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I didn't say the best. Or did I. Regardless, we would be better. I'm simply thinking about statistics. The percentage of America's youth that plays soccer is minuscule compared to those that play basketball, baseball and football. Other countries around the world simply don't have those kind of barriers because their main sport is football so therefore most of the children play it. All I'm saying is that if soccer's popularity was switched to equal that of basketball and football statistically speaking we would have to be better at it because there would be more people playing it. Maybe our best football and basketball players would not have transitioned well had they been brought up that way (but maybe they would have, there are plenty of great three sports athletes in high school) but maybe some of the other people would have. It is a little ignorant because I know nothing of the sport, but I think that the shear numbers would have to make us better than we currently are. If there were multimillion dollar contracts out there with endorsement deals and a huge percentage of the population of young kids playing the game we would be better at soccer. End of discussion.
 
cmybeer said:
. . . and a huge percentage of the population of young kids playing the game we would be better at soccer. End of discussion.
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What cave does this guy live in. Seems like every vacant piece of land around here turns into a soccer field. Damn, where do you think the name, "Soccer Mom" came from. They breed soccer kids. :D
 
cmybeer said:
I didn't say the best. Or did I. Regardless, we would be better. I'm simply thinking about statistics. The percentage of America's youth that plays soccer is minuscule compared to those that play basketball, baseball and football.
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And yet we wonder why our kids are getting fatter...
 
cmybeer said:
The percentage of America's youth that plays soccer is minuscule compared to those that play basketball, baseball and football.
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3 million youth play soccer, 3 million youth play football, which just so happens to be the most popular sport in this country.

More than 10 million play basketball and baseball. You also have to consider that many soccer players participate in other sports (I have 2 soccer players in my house who do other sports).

Soccer is hardly miniscule in this country in terms of youth participation.
 
Soccer fields may be popping up like mad so perhaps we will see an improvement in the quality of US soccer in the future. That doesn't speak to the present though. And still, while it may becoming increasingly popular it is not at the same level once kids reach high school. And even once it gets to that level there will need to be additional incentives for the best athletes to play it. Just think about all the millions of kids who decided to stick with football, basketball or baseball because it is the cool thing to do and it would be awesome to get rich and famous.

And if we wanted our kids to get fat
 
I don't know, maybe the school I work in is not an accurate representation of America's growth but the soccer kids are not the cool ones in the hallways and our soccer team is significantly better than our football team.
 
No its not obviously . You know nothing of how football works, just because americans arent playing in the mls does not mean they dont lead lucrative careers. But ignorance will do that
 
cmybeer said:
I don't know, maybe the school I work in is not an accurate representation of America's growth but the soccer kids are not the cool ones in the hallways and our soccer team is significantly better than our football team.
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Well i hope we can all grow up in tje 1960s again
 
Can I be 20 something in the 1960s? It'd probably increase my chances of scoring. A goal.

And we played the hell out of backyard soccer when I was a kid. It was a cheap game to play.
 
Zuljin said:
Can I be 20 something in the 1960s? It'd probably increase my chances of scoring. A goal.

And we played the hell out of backyard soccer when I was a kid. It was a cheap game to play.
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Anyone who thinks this game isnt relevant in america is under a rock
 
One ball, and it doesn't have to be a soccer ball, and a place to kick it is all you reely need. That's makes for a game people will play because they can.

But I still aint watching it.
 
LOTS of kids play soccer. Then they don't have a place to go with it afterwards. It's kind of a "fun" sport for most everyone. Unlike the other major sports with large fanbases and lots more college and minor league systems, soccer seems to disappear for the most part after high school.

Both of my girls played for a few years and I never got into it. I even tried to watch some Pro games on the Satellite, but I just couldn't do it. I thought learning the rules would help. Nope.

Hockey is where it's at for me. I also watch Football, used to watch a lot of basketball, and follow baseball some (went to a Whitecaps A league game last night for anniversary). But I'd rather watch hockey than pretty much any of the others. Even kids hockey is more exciting.

Soccer for me is more fun than tennis or golf, but still somewhere below reading a good book and watching the wort boil...
 
I'm with the OP in that its not soccer thats the problem, but people who pretend to enjoy something because they want to seem cool or ironic. If you like soccer, you are a guy who likes soccer. If you don't really care about soccer one way or another but you PRETEND to enjoy it to make it appear as if you are interesting, thats just lame.
 
