300million soccerr std in flushing?

[Class of 72]

Let's just be real...people try to push soccer in America and it just doesn't work. ....

This is just factually untrue. For the first time in the country's known history, soccer is the 2nd most popular sport among 12-24 year olds. Also, for the first time there were 3 soccer players in the annual poll of most popular athletes in the United States. 30 percent of households in America contain someone that plays or played soccer, with baseball being the only sport with a higher percentage. The Premier League now has an elite network television contract for the first time in the country's history and the current generation of children are the first generation to grow up with the MLS as an everyday reality of their life. Social scientist Richard Luker, who heads the annual sports poll referenced earlier believes soccer is one generation cycle away from being the most popular sport in the United States. Soccer is on a MAJOR rise in this country.

I think this is totally exaggerated. Think about the likely confounds in the numbers. They probably count 6 year olds playing in pee wee leagues who barely have the power to kick a soccer ball as "soccer fans". Show me the numbers that prove Americans watch soccer up there with baseball, football, basketball, or even college basketball for that matter. I also mean other than the world cup or olympics. I mean strictly American soccer. Soccer is too boring for American sports to really make a huge impact IMO. Similar to hockey. It's very common to see teams draw 1-1 or see a 1-0 win. It takes seemingly 15 minutes between shots on goal if not more at times. It's a game of passing for 99.99999% of the time and maybe 1 or 2 minutes of total excitement. I don't hate soccer...I got pumped when Italy won the 06 world cup being half Italian and it was a great game.

The reasons hockey and soccer will never top baseball, football, or basketball in viewership in the US (aside from world cup and olympics) is because the excitement factor isn't there. It's the same problem between Hockey and Soccer. Hockey is 99% skating around clearing the puck while soccer is 99% passing and having passes intercepted with tons of stoppages of play. I don't see this changing anytime soon and I'd love to see if illegal immigrants as well as little kids who play soccer just for the hell of it were counted in those polls.

Your anal Isis is stupefying and you obviously have taken one toke too many on a Saturday night if you think baseball is more exiting than soccer, a game with no timeouts, constant motion and the world's most conditioned athletes!
My nephew has taken me to a few Mets games this year and the most exiting thing I witnessed was drunken female Mets fans shaking their titties. If you think 4 hours of 7 unathletic guys standing around a field is exiting, there is a cricket match I would love for you to attend....over, and over, and over again.

No argument that soccer players are the best conditioned because they are literally running all game. But can you not admit that 95% of the games are just passing back and forth, and clearing kicks? At least in baseball there can be a huge HR at any moment, an amazing defensive play, a clutch hit, a major strikeout, etc. In soccer, it's score or nothing. There are not as many opportunities for excitement. In the rare event there are penalty kicks and shots on goal are the only times of excitement in soccer games. I never said soccer CAN'T be exciting I said it just usually isn't. Jose Reyes digging out a triple with a line drive to the gap is much more exciting than back and forth passing up and down a giant field. Soccer would benefit greatly from increased scoring opportunities and a smaller field IMO as well as getting rid of draws. No one wants to see a game that can end in a tie. Don't act like I'm in some fringe movement with my perspective on soccer...it's the common thought in mainstream America. That's why soccer will never top football, basketball, or baseball.

So be it Joey! You either understand and appreciate a sport or you don't. You most certainly have no concept of the game and you clearly do not appreciate the sport.
let us leave it at that.

 

[LINY89]

Let's just be real...people try to push soccer in America and it just doesn't work. ....

This is just factually untrue. For the first time in the country's known history, soccer is the 2nd most popular sport among 12-24 year olds. Also, for the first time there were 3 soccer players in the annual poll of most popular athletes in the United States. 30 percent of households in America contain someone that plays or played soccer, with baseball being the only sport with a higher percentage. The Premier League now has an elite network television contract for the first time in the country's history and the current generation of children are the first generation to grow up with the MLS as an everyday reality of their life. Social scientist Richard Luker, who heads the annual sports poll referenced earlier believes soccer is one generation cycle away from being the most popular sport in the United States. Soccer is on a MAJOR rise in this country.

