OK, first off, if you believe that humans descended from #### you're probably a soccer fan, but that is not the point. It is as if this game never evolved....it is still in the #### stage! Kick the round ball around a large field, once in a blue moon into the "goal." You can only move the ball downfield by kicking it. But wait! Some Neanderthal decided that you can also use your head. Apparently the advancement stopped with that brilliant decision, and no one since has figured out that it would be more efficient, not to mention more interesting, to actually use those appendages attached to our upper bodies. (Oh, but they can do a "throw in." Yet they are so #### that they have to use a two armed overhand toss! What is it, a medicine ball they are throwing?!)
The ####ness of soccer and its fans really knows no bounds. What is up with those stupid large gloves the goalies wear? They look like those large foam "#1" hands that brain-dead fans wear at other sporting events. What, is the round air-filled soccer ball going to really hurt if they block it?! It's not a freaking hockey puck! And can you imagine anyone in a real American sport, after getting kicked in the shins, rolling around and crying like they've just been shot?! In fact, even if we had been shot, we wouldn't put on such a pathetic display.
I'm not even going to touch on the American fans of this "sport." It is sickening to see our youth being forced to abandon a real and traditional American sport like baseball in order to play this pansy game, by liberals and "soccer moms" and other malcontents.
As to the frothing-at-the-mouth fandom in the rest of the world, do I need to elaborate? These have to be the stupidest people in the world. The game is so boring that the fans display a complete disconnect with the game while it's going on. When they're not impaling darts in each other's skulls, they are inappropriately singing and chanting the whole time with no apparent regard to the on-field play.
I'm trying to like it, I really am...in fact I'm watching it right now, and I'll be tuning in tomorrow to root on the good old U.S. of A. But you can bet I'll be checking to see if my testicles are shriveling up the whole time.
First of all Big #### Al (you've see South Park haven't you?), goalies wear gloves because soccer balls can travel at over 100 mph when struck appropriately. That is why they wear gloves. Do catchers in baseball wear gloves? Second of all, it has been shown with studies that people that play soccer have higher intelligence than other althletes (and obviously you). If you think I am full of BS look at your favorite colleges soccer team cumulative GPA and compare it to baseball, football, and basketball. You will probably be shocked. It's because in the game of soccer people actually have to think and play within the flow of the game and not run pre-conceived plays. Third, if you have to equate soccer with homosexuality you are either a)a #### b)an uneducated man or c) a closet homosexual. And no I'm not ####, I'm far from it. I agree that as an American I like to watch American football more than any other sport. It's easy to analyze and that's why American's like it. It's entertaining watching a bunch of idiots kick that #### out of each other. As for baseball, I like the game but I would rather sit through a two hour soccer game than a 3 hour baseball game. Baseball is losing kids because it is boring as well. Soccer is becoming more popular because it makes the kids actually think and use team work. Baseball is an individual sport wrapped up in a team game. Most of the people who have never played the game are ignorant like you. People froth at the mouth in other countries for their sport because it's more of a way of life for them. It's culture, somethin
Your obsession with drawing a homosexual correlation to all things beyond the boundaries of your comprehension seems a bit concerning and somewhat trite. Let me guess, you're a thick-necked white male with a pension for cousin-loving, sports that involve pats on the bum, and nude towel snapping in the showers, living in a trailer somewhere in the bible belt?
With regard to your berating of the greatest sport ever, I don't think you can argue with millions of FOOTBALL fans all over the world who can't all be wrong. And yes, I deliberately highlighted the word "FOOTBALL" because that's what everyone else on the planet calls the sport..."soccer" is a word that exists only in the American vocabulary!!! But that makes sense because you're also the only ones to change the English language, mangling it in all sorts of ways including the exclusion letters from words like "neighbour" just so your little brains can process it. And yes I do believe in evloution because we have living proof of upright apes like yourself right there in the "good ole US of A."
Seems to me that if the rules of the game stipulate skillful control of the ball with your feet for the most part, that it should appropriately be called FOOTball. Unlike it's American namesake where the ball (aren't balls supposed to be round?) is carried in your HANDS....shouldn't that sport be called something more fitting like "Game-for-fat-kids-wearing-more-pad ding-than-an-astronaut".
Oh and by the way....is that other game played in any other countries?
Last edited by socawarrior on June 11th at 1:06 PM.
pitcure this man running down man trying to hold him down for a ball not trying to take it but to hold him down by the way real men play rugby no padding just bone we dont hide behind tons of padding ur wimp an usa is the home of #### pride
Well, there are at least two people in the world who wouldn't know humor (or just for you, suckawarrior: "humour") if it "struck them appropriately" in the face!
