Americans and Soccer

[Jerome]

Originally posted by Lioness: Probly has to do with population? *shrugs*

Probably?

[Rikard_OHF]

Originally posted by Epona: Trivia factoid of the day: There are more soccer fans and players in the US than in Britain.

that number doesn;t include people playing on the streets [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[caleb]

Originally posted by Memnoch: I think Donut hit the nail on the head - I would suspect that the reason that he (not Americans in general) don't care about the World Cup is because the US is not a world power in soccer, the way they are in basketball, hockey, American football (seeing as Americans are really the only one that play this) and baseball (ditto).

That might have a part in it but even when our soccer team was doing good and the media was hyping it most americans couldnt care less.
Maybe other countrys like soccer and rugby so much because its one of the few sports we DONT dominate in Another possibility is that we just like different sports so live with it [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Memnoch]

Originally posted by caleb: Maybe other countrys like soccer and rugby so much because its one of the few sports we DONT dominate in Another possibility is that we just like different sports so live with it [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Maybe other countries enjoy participating in international team competition, rather than purely domestic. Global vs. provincial - you know what I mean?

Or could it be the "USA is the world, anything that happens outside isn't important" syndrome rearing its ugly head again?

Anyway...I can appreciate your comments about enjoying particular sports, caleb - one man's wine is another man's poison. Australians are mad about Australian Football which nobody else plays - but we enjoy watching rugby league, rugby union, cricket, basketball, American football, baseball, soccer (which we're terrible at), hockey, and ice hockey (which we don't even play but enjoy watching).

It's about being a fan of competitive sports in general - and Aussies will enjoy watching any sport, as long as it's competitive, but even more so when our national teams are playing. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[caleb]

Glad you took it well Seriously though I think we just dont like endurance sports as much. Most of the sports we love but no other countrys play rely on short explosive plays with plenty of breaks in between for the athletes to rest up and do it again. Could be we have a shorter attention span

[Lioness]

Originally posted by caleb: Glad you took it well Seriously though I think we just dont like endurance sports as much. Most of the sports we love but no other countrys play rely on short explosive plays with plenty of breaks in between for the athletes to rest up and do it again. Could be we have a shorter attention span

Now what makes you think tha-ooh...a pretty caterpillar...

[johnny]

australia has a pretty descent fieldhockeyteam as well, both men and women belong to the best nations in the world in this sport.

[johnny]

Originally posted by caleb: Glad you took it well Seriously though I think we just dont like endurance sports as much. Most of the sports we love but no other countrys play rely on short explosive plays with plenty of breaks in between for the athletes to rest up and do it again. Could be we have a shorter attention span

the typical american sports ARE being played by most other countries, except on a lower level. Holland has a icehockeycompetition and a national team that kinda sucks. American football is gaining popularity since we have the world bowl and the amsterdam admirals are a pretty good team, though this season is a losing one. Basketball is very popular in holland, though lately they no longer win important european cupmatches. Baseball on the other hand is going quite well, holland is champions of europe for years now and some players might make it to the major league. So you see, we DO play your sports and enjoy them too

[caleb]

Well i'll be a kiwi sheep shagger. So whats your excuse for sucking at them then? [img]tongue.gif[/img] We can at least claim we suck at soccer and rugby because they are not widely popular here

[Attalus]

Originally posted by Lioness: Now what makes you think tha-ooh...a pretty caterpillar...

FDL @Lioness. I think that someone earlier (Caleb?) asked a provocative question about soccer hooligans. I can think of at least twice when Detroit rioted after their professional basketball team, whatever its name is, won the national championship. BTW, I would count basketball as an endurance sport, also.