Why are all US sports so boring? - Moneyball (2011) Discussion

[–] Viper2880 13 years ago

"Soccer is the most drop dead boring game there is. Except when the fans start fighting. The rest is as boring as hell.

My question to you is why can't anyone score any goals in soccer? The goal is wide enough to drive a jet plane through yet nobody seems to be able to score. Seems to me that a typical soccer game ends 0-0 tie or 1-0 on a penalty kick. BORING!

Plus, soccer players usually act like weenies."

Indoor soccer is actually a little better. More scoring. But yeah, the absolute worst thing about soccer are the penalty kicks. Thats like deciding a tied basketball game with free throws. So dumb

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[–] Viper2880 13 years ago

The problem with soccer is that the field is just too damn big

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[–] Viper2880 13 years ago

I think hockey is pretty boring as well. Also not that big in the US

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[–] gunnzo200 13 years ago

There are never penalty kicks unless its some kind of finals. + They get 2x15 minutes in overtime before that (120minutes in total). How is that dumb? Should they just play endlessly?

The worst thing about soccer is all the fake-playes, players getting a gentle push and then throwing themeself on the floor and act like they are heavily injured. I HATE that. There is a lack of sportmanship in soccer, we also often see coachers not greeting the other coacher because of some childish argument.

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[–] Gdub33 13 years ago

That's called "flopping". There has been a major increase of that in basketball too, that's part of the reason I enjoy baseball and football more.

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S you in your A's Don't wear a C and J all over your B's

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[–] clarkgriz 13 years ago

the USA created baseball. Although some people feel it was first played in Canada too. Football (CFL/NFL style), basketball (James Naismith created it, a Canadian. NBAs first game played in Toronto) , lacrosse (Native Canadians) and hockey were all created, or co-created by Canadians (football first documented game played in Toronto). Most Canadians enjoy watching soccer, football, hockey, baseball (MLB MVPs Morneau and Votto) and curling. No one watches most athletics that don't have any major leagues, or tournaments to play in outside of Olympic games. Cricket is popular with certain ethnic groups in Canada and Rugby is not very popular except for playing it. Sport like wrestling, boxing and mixed martial arts have had a good following too. To say American based sports are boring is pretty much just more of that European Anti-American crap (see lots of it everywhere in the world mind you).

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Him ða Scyld gewatto gescæphwile
felahror feranon frean wære.

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[–] veil182 13 years ago

this thread has blown up obviously but I'll add my 2 cents.

I agree to some extent, US sports are mostly only popular in the US, but that's changing. You are really underestimating how popular baseball is and baseball, football and basketball are growing outside the US the same way soccer and cricket are growing inside the US.

Volleyball is much more popular in Europe, especially Italy, than it is in America.

as for boring, that's pretty subjective. While I enjoy soccer, it can be a very boring sport. A bad football game can be pretty boring and baseball is pretty slow...basketball is really fast paced and unless you have two teams shooting poor from the field and fouling a lot it's hard to call it boring.

my favorite sport is tennis and I think it's a great example for all sports: there is nothing like a good tennis match. The Australian Open final the other day was mind bending; high quality, drama, physically torturous, mentally draining...but a error-filled tennis match is perhaps the most boring thing you can watch.

all sports are good, but all sports are boring too

listen to the receiving end of sirens.

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[–] gunnzo200 13 years ago

Ok you are an American right?

I am just wondering. Soccer is not big in American but you often see on television shows or in movies young kids playing soccer, often the dad is the coach. Why is that? You even saw that years ago when soccer was hardly known in USA.

Is it some kind of tradition in kids sport to play soccer or is there a new generation growing up who is more interested in soccer?

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] Cinematography27 13 years ago

Look bottom line is, American sports are better because we are America. Everything we do is the best. All forms of art we have are just better than the rest of the world. You mentioned movies, music, stuff like that. Everyone else outside of America is just bitter and jealous. Soccer is okay but only in the Olympics and the World Cup. It's just kinda boring. Its popular around the world cause you don't need any money to play it. Americas have more money so we can play the better sports. Understand? The best athletes play American sports. And Americans are basically the best athletes. I base that off of the the Olympics, and the eye test....we usually win that obviously. If all of our athletes played soccer we obviously would be the best at that too.