You know, goosedick, I have heard that a ping-pong ball travels 185mph off the paddle. Your comment on the blazing speed of the air-filled round ball in "futbol" (what the world really calls it, suckawarrior) has truly enlightened me, and I'm wearing catcher's equipment next time I play ping-pong. That little sucker could leave a heck of a welt!
Goosedick, my own independent studies show that it is the non-athletic nerds who take up soccer because they are too wimpish to play a real sport. These geeks have historically tested higher than the general population, but of course they never get the girl, and they are too stupid to know why.
Do neither of you see the irony in accusing me of wrongly calling soccer ####, and then proceeding to call me #### and incestuous? Plus, a little hint here: in current usage, “####” doesn’t always mean homosexual.
Nice ending, goosedick! First you admit that soccer is boring, and then, “It’s culture, somethin...AAAAaaarrrrgggghhhh…..” Did the profundity of your statement-to-be overload your soccer-addled brain and cause you to die mid-sentence?!
You know, soccer might benefit from having a comprehensive playbook like the NFL. Of course, there could be a downside…although they would score more goals and thereby reduce the monotony of the games, their particular form of “celebration” would cause STDs to go through the roof!
No worries on Big Al, he drinks cheap beer, has been booted out of many sporting venues for his mouth and we're talking little league, digs Nascar, lives in a trailer, has a huge gut, can't run because of his "knee" that he smashed in high school fffffuuuuuuttttbbbbbball and has an equally fatter wife and ex wife first wife, aka, (cousin) along with some equally fat kids to go with his really fat head and VERY small huevos downstairs.
Big Al your a bad joke and an equally uglier person.
Al, your comments are ignorant and baseless and do not warrant a response. But I'll leave you with this, try being intelligent when trying to articulate an argument, you come across so incredibly stupid.
Indisputably.... you are a loser. Do you really have that much time on your hands you waste it writing about things you don't like? And if soccer is so ####, how come it doesn't have positions called wide receiver, tight end and tackle. Grow up dude....
Indisputably.... you are a loser. Do you really have that much time on your hands you waste it writing about things you don't like? And if soccer is so ####, how come it doesn't have positions called wide receiver, tight end and tackle. Grow up dude....
So baseball and basket ball have virtually no contact, football is a game wear players have more padding than a 300 pound fat guy and soccer is the #### sport. hahahaha.
At least these guys can make it past 10 minutes of playing before getting substituted.
And remember football has its origins in rugby where they don't need all the padding.
You have proven yourself to be one of the most ignorant people on earth. Perhaps me thinks thou dost protest too much...
You show pictures mocking soccer players, yet I am going to guess you are a basketball and football fan. Isiah and Magic kissing before the NBA finals games. Bill Romanowski, among many others, admitting they grab for opponents nuts in an attempt to get the ball.
Al, go back into your cave. You have no idea what soccer is about. You think the fans aren't paying attention? You have got to be joking. Most countries live for this and I mean LIVE for this. Do us all a favor and don't watch. We don't need you losering up our sport.
Soccer sucks. I avoid it when its television. That is my perogative.
One more thing: Take the stupid flags off your car. Unless you have it on for 4 years, putting a flag of the country you claim to love yet have never visited is insulting. So take the flags down.
YOU ARE SUCH A #### LOOK AT WHATS CALLED AMERICAN FOOTBALL
THE GAME IS PLAYED ALMOST ENTIRELY WIT THE HANDS, BUT ITS CALLED FOOTBALL. PLAYERS ARE CLAD IN SEVERAL LAYERS OF SO CALLED PROTECTIVE GEAR (TALK ABOUT GIRLY MEN)
BASEBALL:WHY IS IT THAT THE BATTER CANNOT ADVANCE ON A BALL THATS SUPPOSEDLY HIT INTO FOUL TERRITORY, BUT HE IS OUT IF THE BALL IS CAUGHT; STUPID ISNT IT. TALK ABOUT STUPIDITY, WHY ISNT THE PLAYING FIELD THE SAME DIMENSIONS FOR ALL BALL PARKS? SHOULDNT THE RULES BE THE SAME FOR BOTH AMERICAN AND NATIONAL LEAGUES? A BATTER MAKE CONTACT WITH THE FIRST 2 PITCHES, THE ARE CALL STRIKES BUT AFTER THAT THEY ARE NOT?
