Sounds like I may be the only one who knows all the nuances of all the major US sports, has played all of them competitively, and still watch them. Heres my take.
Football is the king of all games, comparing it to rugby is so foolish I can’t explain, and having played both I feel safe saying so. Football combines organization, strategy, off the field preperation, durability and athletisism more so than any other sport.
Baseball is great, but it is not for the easily distracted. The people who don’t like it are those who want to be spoon fed everything and aren’t willing to put in some efort and time to enjoy it. Also, Wrigley Field: the worlds largest beer garden. Baseball becuase it is methodical gives the uninitiated the impression of slow and simplistic, it is not.
Soccer has its place, but a great sport it is not. It is the most popular sport in the world because it is the lowest common denomonator. Anyone can play from 2 year olds to 60, any language, and the rules are so brutally simple that the dumbest and illiterate can play. This is why it is popular, most of the world is poor and uneducated. It is without a doubt great for kids and for exercise, but made for TV it is not.
Basketball is so-so. It, like soccer, is very simple and translates well for the poor and uneducated and crosses the language barrier. The athletisism it takes may be the highest in general. Every player on the average is a well rounded athlete. Other sports the players get specialized for their position and are great at a few things, basketball they need to be able to do it all averagely
Hockey is a simple game as well that is universal and like basketball has a bunch of unspecialized players. Hockey is fast enough to be great to watch, but it really is a war of atrition. The volume of strategy and thinking is low compared to baseball and football. It really is frozen basketball.
Lacrosse is a great game to play, lots of fun and exercise. Good amount of physical contact, but it doesn’t require a huge amount of athletisism to excel (similar to hockey). This is hockey on turf. Since its not on ice it is a bit slow to watch. The strategy is low, another war of atrition.
When spectating i like to participate, i want to guess what the teams will do and critique their decisions. Games like soccer, hockey, basketball, and lacrosse are all…lets see if they score this time…fingers crossed. To much luck involved to be any fun watching, playing is a different story.
Shirley I think you just have a thing about watching greased up men in uniform.
Oh, I forgot about NASCAR. Talk about lowest common denomonator. I think I read that that (auto racing) is now the world most popular sport.