Soccer needs to go away.

(07-15-2014 01:45 PM)oklalittledixie Wrote:  Soccer needs to go away.

It's not going to. Might as well get used to it. Don't have to like it, kind of like hockey. lol

(07-15-2014 01:42 PM)ODUChm Wrote:  

(07-15-2014 10:59 AM)nomad2u2001 Wrote:  

(07-15-2014 10:54 AM)VA49er Wrote:  

(07-15-2014 10:53 AM)nomad2u2001 Wrote:  

(07-15-2014 10:43 AM)VA49er Wrote:  I agree that National teams aren't better than some Club teams; however, the best players in the world are playing so that in and of itself makes me watch.

I understand that and having the best players in the world go back home is great to watch. I'm way more willing to watch some of the not-so-popular countries duke it out over bottom-of-the-table clubs in the EPL.

I'm going to start watching more EPL, etc type games from now on if I can find them televised.

Every Saturday and Sunday morning on Fox Sports 1 for Premier League. I have no idea where to find the others.

NBCSN now, with the more high profile games on NBC, and the rest on streaming. Fox has the champions league, and starting next season will have the bundesliga, which for me is the most exciting of the bigger european leagues.

Damn. I always get NBCSN and FS1 mixed up. On Directv they're right next to each other. The Bundesliga won't be on until 2015 if that isn't what you meant by "next season".

(07-15-2014 08:14 AM)VA49er Wrote:  

(07-15-2014 05:41 AM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  

(07-14-2014 02:52 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  If I were to change one rule, I'd stop the grabbing and holding. Of course, that's against the rules (supposedly). But that's not the way they enforce it. There's way too much grabbing and shoving going on. And if you got rid of it, the scoring would take care of itself.

The pitch is simply too big. Too much time is spent chasing down the fcking ball. We forget that lots of NFL games end 1-0 or 2-1. We just jacked up the points. A smaller field would increase scoring like it does in indoor soccer.

Yeah, I bet if we made soccer goals worth 7 points instead of 1 point folks would feel different even though it would be the exact same thing. People freak out over a 1-0 soccer game but think nothing of a 7-0 football game.

When is the last time you saw a 7-0 or 3-0 NFL or major college football game? While we're at it, when was the last scoreless regulation, let alone tie in either/or?

I've seen plenty of 3-2, I mean, 21-14 games.

(07-15-2014 02:37 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  

(07-15-2014 08:14 AM)VA49er Wrote:  

(07-15-2014 05:41 AM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  

(07-14-2014 02:52 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  If I were to change one rule, I'd stop the grabbing and holding. Of course, that's against the rules (supposedly). But that's not the way they enforce it. There's way too much grabbing and shoving going on. And if you got rid of it, the scoring would take care of itself.

The pitch is simply too big. Too much time is spent chasing down the fcking ball. We forget that lots of NFL games end 1-0 or 2-1. We just jacked up the points. A smaller field would increase scoring like it does in indoor soccer.

Yeah, I bet if we made soccer goals worth 7 points instead of 1 point folks would feel different even though it would be the exact same thing. People freak out over a 1-0 soccer game but think nothing of a 7-0 football game.

When is the last time you saw a 7-0 or 3-0 NFL or major college football game? While we're at it, when was the last scoreless regulation, let alone tie in either/or?

Not really the point but I'll play along. How about a 14-0 football game? Every seen one of those? The soccer equiv would be 2-0 in the scenario I was talking about.

As far as ties, last season the Packers and Vikings tied 26-26. There's were 17 ties between 1974 and 2011 adn there's been two ties since 2012 so far.

(07-15-2014 01:51 PM)nomad2u2001 Wrote:  

(07-15-2014 01:42 PM)ODUChm Wrote:  

(07-15-2014 10:59 AM)nomad2u2001 Wrote:  

(07-15-2014 10:54 AM)VA49er Wrote:  

(07-15-2014 10:53 AM)nomad2u2001 Wrote:  I understand that and having the best players in the world go back home is great to watch. I'm way more willing to watch some of the not-so-popular countries duke it out over bottom-of-the-table clubs in the EPL.

I'm going to start watching more EPL, etc type games from now on if I can find them televised.

Every Saturday and Sunday morning on Fox Sports 1 for Premier League. I have no idea where to find the others.

NBCSN now, with the more high profile games on NBC, and the rest on streaming. Fox has the champions league, and starting next season will have the bundesliga, which for me is the most exciting of the bigger european leagues.

Damn. I always get NBCSN and FS1 mixed up. On Directv they're right next to each other. The Bundesliga won't be on until 2015 if that isn't what you meant by "next season".

