Comments on: Soccer vs. Baseball

By: Carl from Chicago

Carl from Chicago — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:52:14 +0000

Also funny that people like that photo, I thought it was one of my worst and was a bit sheepish even putting it up there, but that once again shows what the heck I know :)

By: Carl from Chicago

Carl from Chicago — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:51:20 +0000

I am kind of glad that soccer is picking up because it gives me something to talk (and text) about with my nieces and nephews. They like the NBA, NASCAR and Soccer. Also NCAA March Madness. A bit of football (sometimes), and hardly any baseball or hockey.

You’ve got to roll with the changes…

By: Dan from Madison

Dan from Madison — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:54:03 +0000

Joshua – “If Team USA were ever to win it, the accomplishment would probably be forgotten by the time American football season starts, if not sooner.” True. And if the world cup was during football season nobody would watch it at all.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:48:16 +0000

Considering that lacrosse – a North American-originated sport at least as old and storied as soccer, yet with much faster action, which you’d think American sports fans would eat right up – has failed to make much of a dent in the U.S. sports marketplace (as a certain late, unlamented team in your neck of the woods found out the hard way), it seems to me soccer’s biggest problem isn’t that it’s a bad sport, but that it’s trying to compete in a saturated U.S. sports marketplace where the biggest sports and leagues are pretty well entrenched at the top.

When a country like Brazil wins the World Cup they celebrate for at least the rest of the year. If Team USA were ever to win it, the accomplishment would probably be forgotten by the time American football season starts, if not sooner.

By: Aric

Aric — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:52:13 +0000

@CoachKaz: You [George Will, actually] forgot to mention long, drawn-out lawsuits (i.e. instant-replay challenges).

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:51:58 +0000

@CoachKaz: You [George Will, actually] forgot to mention long, drawn-out lawsuits (i.e. instant-replay challenges).

By: coachKaz

coachKaz — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:46:38 +0000

To paraphrase George Will, “soccer has none of the things that Americans have an affinity with that are essential parts of American football; violence interspersed with committee meetings!”

By: coachKaz

coachKaz — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:45:48 +0000

To paraphrase George Will, “soccer has none of the things that Americans have an affinity with that are essential parts of American football; vilence interspersed with committee meetings!”

By: Jimbino

Jimbino — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:26:21 +0000

It seems every country needs a sport that is unspeakable slow and boring, like soccer. Americans don’t take to it because they already have baseball. Leave it to the Brits to need two, soccer and cricket.

By: LotharBot

LotharBot — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:44:51 +0000

I took my wife out to lunch at a Brazilian restaurant yesterday. Didn’t even realize the game was on, until I heard the entire wait staff cheer and scream out “BRASIL!” As soon as they did, I knew exactly what the game was.

There was passing interest from much of the crowd, but only a couple people actively watching the game. Most of us were too busy eating. It was a damn good restaurant.

By: Beretta

Beretta — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:03:51 +0000

big league soccer live on a US-standard sports schedule=stopping the game every three minutes for advertising.

By: Jay Manifold

Jay Manifold — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:21:06 +0000

Seconding Jonathan, and loving the ceiling.

By: phwest

phwest — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:55:11 +0000

I’ve always thought that a reason soccer struggles at the professional level here is simply that it is still a minor league sport (relative to the sport as a whole), and while there is a market for that kind of thing it is much smaller. Americans are rather snobbish about sports, and prefer to watch the best. As long as the best American players have to go to Europe professionally, soccer will never really take off as a spectator sport in the US.

I picked up soccer recreationally after college, and have been watching the World Cup for 20+ years. I enjoy the game tremendously, but I’ve never been able to follow the European leagues (timing/access) and it is just hard to care that much about the American leagues because they are so obviously playing at a “high-minors” level. I’ll watch games on occasion, but never with any real rooting interest. If soccer ever reaches the stage where you can watch truely big league soccer live on a US-standard sports schedule it would probably move up to #3 or 4 on my sports-watching cycle (after baseball and the NFL, about on par with NCAA basketball).

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:54:05 +0000

Cool photo.

By: Robert Schwartz

Robert Schwartz — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 04:03:05 +0000

Yeah I am really torqued up to watch a season of 0 – 0 ties.