PANSIES you call them ! Put any N.B.A. team against a High School soccer team ,they wouldn’t have the stamina to complete the game. Ditto Football—Baseball. It’s really a tough game It will never be popular in the states because their is no time for commercials
In case anyone’s wondering, the answers to my short quiz above is:
(1) Soccer
(2) Cricket
As far as ties in major sports go, Baseball as played in Japan has ties.
The natural breaks in Cricket do provide for short advertisments. The relatively recent introduction of One Day (International) (aka “The Pajama Game”) also has a pretty good opportunity for advertisers; they can sell space on the jerseys. The bat is also of sufficient size to have an advert on it.
Getting back to Soccer and advertising: I watched ESPN’s first broadcast of a World Cup game and thought I’d go mad. Firstly, the Budweiser advert took up the majority of the screen a good deal of the time. I did, however, like the idea of having the coverage continue during the advert; it’s just AB went overboard with the advertising space. Secondly, the damn announcers knew just about nothing of the game. A serious infraction by one player was greeted by the announcer with “What a great tackle!” Yeah, right. A tackle in Soccer is taking the ball from the other player. In this case, it was a foul at a very bad time in the game. I finally convinced my room-mate that it would be far better to watch the Spanish network with announcers who knew WTF they were talking about.
So tell us, KO: how long did you work for ESPN?
I don’t get this commercial thing. I don’t like watching commercials. If there was a sport on that showed fewer commercials, that would be a GOOD thing! I do like soccer, if I feel I have something invested in it. I really enjoyed watching the Women’s World Cup this last summer (yes, even the shootout in the final, which was, you gotta admit, a classic moment), and usually watch several matches of the Men’s World Cup every year. I don’t watch MLS because I don’t really have a team, so I don’t care. (Same thing goes for hockey and basketball.) I love baseball, and am a huge Giants fan. I have been my entire life, and I really feel like I have history there. I have frozen my ass off on August nights at Candlestick, I cried when they were going to move to Tampa in 1992, and again on the last day of the season in 1993. I can’t wait to see the balls fly over that short fence in right and land in the bay at PacBell Park. I hate the Dodgers, and I wish that I could have seen Willie Mays play. See? That’s investment. As silly a hobby as it may be, and as much as people can say that baseball is boring, I really care about the Giants.
Most adult Americans didn’t grow up playing soccer, and certainly didn’t grow up watching professional soccer. Manny manny American kids today do play soccer, and they are interested in what happens in professional play, especially girls I think, after the World Cup. My prediction is that within the next 30 years, we’ll see soccer becoming a much bigger deal here in the U.S.
~Harborina
“This is my sandbox. I’m not allowed to go in the deep end. That’s where I saw the leprechauns.”
Are you on crack or what?
I sure wasn’t wondering. Here’s my “little quiz”: Who fucking cares what sports a bunch of third world losers like? Answer: Not me.
Soccer sucks. So does Cricket.
Krispy Original – The original SDMB bad boy
I’d say you defy the laws of physics, Krispy.
How is it that one individual devoid of anything but hot air manages to stay at the keyboard long enough to post without simply floating away??
Third world losers, eh? If you want to be convincing, try and insert some less stupid remarks in your debate. Are you trying to say that mainland Europe and, yes, the UK even, are third world countries? Compared to your highly “civilised” United States, I presume? What the HELL are you thinking?
But if you want to close your eyes to the most popular sport on the face of the planet, be my guest: tell all the world that soccer is stupid. One condition: without using any form of reference, make a top 5 of the best soccer players of all time. If it’s close enough, you’ll have proven that you at least showed some interest in it.
But then again, Pele is probably just a third world loser too.
Ignorant piece of shit.
Coldfire
"You know how complex women are"
- Neil Peart, Rush (1993)
Here’s my theory:
Taste in sports is one of those things that are developed very early in life. When I visit a ballpark or get roped into a half court 2 on 2, I get a real sense of nostalgia. I’m sure it’s the same for soccer lovers. Just because Americans don’t care for it as much as the rest of the world doesn’t make us freaks. Does anybody think soccer would be so popular in Europe and Latin America if those people had to wait until they were adults to be introduced to it? Without that tradition and nostalgia on the part of the spectator, most sports look at best silly, at worst, boring.
