[QUOTE=max;249595]This is all manufactured hype. I agree with most of the board that the overpriced Beckham will be long forgotten by the time NFL exhibition season starts. Both Beckham and his wife are washed up has beens that I (and most people I talk to) don’t care to hear about. If the soccer world is getting hyped about a “crowd” of 27,000 fans, I just have to laugh. The NFL and college football draws 60,00-100,000 everynight…without all the hype. S
Sadly, the US is becoming a bunch of sheep who will follow anything hype that they are herded to watch, but not even this is going to force Americans to watch a boring soccer match regularly…sorry.[/QUOTE]
LOL, so you are picking on this game for selling out the Home Depot Center. I bet you a $100 that this game could have sold between 60,00-100,000 if played in a stadium of that capacity. Also, the stars were there, I saw KG, Gov. Arnold and Wife, etc., etc. It almost seemed like an all-star type of event for the NBA or MLB.
I think the real point, however, is that COULD it have sold out a 60-100k seat stadium, for a game vs. Chelsea? Yes, it COULD have. However, it did not.
COULD the Galaxy sell 60,000 seats to a regular season match with (insert crappy MLS team here)? No, no they could not. And therein lies the entire crux of the argument. On most Sundays in the fall, teams are putting 60,000 people in the stands for NFL games. That is not going to happen with any regularity across the MLS.
The reasons people in the US perceive soccer to be soft are as follows:
You can’t use your hands.
The flopping and overacting of fouls by the players.
Americans look at soccer as European, and right or wrong, many Americans look at Eurpoeans as soft.
In High School soccer is played the same season as football, so if you don’t play football a “tough” sport, you settle for soccer a “not as tough” sport.
LOL…another soccer thread were people who dont like soccer feel the need to chime in to tell why they think the sport sucks. Amazing how soccer has the ability to bring out the people who feel the need to let everyone know how bad they hate a particular sport.
Guess what…I hate golf…cant stand it. Cant play it for ****…and think it is the most boring thing that could ever grace my tv. But I never…ever…go around telling golf fans how bad I think their sport sucks. Mainly due to the fact that I’m not an arrogant jerk who thinks everyone needs to hear my opinion. Never understood why soccer haters feel they need to be so vocal about it.
Anyway…as for Beckham. I thought the Beckham cam was annoying as hell…but mainly cause it took away time to watch Chelsea school the hell out of LA. Chelsea was in preseason form and they ran circles around LA. If they were to play in 2 months…Chelsea would have blown them out of the park.
Beckham wont have a huge impact on the non soccer American sports fan. He will draw some fans to the sport. But it wont be a mass conversion putting soccer in the one of the big 3 sports in America. Where Beckham will have the most impact is on the youth game. He wants to grow the sport at the youth level…which is something that it needs very bad in America. He will help raise a generation of kids who love soccer and are being taught by world class coaches. That is were I am most excited to see his impact.
..but mainly cause it took away time to watch Chelsea school the hell out of LA. Chelsea was in preseason form and they ran circles around LA.
If they were to play in 2 months…Chelsea would have blown them out of the park.
OK see I dont understand this… Chelsea won 1-0, right? I’m pretty sure that was the score. How is that “schooling the hell out of them.” If we beat Maryland 74 to 70, I’m not going to go tell my Terp friends that we schooled the hell out of them. I know soccer is different, but in a one to nothing game, the other team is one kick away from a tie, if you are schooling them, you should be up pretty big.
Not talking trash about the sport, just something I was wondering about.
As for the second comment about the blowout, what is a blowout in soccer? 2-0? 3-0?
[QUOTE=Chisox17;249859]OK see I dont understand this… Chelsea won 1-0, right? I’m pretty sure that was the score. How is that “schooling the hell out of them.” If we beat Maryland 74 to 70, I’m not going to go tell my Terp friends that we schooled the hell out of them. I know soccer is different, but in a one to nothing game, the other team is one kick away from a tie, if you are schooling them, you should be up pretty big.
