congratulations USA - FIFA Confederation Cup

[Frets]

Hockey is the only game I can watch without being bored senseless.

All sports are cultural. Kids have been playing soccer here for a very long time but as David points out they finally have grown into adults playing the sport as well.

[WannaBe_80z]

All sports are boring to watch on TV. Only seeing them live makes them interesting. I'm not sure if I just don't like sports or the people announcing them more.

[silverx2]

And it sure is a lot more interesting to watch than baseball (after all, pretty much anything would be wouldn't it?).

david

yeah man, i watched the end of the other semi final game, when it was basically 7 minutes of kicking the ball back and forth playing keep away. Sooooo exciting.

Id much rather watch a game of baseball where a single hit can potentially change the game, then watch a team get a lead and then play keep away for as long as possible. any sport that has as much blatent flopping will never be a sport i can watch, is sickening.

[ChaseNYC]

I still find it amazing that anyone can think it is not popular in the US...I was reading that 18 million Americans play soccer, with 78% under 18 ...leaving nearly 4 million adult players. How many other sports there would have such player participation?

I think a paragraph I read in the times recently worded it best(the article is from when US beat Spain):

Nobody in the American soccer federation will dare to claim that this was the day the country came of age in the world’s most important sport. Not until American boys and girls play feral soccer on their own, for the love of the sport, will the nation develop its own Jordan, its own Pujols, its own Crosby or Malkin, its own Maradona.

[silverx2]

most important sport? really? what makes soccer important to the world? its the riots right? the riots after some team iv never seen play wins or loses?

[WannaBe_80z]

It might not seem important to you but I can at least see that this sport is obviously one of the most played and most loved sports in a world scale.

1.3 Billion people tuned into the World Cup in comparison to the 141 million people who tuned into the Super Bowl.

[silverx2]

but how does that make soccer important.

i think the writer is incorrectly assuming that soccer has some sort of control of the well being of the world. it doesnt, its a game.
Again i just cant get behind a sport with so much blatent flopping, its rediculous, iv seen WWf with less fake hits.

[ChaseNYC]

well, I'm going to have to strongly implore you look up the definition of important.

[gerbick]

well, I'm going to have to strongly implore you look up the definition of important.

It won't work. There's no "Patriots" in soccer, so it's not important enough to most people.

I honestly like soccer but find it utterly boring to watch on television. I feel the same way for golf, tennis, hockey, baseball and sometimes American football and even rugby. But at the games, I don't mind watching damn near any sport - even seen curling and thought it was fun - the crowd was into it... and there was beer. Need I say more?

Soccer isn't "important", but damn it's popular. What I don't like though - in person, in conversation, or on television though... cricket. Only softball compares in terms of boredom.

But then again... it's just how you're raised. I was raised around soccer, so no biggie.

[silverx2]

For the record Mr Gerbick, Robert kraft owns the New England Revolution, and i have listened to a few of their games on the radio.

which i might add is the only time soccer has been anything but making me want to stab myself.

[gerbick]

Lord... I wouldn't listen to anything on the radio now. Let's start there. Radio for sports is like... eating a steak with a blindfold and a balloon on your tongue while wearing gloves and nose plugs.

In the US, the younger people are going to make soccer more important. Right now, it's not. Hell, people in my generation can't even go metric unless they've either traveled or worked on their own car and it happened to be metric.

[Googooboyy]

Soccer is like a religion around here. Everyone has their own shrine of Liverpool / AC Milans / Real Madrids and _____ (fill in the blank).

Soccer is the most watched sport, most played, most exciting (provided you have the right kind of players) and sort of the cheapest sports that anyone can play around here.

All you need is a group of buddies and even a coconut husk will make do as your 'ball'. Crush a piece of paper together and it becomes your 'ball' in an instant. It takes loads of skills and practice to be a 'good' footballer, like any other sports out there.

Soccer can't be beaten in terms of popularity.

If you can't beat them, join them. = D

[david petley]

but how does that make soccer important.

i think the writer is incorrectly assuming that soccer has some sort of control of the well being of the world. it doesnt, its a game.

yes, agree. Haven't you heard of hyperbole*? No sport is important in terms of the well being of the world ...none of them.

But soccer has to be the most played, most popular, and most watched team sport in the world. I don't think there is another single sport has the same level of international competition or participation.


davidp

* n. A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect, as in 'I could sleep for a year' or 'This book weighs a ton'.