My opinion:
What a booring, worthless excuse for a male team sport.
Baseball, football, and basketball…now there’s your real male sports.
Soccer is for the pansies that aren’t talented enough to play baseball, football, or basketball.
Hockey is OK I guess…although it’s really little more than a manly version of soccer on ice.
Krispy Original – The original SDMB bad boy
Soccer bores the living crap out of me, although I can recognize the players for the athletes that they are. You have to have a hell of a lot of endurance to run around like that for an hour.
Now hockey I like, mainly because it’s choreographed violence on ice. It’s a blast to watch.
Football’s my sport, though. Perfect combination of strategy, skill, and physical prowess.
Sure, soccer may be boring at times. Like baseball’s exciting? Or football, where the last three minutes of game time takes an hour thanks to all the fucking TO’s and commercial breaks?
Only decent pro sport around is Aussie Football, by god. (Tho rugby comes close.) Screw choreography–this is improvisational violence. OI!
-andros-
But you have to love it when the guy on Univision goes:
“GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLL!!!”
“GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLL!!!”
“GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLL!!!”
Imagine if Tim McCarver screamed, “HOOOOOOOOOOOME RUUUUUUUUUUUN!!” over and over again.
Or Al Michaels just lost his mind on MNF and shouted, “TOUCHDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWN!!”
Or Marv Albert dragged out his call, “YEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!”
That would be funny.
DrainBead,
Football? A game of skill & strategy? Was that a joke? Physical prowess I can understand, although it’s really just the poster sport for Stanozolol.
If you want skill & strategy, baseball’s the game - tho I can understand why people who’ve never played think it’s boring. Kinda like watching golf…
But for pure, unadulterated violence, you’ve gotta go with rugby and/or hockey - there’s nothing choreographed about it - that’s the real article there, my son.
Although, if violence is what you’re after, I suggest soccer - take in a match first-hand in Leeds or Hammersmith - in the stands that is. It’s amazing how much a dozen pints of Tetley’s or Guinness can do for your physical prowess…
Z
All those who believe in psychokinesis raise my hand.
I love it. It is, IMO, one of the greatest sports ever invented. This is why it is the most popular sport in almost every country in Europe, South America and Africa.
American football seems to consist of a bunch of fat blokes in crash helmets (who was it who was “sissy”?) pushing each other over irrespective of who has the ball. It also has an irritating stop-start quality which is presumably to accommodate the advertising demands of US TV.
Baseball, granted, is a fine sport and probably America’s greatest sporting contribution to the world.
Basketball: Team A gets ball, runs down court (all of 30 yards, such athleticism), scores. Team B gets ball, runs down court, scores. Repeat as necessary until score reaches 136-133 or some equally unlikely figure. I mean, is there any open play in that game?
Now it may be that those of you in the US who don’t like soccer have never seen it played properly. Major League Soccer uses a slightly different set of rules from everybody else (in particular, MLS games are not allowed to end in a draw) and your domestic players are - how can I put this? - not the best in the world.
However, these are not the major problems. The major problem is that a game of football (soccer) can only be enjoyed properly is you are watching it outdoors, in the freezing cold and the pissing rain, feeling faintly nauseated after having consumed 2 pints of beer and a dodgy burger. Ideally, the match should also be a 0-0 draw.
That would be an hour and a half.
I guess that I wouldn’t object too strenously if my girls wanted to play soccer…Thank goodness though that my boys always played the real sports.
Krispy Original – The original SDMB bad boy
zoony,
The closest I can get to Hammersmith is QPR in Shepherd’s Bush (east); Barnet in …er… Barnet (north) and Wycombe Wanderers in High Wycombe (west). Who the hell plays in Hammersmith?
Elmer J. Fudd,
Millionaire.
I own a mansion and a yacht.
Elmer, I don’t understand why, though. What’s the problem with a draw?
If neither team can win by scoring more goals than the other in 90 minutes (or 120, aet), why deem one to be the winner based on a totally artificial shoot-out that has noting to do with the way that either team played during the match?
I can understand it for knock-out competitions, in order to avoid the inconvenience of a replay (though it was not that long ago when FA cup matches used to be replayed as many times as necessary to get a winner). But for league matches, it just doesn’t make sense.
What’s the American objection to a draw?
Well, the soccer players get to wear those cute shorts. And if an opposing player bumps in to you, why, you get to fall down and writhe in agony, while the referee hands the felon a little card. (oh, horrors!) Then you can jump up and, miraculously, your grievous injury has disappeared and you can continue with your previous activities, which consist of running up and down the field for some reason.
Never mind that it took millions of years to develop hands so that we could manipulate things and become the only technical species on the planet. Let’s invent a game that won’t allow you to use those hands. Duh!
Other than that, soccer’s okay.
I don’t have to do drugs to mess up my head. I went to Catholic school.
Why do Brits put beans on toast? Just a cultural thing, I guess. Americans think of contests as the means to a decision. No decision; what’s the point?
Elmer J. Fudd,
Millionaire.
I own a mansion and a yacht.