So it's wrong for someone to look like a hipster (wait, don't answer that yet!) and have a good time at a soccer game? Maybe they are just really big soccer fans who HAPPEN to look like idiots (I mean hipsters).

While we are on the subject of how to look in public, I think that all young hot chicks at baseball games need to wear tight white shorts. Please.
 
Homercidal said:
So it's wrong for someone to look like a hipster (wait, don't answer that yet!) and have a good time at a soccer game? Maybe they are just really big soccer fans who HAPPEN to look like idiots (I mean hipsters).

While we are on the subject of how to look in public, I think that all young hot chicks at baseball games need to wear tight white shorts. Please.
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Here here. And kid sized jerseys
 
My argument is that they arent really having a good time, they are there more to be seen.

Personally, I would prefer viewing windows at yoga classes... but then I'm a freak...
 
So, some idiots watch a game because they think it's cool to do so. What about the superbowl? I just pulled some fictional statistics from out of my butt that show that 20% of the people that watch it on TV like the game, 60% watch it for the ads, 10% for the half time show and 10% have lost their remote control down the back of the sofa. People watch stuff for all kinds of dumb reasons, hipster and otherwise.
 
All I can say is at least they are watching. Better then the people who claim it is not a sport and refuse to watch. So a sport where you are not subbed in, where you run for 10+ miles a game and have to have enough eye foot coordination to make a small ball go into the upper corner of a goal from 50-60 yards.

Off topic, anyone notice American sports always rely on eye hand coordination primarily( with some eye foot for running)? Wonder why?
 
I've been playing soccer since I was 4 years old and I'm an avid supporter of LA Galaxy and the US Men's and Women's National Teams... also too old to be a hipster.

But soccer is on the rise in the US. Last season MLS was 3rd in overall average attendance, beating out NHL and NBA.

You're next, baseball....



EDIT: But the d-bags living in the US supporting only European soccer are infuriating. We have a word for them in American soccer: "Eurosnobs"
 
[quote="CreamyGoodness",]
Personally, I would prefer viewing windows at yoga classes... but then I'm a freak...[/quote]

Person who invented yoga pants.....
F***ing genius
 
Love soccer. Played it my entire life, and at a D1 college. Can't believe people think soccer is boring then turn around and watch a baseball game or golf. Even football and basketball, which I love, has so many timeouts and stoppages it's mind-numbing....That said, I can't bring myself to watch MLS. IMO it's a crappy version of soccer and doesn't represent "the beautiful game" in the least. Hopefully it becomes better but I still think youth soccer in the US is the problem because it doesn't stress the correct fundamentals.

As for hipsters, they are quite annoying, but if they want to pretend to like soccer, I'm fine with it. Better than pretending not to like soccer because you "think" you are too macho for it. Chances are most who don't like soccer aren't in good enough condition to play it for 10 minutes, much less 90 minutes.
 
Laughing_Gnome_Invisible said:
You been doing some sneaky evolving during the last few years? ;)
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Ha, you noticed.

Sure have. My kids love soccer, particularly my obsessed older one, and the game takes up large portions of our lives now. God help me, I made a point to learn the game and now I'm enamored with it.

Spain-Portugal in about 90 minutes. :D
 
shecky said:
I made a point to learn the game and now I'm enamored with it.
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Ya know, that's the only thing that bugs me about the whole "USA hates s*ccer" thing, the way people knock it without really watching it properly. If someone doesn't want to watch it, fine, but don't knock it without learning a little about it. If you still don't like it, then that's fine too! It seems to me that a good proportion of the s*ccer bashers do it out of some kind of xenophobia. That nasty foreign sport trying to get my kids into the back of it's van.....
 
I'm in Latin America so I love soccer, my country sucks ass big time in soccer so we watch a lot of spanish liga games. Rooting for Spain today of course, I need to see Cristiano Gaynaldo lose, hey btw I think he is the culprit of all the damn hipsters liking soccer....
 
cincybrewer said:
Chances are most who don't like soccer aren't in good enough condition to play it for 10 minutes, much less 90 minutes.
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That's not a terribly indicative indictment. Chances are most PEOPLE can't play several Pro sports for 10 minutes straight. Of course, you *could* jog up and down the pitch and call it playing soccer. Most people could do that.

But if you mean could most people run around like pro soccer players for 10 minutes? Maybe, maybe not.

I'd like to see any professional soccer player try and keep up with an NHL team for 2 minutes on the ice...
 