I think this is totally exaggerated. Think about the likely confounds in the numbers. They probably count 6 year olds playing in pee wee leagues who barely have the power to kick a soccer ball as "soccer fans". Show me the numbers that prove Americans watch soccer up there with baseball, football, basketball, or even college basketball for that matter. I also mean other than the world cup or olympics. I mean strictly American soccer. Soccer is too boring for American sports to really make a huge impact IMO. Similar to hockey. It's very common to see teams draw 1-1 or see a 1-0 win. It takes seemingly 15 minutes between shots on goal if not more at times. It's a game of passing for 99.99999% of the time and maybe 1 or 2 minutes of total excitement. I don't hate soccer...I got pumped when Italy won the 06 world cup being half Italian and it was a great game.

The reasons hockey and soccer will never top baseball, football, or basketball in viewership in the US (aside from world cup and olympics) is because the excitement factor isn't there. It's the same problem between Hockey and Soccer. Hockey is 99% skating around clearing the puck while soccer is 99% passing and having passes intercepted with tons of stoppages of play. I don't see this changing anytime soon and I'd love to see if illegal immigrants as well as little kids who play soccer just for the hell of it were counted in those polls.

Your anal Isis is stupefying and you obviously have taken one toke too many on a Saturday night if you think baseball is more exiting than soccer, a game with no timeouts, constant motion and the world's most conditioned athletes!
My nephew has taken me to a few Mets games this year and the most exiting thing I witnessed was drunken female Mets fans shaking their titties. If you think 4 hours of 7 unathletic guys standing around a field is exiting, there is a cricket match I would love for you to attend....over, and over, and over again.

No argument that soccer players are the best conditioned because they are literally running all game. But can you not admit that 95% of the games are just passing back and forth, and clearing kicks? At least in baseball there can be a huge HR at any moment, an amazing defensive play, a clutch hit, a major strikeout, etc. In soccer, it's score or nothing. There are not as many opportunities for excitement. In the rare event there are penalty kicks and shots on goal are the only times of excitement in soccer games. I never said soccer CAN'T be exciting I said it just usually isn't. Jose Reyes digging out a triple with a line drive to the gap is much more exciting than back and forth passing up and down a giant field. Soccer would benefit greatly from increased scoring opportunities and a smaller field IMO as well as getting rid of draws. No one wants to see a game that can end in a tie. Don't act like I'm in some fringe movement with my perspective on soccer...it's the common thought in mainstream America. That's why soccer will never top football, basketball, or baseball.

So be it Joey! You either understand and appreciate a sport or you don't. You most certainly have no concept of the game and you clearly do not appreciate the sport.
let us leave it at that.

If you want to believe that Americans will soon watch and attend soccer games as much as football, baseball, basketball that's fine but it's just not true. Globally it's the undisputed #1 sport. We are one of the few countries where that's not the case and it has and will be that way for a long time. I can see it becoming huge in America if the US starts winning world and fifa cups since it will inspire kids to play more. We are not Italy, Spain, or Brazil though. Trust me, I am among many others watching when the US is in the world cup and going places...but take away the massive global stage and high stakes, and I don't think American soccer will be any different than it has been. Soccer fever seems to creep up around the global events i.e. olympics and world cup, then trend back where it was before. I always thought a good idea to add stakes to the MLS or some other American soccer organization would be to have the champion face the champion of a European team for a world championship. Maybe this is already done? I could be wrong but it would certainly help raise the profile here.

I think if there was a way to have our national team play full seasons against teams like Italy, Germany, France, Brazil, Spain, etc. with a world championship, it would make HUGE leaps in viewership as well as being a staple of our culture. Not sure about how the politics of that work though.