I like watching most sports, including really dumb ones on ESPN2 late at night or Fox Sports Regional Networks, but my favorite sport to watch is soccer. I enjoy football, baseball and basketball. But I think that the least boring sport to see played, live or on TV is soccer.
I have played it since I was seven and still do. So I understand it. You people who hate it don’t. You say it’s boring. Your ignorance is showing. You have clearly never really watched it. Take another look.
Football is fine to watch, but it is an incredibly complicated, hyper-specialized, brute strength intensive, ultraviolent, homoerotic(not that there’s anything wrong with that) game. It is also incredibly dangerous for young people to play. (These are things to which most football fans will say “That’s why I like it.” Enough said. There are, of course many incredible athletes playing at the pro level, but only a few positions require true skill.
Soccer awards points for tie games, so there is some reward. Plus, the 40+ game season stresses winning consistently and every point counts toward a champoinship. Plus, there are Cup ties, and other tounaments that have other methods for deciding ties, like home and home rounds, overtime, shootouts, etc. Intellegent fans realize the importance of winning a draw in front of an away crowd, earning the point to boost your standings. Unrelective fans say “Yeah, but who won today? I confused. Somebody explain me how I suppose to feel.”
Soccer allows players from all social strata to play, all you need is a ball. I guess that is one reason it is the most popuplar sport in the world. How much do football pads cost?
Few sports combine flowing grace, athletic skill, power, and passion in the way that soccer does. IMO, basketball does, so do hockey and lacrosse. The lack of breaks and the constant involvement of the whole team are beautiful to behold when a good team is at full throttle. Watch Manchester United and Barcelona in the European Chamions League match from November 1998 for an example.
As for the “wimpy” comments, the foul system in most sports is usually difficult to understand for people who aren’t fans. In football, the d backs can only hit receivers in the five yard zone when the ball is snapped. Is that wimpy? Holding? Pass interference? How about basketball? Hand checks? Moving picks? Sure, some players dive and overact in soccer. It is as annoying to us fans as it is to you. Soccer is not wimpy, it is just different. I have seen horrific tackles and collisions that are anything but soft. Besides, hardly anybody gets physical at baseball games, the occasional home plate collision maybe, but nobody accuses them of being wussy. Direct hitting is just not a part of the game, same for soccer.
If you can’t appreciate it, fine. Live in your little tight shiny pants, dancing around after a play, six seconds of action football world. Or your three hour yawnfest, four seconds of action, standing around looking at the pitcher baseball world.
The fact is, the finest athletes in the world play football, real football. Period. If you can’t appreciate it, then you are the ones who are boring.
As a side note to Tom H, we have changed most of the singular rules to conform with international standards here in the US, so hopefully we can get on track.
Keep trolling, Krispy. I’m not gonna touch that one.
-andros-
I tried to like soccer. Watched the world cup finals for the guys a few years ago, and also paid attention to the gals last year.
Here is all I can say on the subject…
We do not settle the Super Bowl with a field goal kicking contest.
We do not settle the NCAA finals with a free throw contest.
We do not settle the seventh game of the World Series with a home run derby.
SO WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY SETTLING THE SUPPOSED BIGGEST SPORTING EVENT IN THE WORLD WITH A FRIGGIN’ LAME-ASS PENALTY KICK CONTEST?!?!?
Besides that, it makes watching paint dry an exciting endeavor in comparison.
Yer pal,
Satan
On the issue of ties…I think I’ll just quote the TV show “Sports Night.”
“We’ll bring you the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, and if we have soccer highlights, the sheer pointlessness of the 0-0 tie.”
“You are sweet, kind, and considerate… Like a grown up boy scout with tits!”
Johnny Carson said, “Do you know why 100,000 American kids play soccer? So they don’t have to watch it.”
::snicker, snicker:: Yeah, sure Bobby…whatever you say ::snicker, snicker::
Krispy Original – The original SDMB bad boy
TomH, beginning next year, MLS games that end in a draw will go into two short overtime periods. If it’s still a draw, the game ends and each team gets a point.
People who complain about games ending in 0-0 draws don’t seem to realize that it actually doesn’t happen that often. OK, it seems to happen in REALLY BIG GAMES (which they must be for most Americans to notice them ;)) but for the most part it’s fairly uncommon.
After my team (Celtic)'s performance today, however, I am more than ready to never watch the fucking game again 
TomH, I salute you, mate!
Obvisously, after reading this thread, there is only one way to conlude: the difference is cultural and cannot be bridged.
The Netherlands and Belgium are hosting this years European Soccer Championships. And the Dutch Team is gonna win it. And I will get drunk as never before. Well, justa s drunk as in 1988 
I’m not here to put down American sports. Hey, I don’t understand American Football, just like I don’t understand Cricket (and that’s English). That doesn’t mean there’s anything WRONG with it. The Canucks like LaCrosse, for god’s sake. Why don’t you try and respect that which you do not understand?
Oh, and my second favourite sport is Formula One. Try and convince me that IndyCar drivers are more skilled. (Please remember to include names like Zanardi, Michael Andretti and Nigel Mansell). Point being: only compare when a comparison CAN be made.
Coldfire
"You know how complex women are"