some kind of the game had been already played.
September 16th, 2006 at 8:57 pm
To tell all u americans who call football (soccer) and hate football the truth. you are a bunch or shit heads and you are a shame to the rest of the planet. how can u belive that playing a hand game that stops and starts every 30 seconds a sport. u use your hands and using hands , i find this very feminine. this cannot be called a mans game, no one and i mean no one gives a fuck about the american game with that oval ball that u use your hands to play. its childish and i dont want guys rubbing up on me and calling it contact. i prefer rugby because that is a real mans sport, football is a real mans sport. these sports take creativity, fitness and quick thinking to become good at, football is a universal language and this sport can even stop wars. american football would lead to the distruction of the world. men of religion and many great men in history played this sport with their hearts and would give their life just to play a game.that hand game u love so much in america that uses all kinds of shitty equipment makes no fucking sence i would prefer to get exited watching paint dry than to waste minutes of my life trying to watch that shit.fuck off and this squashes all the shitty replies you can think of.
September 22nd, 2006 at 3:27 pm
Why does anyone care? If Americans don’t ‘get’ football then it’s their loss. Maybe it’s ignorance, or more probably it’s just a case of Americans being quite happy with their lot, and don’t need yet another game that they can’t relate to. It would simply clutter an already busy sporting marketplace.
To me it’s the greatest game on earth, it’s a game you can easily play (you only need a ball) and is easily understood…well the basics at least. It’s true, you do get boring matches, but a 9-0 game is not necessarily as exciting as a 0-0 draw. Goals are not the be all and end all, it all depends on how the game is played rather than the amount of goals that are scored.
Football can be beautiful, yet understated. The purity of the original laws have generally been preserved, and it’s game where the culture of the people that play it can be expressed.
From what I’ve seen of U.S Sports, they’re forced and lack passion.
Anyway gotta go
October 23rd, 2006 at 6:13 am
Well, the reason Americans don’t like soccer is because:
1) It’s a fucking snoozefest to watch
2) You can’t appreciate the pure athleticism of the players during the game
October 23rd, 2006 at 6:24 am
as easily as you can with a dunk in basketball, or T.O. hauling in an incredily touchdown pass or a 500″ home run in baseball. On TV, to the uninformed observer (which is most of the US viewing public), soccer looks like a bunch of guys running around on a field kicking a ball. If you haven’t played the game, or developed an appreciateion for it, there isn’t the “wow” factor that there is in other sports.
Also, if Americans aren’t the biggest or the best at something, they really don’t care about it Call it what you will, but it’s the reality in the US.
November 17th, 2006 at 7:53 am
Hahaha
December 11th, 2006 at 8:05 am
Well I’m from Bermuda, where the people here love both soccer and cricket… but not me. I hate the sport, its boring as hell. All of my friends love it, (One of them even play on a local team), but i just can’t watch it. It takes too long for people to score sometimes. Basketball is much more exciting as players are CONSTANTLY scoring. Even American football is more exciting with the tackles, touchdowns and such. Soccer is a bunch of guys passing a ball to one another trying to show off some skills, before heading back the other way because they missed, and on TV its even more boring! I once went to a game during a school trip in Barcelona and honestly fell asleep! I guess its just me… sometimes I credit myself as being American. Honestly, I think that Americans are the only ones who have realized that soccer just ’soccs’.
January 11th, 2007 at 10:09 am
Although i love football(the original) i can understand why americans fail to catch on. You have to look at the american players produced they are like machines they have power, pace, decent touch and passing skills, but they lack any invention or creativity. From what I have seen of MLS it is exactly the same. Even though i only play sunday league, players still have the invention, although not the application. The ablity to create is what makes football beautiful (to play or watch) and when the americans watch there version(US team or MLS) there seems to be lack of this.
January 16th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
I´m from Brazil and i love football (soccer), i simply couldn´t live without watch and play it.
To me the reason that Americans still don´t appreciate football is the lack of interest. For example, we can´t appreciate american football just for watching it, to us it will be only a bunch of guys tackling each other and stopping each 30 seconds, we must understand what is happening to see what makes the game special. But why that lack of interest? To me it´s a cultural question. It was not invented by them, it´s something that came from other continent. The same happens in the Formula 1, they created their own IRL, Nascar and etc.. , something similar but created by americans , with soccer they can´t do it … would be ridiculous.