Yah, like next wednesday and not tomorrow haha. Either way its a good time to be a soccer fan in the US with standard cable. The days of trying to find a choppy streming feed of Arsenal-ManU are a thing of the past. Cant wait to say the same about Dortmund v Bayern

Bein sports (although not on most basic cable packages) covers a lot of soccer as well. I've seen a handful of French and Italian league games on there.

I see the small band of soccer lovers are still trying to convince us the sport doesn't suck.

(07-15-2014 04:20 PM)All Dukes_All Day Wrote:  Bein sports (although not on most basic cable packages) covers a lot of soccer as well. I've seen a handful of French and Italian league games on there.

Bein seems like a good option, but I'm a cheap man from a long line of cheap men. I don't want to give up the cash lol.

(07-14-2014 03:47 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(07-14-2014 03:21 PM)ClairtonPanther Wrote:  Even I was in shock seeing grown men and women crying after their country lost. The closest I came to crying, after a sporting event, was after the Steelers lost to the Cowboys in the Super Bowl, and I was like 13. It just struck me odd seeing hordes of people crying. I may be pissed TF off, but after 10-15 minutes, after a loss, I get over it and ramble on this particular sports message board.

Americans really don't experience the atmosphere of competing for country the way other nations do. We have the Olympics, but that's every four years and a lot of it is individual, not team. I think that's one reason why the Ryder Cup teams underperform, it's totally foreign to them.

Of our big three sports, nobody competes with us in American football and in the other two our domestic championships (World Series, NBA Finals, March Madness, even CWS) are bigger than any international championship. We don't really have anything like European soccer or rugby, where you club will be competing simultaneously for league, cup, and European championships.

As an Aussie friend once said to me, "You Yanks are world champions in every sport that nobody but you play."

Methinks your Aussie friend was just jealous. He's never heard of basketball? And in the Olympics we're usually first or second in medals. Except for the winter olympics.

The World Cup is only that big because 1) it's a national team people are cheering for and 2) just about the entire world plays it so that's a big audience.

Nobody cares about cricket, or rugby, or badminton (though I like badminton) or field hockey, outside of a few countries or one region.

The Superbowl is the biggest event that only one country plays.

(07-15-2014 04:53 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(07-14-2014 03:47 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(07-14-2014 03:21 PM)ClairtonPanther Wrote:  Even I was in shock seeing grown men and women crying after their country lost. The closest I came to crying, after a sporting event, was after the Steelers lost to the Cowboys in the Super Bowl, and I was like 13. It just struck me odd seeing hordes of people crying. I may be pissed TF off, but after 10-15 minutes, after a loss, I get over it and ramble on this particular sports message board.

Americans really don't experience the atmosphere of competing for country the way other nations do. We have the Olympics, but that's every four years and a lot of it is individual, not team. I think that's one reason why the Ryder Cup teams underperform, it's totally foreign to them.
Of our big three sports, nobody competes with us in American football and in the other two our domestic championships (World Series, NBA Finals, March Madness, even CWS) are bigger than any international championship. We don't really have anything like European soccer or rugby, where you club will be competing simultaneously for league, cup, and European championships.
As an Aussie friend once said to me, "You Yanks are world champions in every sport that nobody but you play."

Methinks your Aussie friend was just jealous. He's never heard of basketball? And in the Olympics we're usually first or second in medals. Except for the winter olympics.
The World Cup is only that big because 1) it's a national team people are cheering for and 2) just about the entire world plays it so that's a big audience.
Nobody cares about cricket, or rugby, or badminton (though I like badminton) or field hockey, outside of a few countries or one region.
The Superbowl is the biggest event that only one country plays.

Australia at the time were World Cup holders in rugby (both league and union, in fact, they held every single rugby trophy for which they completed internationally, although they would surrender the Rugby Union World Cup later that evening) and in cricket, so I'm not thinking they were all that jealous of much of anyone for anything.

We haven't exactly dominated basketball or baseball international competitions in recent years.

I really do wish we had more and bigger international competition. I think it really adds something that we are missing.

I always find it interesting how vocal the anti-soccer crowd gets for something that comes around only a few weeks every 4 years. I don't see the excitement in golf or watching horses or cars go in circles, but I guess I don't feel compelled to take to social media or loudly proclaim my dislike for those sports.

I enjoy baseball, America's Pasttime. But go to an MLB game, and you'll find pretty much everyone doing something other than watching the game most of the time: people watching, playing on their smartphones, chit chatting with friends around them, going to get a beer, etc. There's more scoring in baseball. But in the World Cup, you have a running clock, no commercials and no timeouts.