Not talking trash about the sport, just something I was wondering about.
As for the second comment about the blowout, what is a blowout in soccer? 2-0? 3-0?[/QUOTE]
Soccer is more than putting the ball in the back of the net. Chelsea passed the ball all over the field on LA. Made them look silly at times. Could have easily been 2 or 3 to nothing.
Your comparision to basketball is a bad one…mainly due to the fact that it is FAR easier to score a basket than a goal. You can totally dominate a soccer game…and still only win by a goal.
This is one of the reasons soccer suffers in America. Americans dont appreciate build up in sports. The 6 or seven passes to set up a shot on goal go unnoticed in America. It hurts other sports as well. The average basketball fan doesnt want to see nice…fundamental team basketball. Pick and rolls…high ball screens. They just want to see guys dunking the ball. Its all about the pay off in America…but it dilutes the product in the mean time.
Soccer is more than putting the ball in the back of the net. Chelsea passed the ball all over the field on LA. Made them look silly at times. Could have easily been 2 or 3 to nothing.
Your comparision to basketball is a bad one…mainly due to the fact that it is FAR easier to score a basket than a goal. You can totally dominate a soccer game…and still only win by a goal.
This is one of the reasons soccer suffers in America. Americans dont appreciate build up in sports. The 6 or seven passes to set up a shot on goal go unnoticed in America. It hurts other sports as well. The average basketball fan doesnt want to see nice…fundamental team basketball. Pick and rolls…high ball screens. They just want to see guys dunking the ball. Its all about the pay off in America…but it dilutes the product in the mean time.
EXACTLY… I understand people are ADD as hell in the US, but if you’re a basketball fan and actually appreciate set plays then think of soccer as a set play strung out over 100 yards. To most it looks as if they’re just kicking it back and forth but you would really be surprised at the level of communication involved. Then again it may be hard for some to fathom if your a 49er basketball fan, b/c that is something severly lacking.
Like Cass said, domination is not always in favor of the score in soccer, time of possession, and being down on someone’s side of the field for 75% of the game like Chelsea was is a better factor.
You want to know painful blowouts. Soccer was not big in my county thus our HS team (that I played on sucked until my senior year), but the surrounding counties were insane. In my district of 7 teams the top 3 in my district all made it to the state final 4… I’ll say it again 3 of the 4 best teams in my classification in VA were in my district and we would play them twice. Until we became respectable my senior year it was not far fetched to be beaten 8-0, 10-0, 14-1, etc. Depended on how much mercy they had. Many of these guys would go on to play D-1 at UVA, Wake, etc.
[QUOTE=casstommy;249853]LOL…another soccer thread were people who dont like soccer feel the need to chime in to tell why they think the sport sucks. Amazing how soccer has the ability to bring out the people who feel the need to let everyone know how bad they hate a particular sport.
Guess what…I hate golf…cant stand it. Cant play it for ****…and think it is the most boring thing that could ever grace my tv. But I never…ever…go around telling golf fans how bad I think their sport sucks. Mainly due to the fact that I’m not an arrogant jerk who thinks everyone needs to hear my opinion. Never understood why soccer haters feel they need to be so vocal about it.
Anyway…as for Beckham. I thought the Beckham cam was annoying as hell…but mainly cause it took away time to watch Chelsea school the hell out of LA. Chelsea was in preseason form and they ran circles around LA. If they were to play in 2 months…Chelsea would have blown them out of the park.
Beckham wont have a huge impact on the non soccer American sports fan. He will draw some fans to the sport. But it wont be a mass conversion putting soccer in the one of the big 3 sports in America. Where Beckham will have the most impact is on the youth game. He wants to grow the sport at the youth level…which is something that it needs very bad in America. He will help raise a generation of kids who love soccer and are being taught by world class coaches. That is were I am most excited to see his impact.[/QUOTE]
Its not a soccer sucks because thread, it is why Beckham and soccer won’t ever be as popular in the US as it is internationally.