Anyway point is we are just better and everything we do is better, more important, more exciting, ect..

To compare such a simple game like soccer to a complex sport like baseball or football is ludacris, outrageous, laughable, ect..

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[–] Amills23 13 years ago

I could write a post in reply why is soccer so boring? I might as well just watch people jogging for 3 hrs. The famous athletes in Europe or Africa could walk down the street as well in the US and nobody would notice them. Its different cultures just because soccer doesn't have stoppages of play doesn't mean its exciting. In the US its the sport over protective mothers make there kids play instead of football.

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[–] Cinematography27 13 years ago

Haha Soccer is bad. Can't wait till Super Bowl! Soccer is so bad in the US we call it soccer. HAHA, and we call ARE sport FOOTBALL. HAHA, think about it you poor meaningless countries. HAHA. We actually live in houses here. We have food and such. We don't starve to death, haha.

Liberals are the most annoying human beings on planet earth.

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[–] greekoid42 13 years ago

I could write a post in reply why is soccer so boring?

As I have stated before I made a mistake titling the thread "Why are US sports so boring".It should have been "Why are US sports not popular outside the US"

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] KingJohnTX 13 years ago

I never understood how non Americans can call our sports boring yet watch Soccer, (yes soccer, I refuse to call it football) really David Beckham is what the rest of the world considers a good athlete?

"I'm not saying that kiss was hot, but if the boner police are here, I'm gonna need a lawyer"

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[–] greekoid42 13 years ago

David Beckham is what the rest of the world considers a good athlete?

Beckham was a very good soccer player but not a great one.His fame has more to do with looks and personal life(married to a Spice Girl).Great soccer players of today include Messi,Ronaldo of Portugal,Kaka and Xavi.They are World class athletes.

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[–] clarkgriz 13 years ago

Kaka? Yeah, maybe 4 years ago. Rivaldo is probably at the same level as Kaka at this point! Neymar, Hulk and Wellinton would be better examples of current Brazilians. I'd also add Silva, Hart and Yaya Toure from Manchester City for other top athletes in football. Lampard, Rooney, Nani and Bale for a few other EPL players. I'd rather watch paint dry than an NFL game. EPL>CFL>NFL

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Moburg: Is it the clap?
Paul Kemp: It's a standing ovation.

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[–] dccheever 13 years ago

It's definitely a cultural thing. I'm a fan of both Soccer and American Football but grew up American so obviously I know more about American Football. I respect the skill, athleticism and strategy of both.

In my 26 years in my opinion, Americans have hang ups about soccer because of the lack of scoring, the flops for cards (fouls) and for some reason American's view kicking something around in shorts as gay in a way. Just being blunt here.

I feel American Football has a bad rep world wide because of the pads used (many say they prefer rugby which is similar and it rarely uses pads), the constant stop and go and I know for a fact from people from countries around the world that the commercials are a complete deal breaker.

I can see that point of view too, there are way too many commercials but they let that and the pads deal get in the way of the strategy of the game. This is talking Peyton Manning/Tom Brady era football though. Before the further rule changes to emphasize the passing game in A. Football the NFL was a game of human confrontation. Just like Rugby. You knew what was coming... but were you strong enough to stop it?

I always felt that point was lost amongst other countries. The NFL is about over powering and demoralizing your opponent. In soccer, it's more of a chess match, an organic bend then break game. Game of attrition. Stamina and conditioning obvious play a way bigger role. But in A. Football size, strength and speed play a bigger role. They both require expert timing however.

They're just different. Very different, and the culture surrounding them is as well. America was one of the champions of Capitalism--hence all the commercials. That's why it is, the way it is. This doesn't make either better, it's just alien to one another.

Those with open eyes, and acute awareness can learn to respect both. But they will always prefer what they grew up on.

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[–] greekoid42 13 years ago

Its that time of the year again.Cant say I love the sport but I will be watching.Its one of the great Sporting occasions of the year love it or hate it and I will be rooting for the underdog whoever that is.And you get Madonna during the break! Why cant soccer do something similar ? Its all about entertainment after all.

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[–] gunnzo200 13 years ago

But why do you refuse to call soccer football? The thing that makes soccer special is that you can´t even touch the ball with your hands and you play it 95& with our legs. It just makes sense to call it football.. or legball, like handball or basketball.

American rugby makes more sense to me.