YOU LIKE THE PEOPLE IN WASHINGTON ARE COMPLETELY
LOST. WAKE UP AND GET A LIFE.
you sit there and boast about US sports who won the world baseball clasic who won basketball world champ and who plays football USA an CAN DANG !!! THE WHOLE WORLD BUY A PLANE TICKET AN TRAVEL YOU STUPID YANK OH OK THAT WHY THAY CALL YOU YANKS BY THE WAY WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME THE US WON ANYTHING IN TEAM SPORT OF ANY KIND
Last edited by trinisandman on June 12th at 11:20 AM.
hahaha big al:
First off the gloves are not only to protect the hands but also for grip so they can catch the ball... juuuuuust like nascar the tires are slick so they hae more grip on the road juuuust like footbal (american football) the guy the throws the ball wears gloves so he can have more grip... and it is not futbal it is futbol! or football ####!
They hold their shins because if you are as stupid as your comments have a friend kick you on your shins full force and see if it hurts. American sports dont do that because they are so worried about baby players that the apd them with bulletproof vests, armored tank vests, astronaut vests and a t-shirt so obviously doesnt hurt as much as that... also have a soccer mom kick a ball on your face.. even that would hurt. in Soccer ppl run all the time.. they have no pansy breaks to wait for the next play or change the person who is going to hit the ball they play 45min straight TWICE in a game.
Please do us a favor and go post on ####soccerhaters.com
oh yea those world series... hahah what a joke... they play the whole season in the US and then they play some random japanese team ad they call it world series hahhaa
Seems like you're making a lot of friends there buddy.
I almost feel sorry for you....how about that #### whooping Czech put on you guys today?? Just goes to show that the top ten world rank that you boys bought your way to, is nothing more than a statistical faux pas....that's French my friend, for "sucks to be you!" Just goes to show that the game is played on grass, not paper.
Watch my island nation of just 1.3 million people out perform your stinking #### this championship. And you know what, I'm sure none of the fellas on your team are bad guys....good thing there are pariahs like yourself to fudge the good character of an entire nation.
Ahhh football eh.....uniting people all over the world in the character assisanation of dumb hicks on the internet.
I can't believe you have the cheek to call soccer boring.
I am interested in american sports but to watch them is impossible.
Baseball is a glorifyed version of cricket. You make out that its such a good game yet no-one actually hits it anywhere 3/4 of the time.
Basketball is probably the most bearable of american sports. I tune in at different points of the game to see what the score is but to watch a full game is impossible. up and down up and down WOW A 3 POINTER!!! (pathetic)
American football really shows just how awful american sports really are. I mean please you bring on a whole other team when attacking and defending. I'm sorry to say you do not have to be an athlete to play this sport just fat and the ability to line up against your opposite number for about 7 seconds before going off the field.
Hockey is probably the most watchable. At least there is no breaks within the game but i have to say it has links to soccer so what can i say.
The hopes of Americans are seeded from the impressive run that the US team had in the 2002 World Cup when they made it to the quarter finals (but were defeated by Germany). Now I am not going to generalize and say that this is every American citizen. I am not that naive, but the US has a long history of not liking soccer and stating so. But it is rather funny that within minutes of the US loss, the bloggers were out posting their hate of soccer, and chanting “thank god it will not become a bigger sport in the US”. Funny how quick the attacking became retreating. Now some of the blogs were constructive and were from soccer fans in the US and discussed how the US made mistakes in the game. Those people god bless them for understanding the game. The people that really pissed me off were the guys like BIG_AL’s blog titled “That game was so boring I was actually HOPING for a terrorist attack.” First off how tasteless is that? That is one of the stupidest comments I have ever heard since George W. Bush said “The best way to protect America is find the killers before they kill us.” (Feb. 24, 2003)
So all in all I can not believe how juvenile these supposed adults are. I don’t like baseball, and think that it is a terribly boring game but if Canada was in the World Series (why is it called that again? I don’t remember the last time Croatia took the mound against the Mets) I wouldn’t be writing ignorant, uneducated articles against how stupid the sport was when Canada lost. Most of these people with this point of view probably don’t get away from the front of their
"First off the gloves are not only to protect the hands but also for grip so they can catch the ball... juuuuuust like nascar the tires are slick so they hae more grip on the road juuuust like footbal (american football) the guy the throws the ball wears gloves so he can have more grip..."
And what do you use to "get a grip," chisss?