Also, the way the Beckhams are being thrown in our faces is very different than how other sports have handled their attempts to gain popularity. You never saw Jordan or Tiger Woods having reality shows and or special designated cameras following them to the bathroom.
The manufactured hype with this Beckham/soccer thing is my biggest beef. If Americans want to watch soccer, they will, this nonsense is only going to turn real sport fans off.
This is one of the reasons soccer suffers in America. Americans dont appreciate build up in sports. The 6 or seven passes to set up a shot on goal go unnoticed in America. It hurts other sports as well. The average basketball fan doesnt want to see nice....fundamental team basketball. Pick and rolls.....high ball screens. They just want to see guys dunking the ball. Its all about the pay off in America...but it dilutes the product in the mean time.
This is the reason soccer isn’t as popular in the US as many want it to be. PERIOD. I respect the average American enough to believe that a stereotype as dumb as “Europeans are soft” would keep them from watching a sport that genuinely interests them. But soccer DOESN’T genuinely interest them because there’s so little “pay off.” It’s a Sportscenter nation, and soccer does NOT translate well in 40 second highlights. Even hockey works better in that format.
I do think soccer is on the rise, but the MLS is never going to be a major league in America. I can see the MNT and WNT being (more) popular, especially if the WNT wins the World Cup (as they very well could) or the MNT…uh…doesn’t suck badly, but the MLS is only going to go so high. You’ve probably seen the peak of its popularity already.
[QUOTE=NinerATL2CHA;249915]IMO, the main problem with soccer: Games that are allowed to end in a tie.
I like soccer ok, but the whole tie game thing just doesn’t make sense to me.[/QUOTE]
That and the clock drives me crazy. We don’t stop it during the game. Instead, the clock guy keeps track of how much extra time to play, leaving the spectators completely out of the loop. I don’t get it. That just makes it more work. Do clocks in Europe not have a stop/start button?!
BTW, Cass, I understand your frustration, but this thread specifically addressed the popularity of soccer.
[QUOTE=ChevEE;249964]
BTW, Cass, I understand your frustration, but this thread specifically addressed the popularity of soccer.[/QUOTE]
Yea…I know. I dont mind debating soccer with people who hate the sport…as long as they dont do it like a bunch of mouth breathers. I just never understood the urge these people have to shout to the world how bad another sport is. If you dont like it…fine…move on. Soccer has done plenty fine without your dollars so far.
All of it doesnt matter. The MLS is growing… Its the 12th most attended Soccer League in the world…and that is saying something considering the popularity abroad…the youth game is growing. I am able to watch soccer on ESPN every week now…something that was unheard of even a couple of years ago. Somebody…somewhere is watching. I have 3 soccer specific channels with directtv…there is a market for it…and its growing. Teams in the MLS are building awesome soccer specific stadiums…and are starting to post fiscal years in the black.
David Beckham isnt going to make the MSL jump the NBA and MLB in terms of popularity. But he sure as hell will make LA a better team to watch. He can still play…no matter what his critics say. He has prompted other stars from other leagues to join the MLS…like Blanco and Angel. This will continue…the league will improve as it gains more and more respect from players and fans abroad…and the youth league develops.
Soccer will be on your sports channels for a long time to come…get over it.
[QUOTE=ChevEE;249964]That and the clock drives me crazy. We don’t stop it during the game. Instead, the clock guy keeps track of how much extra time to play, leaving the spectators completely out of the loop. I don’t get it. That just makes it more work. Do clocks in Europe not have a stop/start button?!
BTW, Cass, I understand your frustration, but this thread specifically addressed the popularity of soccer.[/QUOTE]
The clock is stopped and kept on the scoreboard for college soccer which makes a lot more sense. For Pro soccer, time is actually kept on the field, which means that the referee keeps it. He doesn’t stop it for anything and then estimates how much time to add on. He also will allow a team to take a free kick or corner kick before blowing the whistle. I recommend changin this in the MLS. It’s added some additional excitement to college soccer.