I think Kyla’s right that soccer will be much bigger here in the future as the kids who play it today grow into adults (not to mention the effect of immigration), however soccer will never have the kind of tradition in this country that makes sports like baseball so popular.
Commercial breaks have absolutely nothing to do with it.
I seriously doubt that soccer would be the “most popular sport on the planet” if the planet’s third-world countries were not included in the popularity totals. Frankly though, I could care less if it is the most popular sport amongst losers…my opinion will never change.
Fuck anyone who isn’t smart enough to realize that this isn’t a debate. If it was, or was meant to be, I’d have posted it in GD. Reread the OP Coldfire you felching motherfucker. I lead off by stating that it is my opinion…look the word up…it starts with an o.
Krispy Original – The original SDMB bad boy
I love to watch soccer when someone I know is playing - my daughters and nieces play, for instance. And it’s great exercise for the little tikes.
But I agree that televised soccer is kinda boring. It ranks right up there next to golf as major snooze events.
Though,let’s face it, there are few things less interesting to watch than no hitters (baseball). Why don’t we just sit around and watch the grass grow? Once again, I’d rather watch people I know play.
Basketball is stupid b/c the last two minutes, when it’s supposed to be the most excited, is interrupted constantly by strategic fouls and penalty whistles. And who designed those horrible “shorts”?
Without a doubt, the game I like to watch the most in person or on t.v. is tennis. Close matches are great, you get to see the personalities of the players, they have great physiques (unlike baseball players!), and it’s a game of both mental and physical endurance.
Hammersmith is a district of West London which is neatly surrounded by Shepherd’s Bush, Fulham and Chelsea, each fielding teams with varying but often high levels of success (Chelsea are in the Premiership, Fulham and Queen’s Park Rangers in Division 1). On the subject of violence, with Brentford just a little way away, and with Hammersmith boasting many very pleasant riverside pubs, things can certainly get a little lively there on a Saturday evening after the games.
Wycombe and Barnet are officially non-London clubs, being in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire respectively.
Krispy,
You’re entitled to your opinion, as is anyone. This thread, however, became a debate when you decided to redefine the Third World.
So, would you kindly clarify:
1) Why do you think people in Third World countries are losers?
2) Why do you think Third World countries are irrelevant when measuring which sport is the most practised/watched?
3) Why do you think the definition of a Third World country is “a country where sports like soccer and cricket are popular”?
I suggest you reread all your postings in this thread and then tell me this is still just an opinion.
Opinions will generally be respected when someone presents then with care and respect. You have obviously not succeeded in doing just that.
Coldfire
"You know how complex women are"
- Neil Peart, Rush (1993)
Actually, Colfire; I’m hoping that Krispy Original (aka “The Formerly Banned Contestant #3”) posts a concise and logical treatise here on why “Cricket sucks.” If it shows he knows exactly nothing about the sport in question, just as he apparently knows almost nothing about the sport he maligned in the OP, that will show the world his depth of knowledge before he shoots his mouth off.
Since Soccer is #1 & Cricket #2, I think that going just by opinions, there are a hell of a lot more folks sharing the opinion that Krispy is wrong on which sports suck.
Hmmm…maybe he’s just projecting onto the sports his opinion of himself.
Monty: How is cricket #2? You mean to tell me that there are more people on earth playing cricket, than baseball? Give me a link, or some facts to back this up. I’m just really curious.
“Life is hard…but God is good”
First of all, Coldfire completely misunderstands the “third world” comment and the context in which it was used.
Secondly, I’m not going to explain it to him because I don’t like his attitude and I don’t think it will make a difference anyway.
Thirdly, I don’t really like Coldfire anyway and could fucking care less if he respects my opinions or not.