To answer seriously, which may destroy my whole reputation: OK, I can live with the idea that gloves are useful and reasonable for grip purposes. But then, if the NFL was as #### as soccer, wouldn't the receivers use extra-large gloves in order to soften the blow (sorry about the soccer terminology) and extend their reach? Wouldn't a linebacker from the #### Dallas Cowgirls wear nice big puffy gloves to protect their Palmolive-soft hands from a blazingly fast bullet thrown by Donovan McNabb?! Said ball being a *hard, pointed ball*, not a soft air-filled soccer ball, btw.
AL WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WON ANYTING YOU VOTED FOR BUSH YUP ALL YOU #### ARE ALIKE HUMP YOUR KIN EAT RATS SHOOT UP THE PLACE AND TALK #### BUT WE ALL KNOW YOU LOVE FOOTBALL{SOCCER}YOUR A CLOSET PLAYER JUST CANT GET IT OFF YOUR MIND AND WAIT DONT TALK ABOUT HAITI CUZ THE DEFICT YOU ALL WILL BE THERE SOON DONT PLAY IN YOUR BLEEP ABOUT TNT
"AL WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WON ANYTING YOU VOTED FOR BUSH YUP ALL YOU #### ARE ALIKE HUMP YOUR KIN EAT RATS SHOOT UP THE PLACE AND TALK #### BUT WE ALL KNOW YOU LOVE FOOTBALL{SOCCER}YOUR A CLOSET PLAYER JUST CANT GET IT OFF YOUR MIND AND WAIT DONT TALK ABOUT HAITI CUZ THE DEFICT YOU ALL WILL BE THERE SOON DONT PLAY IN YOUR BLEEP ABOUT TNT"
Eloquently stated...I have been firmly put in my place.
geddes-you have a legitimate right to disagree with Big Al and his opinions. But why do you discredit yourself by making ignorant and "stupid" comments concerning the great game of baseball,probably the most perfect game ever invented? You miss the entire spirit of, and quaint nuances of the game which make it unique and special when compared with other sports.
trinis: gotta love it when every aspect of the liberal church agenda is thrown back in your face at break neck speed eh?...lol. What does voting for Bush have to do with soccer? I can shoot it up with anybody here but does that make me a #### or just someone who is exercising my constitutional rights? After all if there is a black out in your town for more than 2 days, you will be going nuts wondering where you rnext meal is coming from. I on the other hand can walk 700 yds into the woods and never worry about a food shortage. In other words I can live completely free of the grocery store can you? But that is the very definition of what you consider to be a ####. I call it being an American who doesn't need the government to do things for me. It is the way things USED to be, before men were sissified........playing soccer. Soccer is a Euro sport that has not caught on here for a reason b/c it is just too boring to watch.
What does eating in the woods have anything to do with this discussion?
I am a huge football fan and I do not find this sport boring in any way. If you take the time to understand the game then that makes all the difference in the world. I have tried to appreciate American football but the game is so sporadic that I quickly lose interest. Baseball is so boring it drives me to tears and I have no words for hockey. Does that mean they're all lame? No - just different strokes for different folks.
I am willing to bet that if the US had a half way decent team to begin with then the country would be more inclined to watch the game. Then again it always amazes me how this country can build you up and tear you down within second(check article "How the US can win the World Cup and all subsequent articles after they were embarrassed by the Czechs) The rest of the world isn't stupid - it's the people who believe this because when it comes down to it, I would be bored too watching a competition that the US has no chance of ever winning.
Last edited by Football_fanatic on June 14th at 1:43 PM.
All i have to say is that even though i was born and raised in the US i still think that soccer is the #1 sport. ive played for 18 years and still love it. please don't think that all americans are like this big #### undereducated big al. here in america soccer is the #1 growing sport and getting bigger and bigger every year. im not saying this b/c i never played anything else, i played basketball and football in high school and started every year. please don't let this big #### al represent americans and their views on soccer.
The eating in the woods was in reference to a #### comment. The reason soccer is catching on here is b/c we have been Europeanized. aka..Losing our sack. Soccer is great for cardio, but it is boring, goal or no goal. There is nothing else to it either you score a goal or you have your shot blocked. At least in baseball you have singles, doubles, triples, SO, BB, HBP, Broke bats, Bunts, HR, ground rule doubles, ejections, bench clearing brawls, SBs. I mean in soccer you either score by header or footer. Not much variation in it. Unless you count the hundreds of fans killed each year b/c they like to walk all over each other for some reason. When I go to a game I want to live through it, not be crushed by a bunch of idiots watching a game that is well, less than entertaining.