Part of the reason for this angst toward the World Cup is because it's that one major sport where America simply doesn't dominate or even really compete well. At best, we're mediocre. At worst, we suck. And that's why Joe Q Sixpack has no problem with the Olympics and can watch things like gymnastics and figure skating. It's because we finished #1 in Summer 2012 and #4 in Winter 2014.

(07-15-2014 04:35 PM)oklalittledixie Wrote:  I see the small band of soccer lovers are still trying to convince us the sport doesn't suck.

I'll be honest, I couldn't care less what you think about it. Just give me a place to watch all the games and I'm cool with that. If being a "non sucky sport" means that Chris Berman starts calling it or the glass eye guy on sportscenter yells over it, I'm not interested.

(07-15-2014 02:40 PM)VA49er Wrote:  Not really the point but I'll play along. How about a 14-0 football game? Every seen one of those? The soccer equiv would be 2-0 in the scenario I was talking about.

As far as ties, last season the Packers and Vikings tied 26-26. There's were 17 ties between 1974 and 2011 adn there's been two ties since 2012 so far.

No, scoreless tie? And a shut out that low (14-0) is very, very rare.

(07-16-2014 10:06 AM)_C2_ Wrote:  

(07-15-2014 02:40 PM)VA49er Wrote:  Not really the point but I'll play along. How about a 14-0 football game? Every seen one of those? The soccer equiv would be 2-0 in the scenario I was talking about.

As far as ties, last season the Packers and Vikings tied 26-26. There's were 17 ties between 1974 and 2011 adn there's been two ties since 2012 so far.

No, scoreless tie? And a shut out that low (14-0) is very, very rare.

OK, I see your point. However, it's just a different mindset in soccer I guess. I mean, the ultimate goal is to score. Scoring is the hardest thing to do so each one is special. In other sports scoring comes more easily so folks here are used to lots and lots of scoring. Not saying either is right/wrong, just that it's two different scoring mindsets. I used to despise soccer, but have gotten into it now and really enjoy it. I actually found myself watching the Seattle/Portland MLS match the other night. I never would have done that 2 years ago.

(07-15-2014 08:16 PM)fsquid Wrote:  

(07-15-2014 04:35 PM)oklalittledixie Wrote:  I see the small band of soccer lovers are still trying to convince us the sport doesn't suck.

I'll be honest, I couldn't care less what you think about it. Just give me a place to watch all the games and I'm cool with that. If being a "non sucky sport" means that Chris Berman starts calling it or the glass eye guy on sportscenter yells over it, I'm not interested.

The left NEEDS soccer to be popular in America.

(07-16-2014 10:09 AM)VA49er Wrote:  

(07-16-2014 10:06 AM)_C2_ Wrote:  

(07-15-2014 02:40 PM)VA49er Wrote:  Not really the point but I'll play along. How about a 14-0 football game? Every seen one of those? The soccer equiv would be 2-0 in the scenario I was talking about.

As far as ties, last season the Packers and Vikings tied 26-26. There's were 17 ties between 1974 and 2011 adn there's been two ties since 2012 so far.

No, scoreless tie? And a shut out that low (14-0) is very, very rare.

OK, I see your point. However, it's just a different mindset in soccer I guess. I mean, the ultimate goal is to score. Scoring is the hardest thing to do so each one is special. In other sports scoring comes more easily so folks here are used to lots and lots of scoring. Not saying either is right/wrong, just that it's two different scoring mindsets. I used to despise soccer, but have gotten into it now and really enjoy it. I actually found myself watching the Seattle/Portland MLS match the other night. I never would have done that 2 years ago.

Like I said earlier, scoring, even though it is used as the excuse, isn't the problem. I think the majority of people who dislike it do so because they don't understand the sport itself and/or have nothing to hang onto the sport with (a club). You see something similar with people from other countries regarding football.

Some people hate what they don't understand.

(07-16-2014 11:05 AM)oklalittledixie Wrote:  

(07-15-2014 08:16 PM)fsquid Wrote:  

(07-15-2014 04:35 PM)oklalittledixie Wrote:  I see the small band of soccer lovers are still trying to convince us the sport doesn't suck.

I'll be honest, I couldn't care less what you think about it. Just give me a place to watch all the games and I'm cool with that. If being a "non sucky sport" means that Chris Berman starts calling it or the glass eye guy on sportscenter yells over it, I'm not interested.

The left NEEDS soccer to be popular in America.

The fact that Koch Industries waited until the World Cup to buy their FIRST national ad space in 74 years of existence means that the right needs it too.