Anyway football rules ,
Octávio
January 23rd, 2007 at 3:05 pm
It’s not an ownership issue. The U.S. just did not appear out of nowhere. Many ideas and materials were brought from all across Europe, then later, the world.
Saying we don’t like it simply ’cause it’s not “ours” is only fooling youself.
NFL is quite established. It’s a big business. Baseball may be “America’s pastime”, but AFootball is the main course of the day. Thanks to companies, marketing, endorsements, etc. even the least informed person can have a say (such as myself!), but yet, can’t play.
There are no famous soccer stadiums, so no hands are reaching into the cookie jar, yet. The women’s soccer team is a force to reckoned with, but they won’t get the publicity they earned.
tl;dr – read steady’s reply. It’s the basics of basics when talking about the beauty of the (supposedly) most basic of basic sports.
February 1st, 2007 at 5:16 pm
Those who hate it probably do so because they don’t understand — or care to understand — or appreciate the skill and endurance needed to play in a 90-minute game (I mean, match). Also, a lot of Americans find “soccer” kind of boring because there isn’t enough scoring (i.e., goals scored). Soccer is oftentimes viewed as a recreational sport that kids and teens play after school.
I am American and soccer is my favorite sport (I do call it football but will use “soccer” here to avoid any confusion). I have to say, despite all that is said about the US by international sports media, there is a sizeable minority of us Stateside who watch the EPL, La Liga, Serie A, etc, and Champions League (WC, too, of course).
Although the US has a long way to go in improving the level of soccer here, we have made some strides since the 1994 World Cup. The MLS, our domestic soccer league, is still surviving — we have Beckham now, but probably don’t deserve him — and several of our American players are scoring goals in the EPL. The US National team made it to the quarter finals of the 2002 World Cup, so we must be doing something right! Soccer may never be the most popular sport in the US — and never correctly referred to by its proper name — but, believe me, public awareness of the sport in America is slowly growing each year.
February 6th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
soccer is a sport for pussies. Sumone said in a earlier comment football is a pussy way of rugby, lets see u come to America and ill show you who the pussy is. Soccer is a sport u hardly have to train for or practice, football u actually have to work hard, u have to lift weights, run plays and condition, i see a bunch of soccer players who have biceps smaller than my wrists cuz in soccer u dont need strength, all u have to do is kick a ball around woo hoo! real hard. I hear alot of soccer players who have never played football (i have played the sport of soccer before) talk about how we have shoulder pads and helmets so were pussies, i wanna see someone run full speed down the field and someone else coming at them full speed get hit blind sided and lets see if u can get up on your own (the pads are there for a reason). Hockey wears shoulder pads and helmets people dont say anything about that. i would not go to a soccer game for free and i definately would not pay money to watch such a boring sport.
February 25th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
American’s don’t. Youth soccer is on the rise, go out and look at a public park. Soccer is exploding in America.. they don’t hate it.
Nike Soccer Cleats
February 28th, 2007 at 9:26 am
Quite matt u foolish american, all sports u americans have – (american football, baseball, basketball, ice hockey) are garbage variation sports which are just copys of our great english sports of football, cricket and rugby. If you dont like our english football, what do we care boy? carry on playing your inferior (commercial infested) crap sports, we just dont care…
February 28th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
Matt you are the kind of people that the world hates they all talk about us being ignorant and you just make that claim true. Now, just because i dont like the sport doesnt mean I cant respect it. Not playing it at a higher level than the youth league you cannot really appreciate the skill and strategy that goes into a game like football (both the world’s version and the US version) Just because it looks like ot much is going on doesnt mean that nothing is happening. Because a team is stopped in american football it means that they are setting up a play, a strategic move against the other team. In the world’s football you slow down the pace of play to analyze the defense and react with a play of their own. Its the same thing. I prefer american football because I played it for about 11 years and I understand the subtle complexities of the game and the hard work and determination that the professionals have to go through to achieve greatness. I appreciate the blows that the runningbacks and quarterbacks recieve from linebackers, I enjoy watching a team with a breakout player like LT or devon hester being able to turn plays that look like nothing into huge gains. If I watched more of the world’s football I might have been more into it, but im happy with what I have thank you. Please people from around the world who dont like american football dont talk bad about it unless you really understand it. I dont talk bad about your sport because i know i just dont have enough experience to understand it. Just because a few ignorant people from my country talk bad doesnt mean we all hate it. But, remember that you are as ignorant as they are if you talk without any experience on your subject, dont let yourself think youre better just because youre not american.