Why is it when someone can't understand a sport
the first thing they do is say it sucks.
Big al most people hate american sports bc its
taylored for americans only. That's why Football
is so popular it is truly the only sport the
whole world understands so get off your high
horse and try to understand a truly great game
P.S GOOD LUCK TO the U S team although im a
SOCA WARRIOR GO TNT
Last edited by anotherfballfan on June 14th at 3:16 PM.
Al, I find this quite funny. Soccer, homosexual....ha ha ha. Is it not America's beloved football that ask the QB to snuggle up to the center put his hands under his arse and ask for balls? So which one is #### (homosexual) again?
Funny thing is I played football most of my life and even through college. I appreciate the technical and athletic skill that soccer players possess. Your bashing comments reek of someone who couldn't make the team. So my last question is, if men play football, nerds play soccer and you couldn't make either team, what does that make you?
Why the hate for soccer? I think its a blast to watch, if there are good teams. I admit it can be one of the most boring sports if there is a match between two bad teams, but thats normal for any sport.
Personally I love Football over soccer, but I dont think it's "better". Calling soccer boring is like a soccer fan calling football a brainless contact sport.
First of all Big #### Al. I think you should research your thoughts before posting it online. Soccer is the most watched sports in the world. And second I love the USA soccer team even though i am not from this country. I love the U.S soccer team because of the different races that are involved in the team. It takes alot for a team like that to stand up to the world that takes the U.S soccer team lightly. Ranked 5th in the world is beyond impressive for the united states. I love watching football, basketball and baseball and have never called any sports #### just because I think its #### or stupid but I think your comments are plain ignorant. Thank about it man! But still you are ignorant. WOW
This game is soooooo boring anyway! Who cares!
Pool and Bowling has better ratings
We have all the girls and boys play it because it is easy and you can be a drone and all the soccer Moms can cheer little Debbie Sue. but the fact is they don't want to even keep score now!
Who plays this game when they grow up? NOONE!
I had 3 neices and 2 nephews who played this game for years but as soon as they hit 15 or 16 they gave it up and they now hate their parents for wasting their teenage years.
"This game is soooooo boring anyway! Who cares!
Pool and Bowling has better ratings"
Here are some inconvenient facts for the soccer haters:
World Cup ratings soar
By Gina Keating Mon Jun 12, 9:05 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - America is going soccer mad so far this World Cup season.
Preliminary ratings for the broadcast by Walt Disney Co.-owned ABC of the opening weekend of the 2006 World Cup soccer championship rose 65 percent over the 2002 tournament, ESPN, ABC's sister station, said on Monday.
Spanish-language broadcaster Univision also reported on Monday that its World Cup audience for the tournament's first eight games nearly tripled over the same period in 2002.
ABC's broadcast of three matches Friday through Sunday delivered an average rating of 2.8, with about 2.8 percent of U.S. homes in the top 56 markets watching. That compared with an average rating of 1.7 for two matches broadcast during the 2002 opening weekend.
NEW YORK -- The United States' 3-0 loss to the Czech Republic was watched by 2.14 million households, the most to see a soccer game on ESPN2.
Monday's match received a 2.4 cable rating, the network said Tuesday.
**It was the most-watched program on the network this year.**
ratings are always high for american idol, and other reality TV shows. just because people are watching does not mean that said form of entertainment does not suck.
Seems like a bigot if he truly believes what he is writing. Or he just have too much time on his hands after he had exhausted all the possible ways to make fun of his momma.
Ah... waiting for the day when a homosexual football or baseball player comes out from his closet.
I don't think american sports suck particularly nor soccer suck particularly bad even though each is popular in their own way.
I think your reasoning about "popularity don't mean ####" works in reverse for american sports bashers.
What we are doing here are like slimy lawyers (uh...oh, did I just ticked off some lawyers) manipulating facts (subconciously) to support our own arguments. Like a defendant's lawyer will argue for his client's insanity while the plantiff will argue against it. At the end, the point of whether the defendant is really insane became unimportant with each side digging up dirt as much possible to disprove the opposing side's theory just to win.
If there was a time where everybody will agree with you on more than one issue, that time will probably come during time of impending doom when each person feels vulnerable and are "using" each other for support or after the impending doom when everybody is killed except for you alone. Otherwise, it's just a waste of time. Like I am right now.