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[–] glare48 13 years ago

Why is Greenland not called Iceland? It is mostly ice after all. Why is Iceland not called Greenland? It is more green than ice. Why is lead pencil not called graphite pencil? They are not made out of lead. Why are Jellyfish named that way? They are not true fish. Why is it called Chinese Checkers if it did not originate in China? Why is it called head cheese if it is made of meat? Why does egg cream have neither eggs nor cream? Why are horned frogs not called horned lizards, since they are not frogs? Why do we not call tear gas tear solid, because it is actually not a gas? It makes more sense to me.

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[–] gunnzo200 13 years ago

There is a diffirence.

Soccer like you call it is known as football all over the world and it has been known as football long before American football was born.

Besides i don´t see you point. Because one thing has a name that does not match how i it looks and feels it´s ok for other things to do the same?

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[–] ZBfiveonetwo 13 years ago

There is a diffirence.

Soccer like you call it is known as football all over the world and it has been known as football long before American football was born.

Besides i don´t see you point. Because one thing has a name that does not match how i it looks and feels it´s ok for other things to do the same?

The term soccer was invented by the English to differentiate association football from rugby football in the mid 1800s. Rugby football was brought to North American universities and evolved into the American football that you see today. If you hate the term soccer, then you can blame the English.

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[–] gunnzo200 13 years ago

Don´t hate it. I Use the term soccer probably most of the time when i have to write or speak english.
The guy i was originally responding to sounded like he considered soccer to be some kind of cheap knockoff that didn´t deserve the name football.

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[–] isaac1976 13 years ago

This thread is stupid for the following reason:

--Percentage of US posters who don't even know the most basic things about soccer* and think it is stupid: 100
--Percentage of UK posters who don't even know the most basic things about American sports** and think they are stupid: 100

* i.e. what a stepover or an offsides trap is, or who won the Champions League last year.
** i.e. what a draw play or forward lateral is, or who won the World Series last year.

If you fall into one of these two categories please spare us your useless and predictable opinion. I'm an American (Louisiana) and I think football and soccer are the two greatest sports in the world. When I was a naive kid, I admittedly thought soccer was boring and stupid. Of course, I also thought Big Macs were better food than sushi or gyros. One's own ignorance is nothing to boast about, and that goes for both sides of the pond.

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[–] Amills23 13 years ago

"Why are US sports not popular outside the US"

There's actually a problem with that statement. US sports are actually quite popular throughout the world.

FYI: I'm going on the belief that your definition for US sports means sports invented in the US not sports that are popular in the US. As in Basketball, Football, and baseball.

Depending on what list your looking at Basketball and Baseball are generally in the top 5 in the world while Football is in the top 10.

If you add cricket "baseball's cousin" to the number of people who play baseball it would give the biggest sport in the world soccer a run for its money.

Soccer is the most popular sport because heritage its been around in some form for 1,000's of years and accessibility, anyone can play it if they have an open field and a ball. In places with extreme poverty I've seen people playing with trash made into a ball.

Most kids start playing sports because they see there parents watching the game or playing the game. So people outside the US watched there parents playing different sports.

US sports are young compared to all the other major sports and the popularity of basketball not related to any other sport is hugely popular for its short life. The other major sports like I stated are actually popular but they also have similar sports in the world. Football - rugby. So if you were raised on rugby you will most likely enjoy it more than football. Baseball-cricket If you were raised on cricket you will most likely enjoy it more than baseball.

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] creekin111 13 years ago

I think watching someone bounce a ball against the wall for 5 hours in a row has the same excitement as a game of soccer.

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[–] drivenkick43 13 years ago

Why should any American care about what the rest of the world think about their sports?
We like our sports and that what the rest of the word thinks is really of no concern.

BTW, to pass off basketball like it's not really a big deal globally... that's just not an accurate characterization. Baseball and football, I'll give you, but again... so what?

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[–] ebright99 13 years ago

1. The OP says American Sports are boring then lists 5 sports that we've invented. And that's just the point...we INVENTED them. How many sports has Sweden invented? Or France?

2. The OP says American Sports are boring, which is a point I might be willing to concede, but then he goes on to claim that soccer/football is an exciting sport! You must be joking. 90 minutes of running and 2 to 1 is considered a high scoring game. Riveting.

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