Laughing_Gnome_Invisible said:
Ya know, that's the only thing that bugs me about the whole "USA hates s*ccer" thing, the way people knock it without really watching it properly. If someone doesn't want to watch it, fine, but don't knock it without learning a little about it. If you still don't like it, then that's fine too! It seems to me that a good proportion of the s*ccer bashers do it out of some kind of xenophobia.
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This.

I got SWMBO to start watching soccer during World Cup 2010... like, really watching it and not having it on in background with me yelling at the TV. The day I got her to wake up early and start drinking for the 8am USA vs Algeria match was the day I knew she was hooked. My efforts were also VASTLY aided by Landon Donovan's miraculous goal that helped them win their group. She has also become an avid Galaxy supporter (all that took was one trip to a live match to sing, chant, and drink with the supporter club... that will change anybody) and can actually break down plays now as if she'd been playing her whole life.



And speaking of "The Goal That Shook America" here's the video of reactions from across the country. The bar I was at looked very similar.... just hazier since I'm not drunk now. :D The stressed and depressed faces suddenly perked up from the breakaway, an instantaneous moment of disbelief at the save, followed by a nuclear explosion of excitement when LD put it away. I still get chills thinking about that moment.




There are a lot of good parts (like the crowd in NYC blocking the street because they're watching the match on a TV in a store) and some really funny ones (like dude at 3:25) but the best part is that it shows support for American soccer all over the country from youngins who don't look like they are old enough to be at the bar to the elderly... the sport is most certainly alive and well here.
 
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Homercidal said:
That's not a terribly indicative indictment. Chances are most PEOPLE can't play several Pro sports for 10 minutes straight. Of course, you *could* jog up and down the pitch and call it playing soccer. Most people could do that.

But if you mean could most people run around like pro soccer players for 10 minutes? Maybe, maybe not.
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well yea, you could jog up and down the pitch and call it playing soccer. of course it would be nothing like playing soccer. but you are probably right, most couldn't play sports for 10 minutes straight. luckily for them that would never happen in basketball, football, baseball, or hockey because of all the timeouts.

Homercidal said:
I'd like to see any professional soccer player try and keep up with an NHL team for 2 minutes on the ice...
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if you are talking from a conditioning and athletic standpoint, it'd be easy for pro soccer players...very easy. obviously from a skill level they'd get crushed. i've played pretty much every sport for a large part of my life and there is no question in my mind that soccer players across the board are the best conditioned athletes.


@Reno: thanks for the video. that brought back a great memory.
 
"Soccer? No sorry that is what ******** call it" Everything else is lame compared to Australian rules football If you have not seen it you are really missing out. I love hockey fast paced and has fights too. I loved basketball but then I got sick of the timer lying to me at the end of the game. It says 5 minutes left, by why does it take 45 minutes to finish the dame game( I really do know why it is really boring)

/end semirant
 
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rappyfreak said:
I'm in Latin America so I love soccer, my country sucks ass big time in soccer so we watch a lot of spanish liga games. Rooting for Spain today of course, I need to see Cristiano Gaynaldo lose, hey btw I think he is the culprit of all the damn hipsters liking soccer....
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So, you were rooting for Spain that day......Who are you rooting for today? :cross:

I'd like to see Spain win this again. Their recent international successes have been long, long overdue.
 
Oh yes, and don't get me started on the idiots that think they can differentiate the game from American football, and make themselves look smarter by calling it "Futbol" It's not a South American game, dammit!! :mad:
 
I sure rooted for Spain, always have, always will. Did you watch the game? They played beautifully!
 
I dont know how you could ever say Soccer is more boring than baseball. That sport has to be the most boring sport ever conceived by man, but thats just my opinion. To the person who said americans who only care about european soccer its because it is so much more fun/interesting/entertaining to watch and besides people on the national team I cant name anyone in the MLS.

As far as hipsters, I would choose them any day over the previous fads of emo and goths.
 
Henry22 said:
I dont know how you could ever say Soccer is more boring than baseball. That sport has to be the most boring sport ever conceived by man, but thats just my opinion. To the person who said americans who only care about european soccer its because it is so much more fun/interesting/entertaining to watch and besides people on the national team I cant name anyone in the MLS.

As far as hipsters, I would choose them any day over the previous fads of emo and goths.
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You contradicted yourself with not knowing anyone in the mls but know the national team
 
SSBrew 300

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