March 4th, 2007 at 6:22 am
I have a question to anyone who understands (US)football.Why is it called football if you use your hands mostly?
Please reply.
March 4th, 2007 at 6:25 am
I have a question to anyone who understands (US)football.Why is it called football if you use your hands mostly?
Please reply.
Personally I think basketball is the most interesting american sport.
March 4th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Black magic im from london, and in answer to your question, fuck knows
March 8th, 2007 at 5:01 am
Although it’s not really an answer to the question, surely it’s the same reason Rugby Football, Australian Rules Football, Gaelic Football and the myriad of other games called “football” that rely heavily on hands are…
April 10th, 2007 at 3:48 am
Soccer sucks period ! All you Europeans and South Americans couldn’t recognize a real sport if it hit you in the face. You are just a big bunch of foot ferries running around the field playing with with your ugly feet. Baseball , American Football and Rugby are for real men. No one in The U.S. Canada or Australia really care about your ass wipe sport called SOCCER… no matter what it’s called… Now everyone here shut up and go back to playing your wimp sport… I mean SOCCER !
April 27th, 2007 at 9:04 am
all you dumb americans face facts.
football/soccer is bigger than all of your shitty sports put together.
it is the world’s game !
jason,
I hate your guts.
I hope you get blown up by a suicide-bomber !
August 27th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
your right we don’t even some of us can get harassed because we like it soccer better
September 19th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
I thought because they are so poor in skill and too much selfish of their richy in football of america. I try to say is: they attention only their traditional. Not international. Because, Just the way I said before setence, If they can’t beat, they bully with undercover methods (Ivy).
November 12th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
The most logical explanation I heard so far on
why football (I’m not not calling it soccer) hasn’t caught on in the USA
is that
everywhere,
just about everywhere in the world it is
the game of the working class. (which, of course, constitutes the majority of population in any country).
Predominantly working class players, working class spectators.
It has a good steet-cred – let’s put it that way.
That’s why you don’t see any tennis hooligans.
In America, however, the sport being relatively new
(and new things always get picked up by higher classes first)
, it is played mostly by white middle-class kids (not counting immigrants).
And thus called a “sport for sissies”.
November 23rd, 2007 at 5:43 am
Does anyone here even realize that the word soccer comes from England? Comes from the slang term for it (association football–assoc) years ago…
Americans only didn’t call it football as well because by the time it caught on in America, football (American) leagues were already established. It’s about branding and what people originally became accustomed to. It’s really just that; not about Americans hating soccer, having to be different, or impose their ways on others. It certainly wouldn’t have been Nike’s intention to impose the name “soccer” globally…why would it?…they wouldn’t make money that way. If anything, it had to do w/ poor marketing…
I wouldn’t get so hot and bothered over this. If you enjoy the sport and if another country doesn’t, who cares? There are numerous examples of this worldwide; not just in the case of America.
January 25th, 2008 at 4:04 am
kwanzaa…
It is tiresome trying to number the hours we\’ve used up searching for balloon kwanzaa info….
October 31st, 2008 at 10:59 am
Ciekawy post, dodalem twoj blog do ulubionych, bede tu teraz wpadal czesciej, pozdrawiam
December 12th, 2008 at 11:19 am
1 i am from england(toon toon black n white army )
2 there is no need for america bashing
some 1 said in nfl you actually have to practice what do you think you have to do in “soccer” there is no way you can just start kicking a ball and become absolutely brilliant it takes years and years of practise to even get to an average level
some1 also said there is no strategy wrong just cause a coach doesnt tell you your exact move does not mean there is no strategy it just means you have to figure it out for yourself
also why do america have to like “soccer” its their decision and criticizing them for not liking the sport isnt exactly helping
soccer is the worlds game so who cares if america does or does not like it for goodness sake there are more people in fifa than what there are in the u.n what more do ya want
also people are quick to point out the hbooligans in our sport (which is condemned)
they fail to realise the good sport has done fifa and the epl (not sure about any of the other leagues?)do a heck of a lot for charity which imo outways the small majority of hooligans
December 26th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
heres to the dumb americans that dont get FOOTBALL.
football is a game determined by rules ,hence the not knocking the crap out of each other.
it demands a mental discipline like most sports
constant intimidation demands control.
calling it a girly sport only highlights american ignorance,but hey, theve always got there world serious.oh ma sides