Why US do not like soccer ( or Footbal in English)?

I can not understand why US does not like Football? It is the most popular sport. Everyone can play. But it is not a favorite sport in US. Unbelievable. Even the name of sport, everyone call it football except US. .

 

Thats because, they play whats know as "American Football"

 

American football kicks American soccers butt. Its cultural, Americans grew up around American football and the rest of the world grew up around American soccer.

note: I say American not to call it an American sport, but to have a point of refference on which sport I am talking about.

 

This sums it up pretty well:

http://www.leanleft.com/archives/2006/06/21/5556

 

yep americans grew up around american football , while we grow around our football " soccer " ... thats all

 

Americans generally seem to have less of an attention span for sports.
I can see a 0-0 football game and walk away thinking it was fantastic, the way that the teams played and how they broke each other down, tactics ect. Americans generally need a lot of goals for it to be exciting enough to hold them for 90 minutes.

I watch football mainly, some rugby and also cricket. If the septics think that football (soccer) is boring, then there's no way on Earth they could sit through cricket!

 

That is precisely what I said on the 'Why not soccer you guys' thread (I'd link to my post if I knew how to do it!), especially with regard to the 'fantastic 0-0 game'.

It IS a cultural thing and no sport is necessarily 'better' than any other (despite Village Idiot's protestations).

 

I think that reinforces the point. It is the sheer difficulty in scoring, or even in getting into a scoring position, that makes association football the game it is. If you cannot appreciate the fact that a 0-0 draw with only 6 shots on target CAN be a good game, then yes, football isn't for you. That's not a criticism of either party.

 

And, still, Nascar is a very popular sport...

Anyway, I feel the same way about a 0-0 ending.

 

I wonder if American is impatient. They can not be patient in anything.

 

Nope, that's judging a whole people.
It's not really to do with patience in general, it's about patience, build up, excitment and tactics strictly in sports.

No sports are better than others though. American sports aren't really popular anywhere else in the world. There are exceptions, I think some Eastern European countries play a lot of basketball, but in general, they haven't caught on. Whereas rugby and cricket are big sports in the commonwealth countries, and football is pretty popular all over the world.

I also think rugby, football and cricket are a lot older than basketball, american football and baseball, which is another reason why they're popular and so widespread.

 

personally, I cannot watch rugby at all, its boring to me like any other concert(hint: all them stoopid dance intros) , thats similar to american football. It's the way you brought up I guess + they cannot play it very well

Dats good anyway, that we are different, otherwise the life wouldnt be so interesting.

 

I like soccer and I'm in the US.. Guess it isn't a nationwide choice

 

I like it too... But most people watch what's on TV, and soccer doesn't get as much airtime as football...

 

Just like everyone else stated, we Americans have grown up watching football as we know it and soccer.

 

A short "attention span for sports" works in favor of soccer and against American football. You can loose interest, walk out of the room, change channels, whatever, and comeback 45 minutes later with your short attention span and find the score is the same and the ball is being moved back and forth as it was 73 failed possessions earlier when your attention left.

American football is much more complex in play design, play calling, defensive strategy, counters to defensive strategies, scoring options, and on and on. It's rules are balanced between offense and defense unlike soccers which is probably why it has about 50% of offensive possessions that end up succeeding while soccer has something around what 98% failed offensive possessions? American football has a good offsides rule, soccer has a very poor one, see ice hockey for a good one soccer could adapt.

I also recently heard that the Royal Statisical Society has done studies showing problems in refering in the EPL. Refs besides being clueless when it comes to diving are also greatly affected by home field. The NFL has the smallest problem in officiating due to the training and video replay with corrections.

BTW I spend thousands of dollars on soccer each year and do enjoy watching it, but I don't like to see uninformed comparisons to much more complicated games. It's a simple game that you can mix in some cute little "technical" moves, it's fun but if you grew up with a choice it would be one of your second choices.

 

The thing I can't get used to in American Football is that there's adverts like every 10 minutes? At least when I watched the superbowl once.

It's part of the football culture to hate on the ref. To say that they're clueless when it comes to diving is also quite an exaggeration. Although it's been discussed to integrate video replay into decisions, this would seriously slow down a game, so it would probably only be used at the refs discretion if it's allowed in future (quite like it's used in rugby) or, the manager could have 3 video replay opportunities (like cricket). Generally though, it's quite balanced if you take the whole season and count the amount of times you had a bad decision and a good one, they cancel each other out.

Huh? I understand you probably watch a lot of football, but it's not as simple as you make out? Football also has strategies, counter attacks and options. The fact that half of american footballs attacks end up scoring isn't really a good or bad thing. I like there being only 2 or 3 goals in a game, because you know that when it happens, for about 60 seconds afterwards, the entire stadium is going nuts. Could be a quality vs quantity thing perhaps.

 

I think that's a bit of a value judgement. Yes it is, in essence, a simple game with simple rules and a simple scoring system and yes there are more complex games - but just because something is more complex doesn't make it 'better'. Yes in s*ccer there only a very few set plays (and those that exist are simple) so you have to think for yourself within a team framework. Think of football formations such as 4-4-2 and 4-5-1 as time signatures in jazz - they're there to give you a framework within which to express yourself.

I have to say that I don't think association football is a good TV sport. I've said before it's like watching a tennis or boxing match through a keyhole. 'American' football on the other hand might have been MADE for TV. I need the re-runs between the plays to work out what's happened! The times when I've seen games live I've really missed not having someone like John Madden on hand to tell me what's happened.

To re-iterate, I do think it's down to individual preference. If you like a regimented life where you are told what to do then you probably prefer to play American football. If you're more of a free-thinker then you're more drawn towards association football.


BTW I grew up with assoction football and basketball (with athletics in the summer). I HATED basketball! Personally I think it's a stupid sport for physical freaks that requires nothing that you can call 'skill' and very little in the way of tactics. However it does, inexplicably, have a following, so there's obviously something I didn't 'get' about it when I was growing up. I also, for 'class war', reasons hated rugby union and the posh Public School wankers who played it. However as I've got older I've grown to appreciate rugby (I got into it after developing an interest in the NFL!) - but I still think basketball's crap though.

 

I dont like to see soccer matchs on TV, but I LOVE play soccer.

 

Watching soccer on TV is really boring, playing it is fun. Football on the other hand is fun on TV and I don't really enjoy playing it.