Fourthly, I like Monty even less.
Fifthly, soccer sucks and so does cricket.
But hey, if any other members want to decide to hate something…anything at all…and they choose to rant about it in the Pit…go right ahead…the Pit is the perfect place to get it off your chest.
Krispy Original – The original SDMB bad boy
Good point, plank. What I was getting at is that there isn’t a club in Hammersmith. As you rightly point out, there are clubs in the surrounding areas.
Wycombe is certainly not a London club, but I would say that Barnet is. I used to go to Underhill occasionally (when I lived in Finchley). Though it’s technically in Hertfordshire, it’s on the Tube and most of its supporters come from London as opposed to Hertfordshire. It is also within a London Borough, and it’s treated as a London club by the London local media.
That’s exactly what I’m saying, Adam. Unlike you, apparently I can use a search engine. Since India is quite populous and baseball’s not a going concern there, but cricket is; nor is Baseball a going concern in New Zealand, Australia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and a few others but Cricket is; I’d have to say that the following from The San Francisco Chronicle http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/08/11/MN46420.DTL is accurate (bolding mine):
Anyway, Cricket was once popular in this country as related in a rather interesting book, The Tented Field, by Tom Melville, ISBN 0-87972-770-5, Bowling Green State University Popular Press, Bowling Green, OH 43403, Copyright 1998.
Just so you’re up on sport history; here’s Baseball’s Genealogy:
Cricket=>Rounders=>Town Ball=>Baseball.
For more info: www.cricinfo.org .
Krisper: What part of “Logical” or “Concise” did you not follow above?
My other post disappeared so I’m posting this one:
How is it #2, Adam? Because more people play soccer than any other sport and after that more people play cricket. That’s how popularity rankings work. That’s what I’m saying.
Unlike you, I apparently can use a search engine and since the combined populations of the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, South Africa, India (the most populous democracy on the planet), Pakistan, Bangladesh, and a few other countries, is far greater than the baseball playing countries, I’d have to say the following from The San Francisco Chronicle at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/08/11/MN46420.DTL is accurate (bolding mine):
All the countries I just mentioned also have soccer as a popular sport.
Anyway, cricket used to be popular in this country as related in The Tented Field (ISBN 0-87972-770-5, Bowling Green State University Popular Press, Bowling Green, OH 43403, copyright 1998, author Tom Melville).
For more info, check www.cricinfo.org .
Try to keep up. 
Please, Krispy Original, explain to me what I seem to be misunderstanding. I asked you some simple, logical questions in my last post. The statements used in these questions were deduced (look THAT one up, nitwit: Deduction) from the quote above, appearing in one of your earlier posts in this thread. Your statement is so broad and vague, that it can be misunderstood, and interpreted widely and vaguely. THAT WAS MY FUCKING POINT.
So please, puh-leeze spare me your little “I don’t care what anyone (and especially Coldfire, whom I hate anyway!) thinks about my opinion”. If that is truely the case, there are two options for you:
1) Keep your stupid opinions to yourself: when you post them, responses might occur! Really!
2) If you do choose to post an opinion like the one in the OP, make sure it is worded respectfully and logically. Only that will prevent people attacking you. REALLY!
Oh and another thing… you wanna know what I don’t care about? Whether you like me or not.
That was just pathetic, man. "Everything Coldfire says is worthless crap, since I don’t like the guy to begin with"… you could at least have been polite and have given me a good response. If I liked you, I would not have flamed you. Deal. And DEFEND yourself a bit, for Gods sake.
Coldfire
"You know how complex women are"
- Neil Peart, Rush (1993)
Drat. The missing post resurfaced. Sorry about the doublevision there folks.
Coldfire:
Feel free to post a “I luv soccer” thread in MPSIMS. Go felch bj0rn too…
Monty:
You’ve even got your own thread here in the pit now to showcase your dickishness. Oh yeah, feel free to start a “I luv cricket” thread in MPSIMS.
Soccer sucks…so does cricket
Krispy Original – The original SDMB bad boy