LET ME TELL YOU SOCCER DAISIES SOMETHING. YOUR SPORT IS WORTHLESS. WHEN YOU PLAY YOU SHOULD HAVE TO WEAR A TAMPON AND A SKIRT. THEY CRY ALL THE TIME WHEN THEY ARE HIT AND THE RULES ARE HORRIBLE. OFFSIDES!!! THAT HAS TO BE THE MOST PATHETIC RULE EVER MADE. IT IS NOT A SPORT. YOU RUN AROUND CHASING A BALL AND THEN WHEN YOU HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO SCORE THE DAMN WHISTLE IS BLOWN FOR OFFSIDES. TRY SOME REAL SPORTS WHERE WHEN YOU GET HURT YOU KEEP PLAYING INSTEAD OF LAYING ON THE GROUND LIKE A FISH FLOPPING OUT OF WATER AND THEN AS SOON AS PLAY STOPS AND THE REF COMES OVER AND GIVES THE PLAYER OR LACK THERE OF A KNOBJOB THEY ARE UP AND BACK TO PLAYING. THAT IS A PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A SO CALLED ATHLETE. And for goosedc get a freakin grip. Show me a published study in an accredited journal (New England Journal of Medicine etc.) about intelligence of soccer athletes over other athletes. I was a college athlete and know all about GPA's and student athletes. It is pretty simple to figure out and if you knew anything about statistics and confounding factors you might not be so quick to post such ignorant comments. Take a class in research statistics and then get back to me. As for the popularity of the game, it is only popular overseas and in areas where parents are afraid to let their kids play a contact sport such as hockey or football. Go ahead call us #### but the fact of the matter is we are not afraid of contact sports. And anyone that says that soccer is a contact sport is living on a different planet.
Last edited by hockeyplaya44 on June 17th at 11:40 AM.
caught up but that is different than having someone trying to beat you by any means necessary which includes trying to hurt you and it be legal instead of getting yellow and red cards for sneezing on someone. The only reason it is so popular around the world is because you just have to own a ball to play the game. You don't have to have a ton of land to hit a baseball, have a bat and glove. You don't have to have a sheet of ice to skate on. You don't have to have pads and a helmet. I could go on and on. I have no respect for a game that goes for 90 minutes and ends up being 0-0 or 1-0. Talk about boring. Big Al I couldn't have put it better myself. You know rugby is sorta like a mix of football and soccer. Take any team in the world that plays soccer and put them up against the practice squad of any NFL team and let them play a game of rugby. Then we would see who the real athletes are, that is if the soccer pu$$ies would allow contact. Call me ignorant but whoever came up with the offsides rule in soccer takes the cake.
"ratings are always high for american idol, and other reality TV shows. just because people are watching does not mean that said form of entertainment does not suck."
-----
Then the same thing can be said for any sport like baseball and basketball.
For many years people said soccer is boring, no one plays it or watches it at the stadium or on TV. Then in the late '80s it became one of the top participant sports with over 18 million Americans playing. Soccer haters then said, "OK people play it but don't go to the games or watch on TV".
Then soccer here started drawing some huge numbers at the US world cup '94 (68,000 per game) and now the US national team home games average over 25,000 people. Even the 11 year old MLS, a league which the nay-sayers said wouldn't last 3 years, games average over 15,000 despite spending very little money on players and advertisements and despite getting almost no coverage from the media. There are 7 soccer specific stadiums either already built or under construction with more at the planning stage. New York MetroStars were sold for close to $100 million along with the stadium naming rights.
Soccer haters were then clinging to "soccer ratings are lower than test patterns. We rather watch paint dry" Then the last world cup ratings (overall, not just for the games involving the US games) surprised a lot of people. Even the ESPN network spokesmen admitted they liked what they saw. The ratings were also impressive on Univision (Spanish lang. network) which showed the games at the same time.
Disney then went on a bidding war with NBC for the TV rights to the next 2 world cups and spent $100 million (Univision also spent a record $325 million for the Spanish language rights) and giving the event it's due respect and coverage. Four years later, the ratings are so good they are setting all sorts of records. The US-Czech rep. game was the most watched program on ESPN2 this year. Ratings for other games also improved over 200% (ESPN and Univision combined) They compare very well with the baseball, basketball ratings on the same network and are far better than the NHL ratings. None of the games started on prime-time so they sound even better if the start time is taken into consideration .
So now it's the "Americans will watch anything"? I'm loving it. What a time to be alive for us American soccer fans!
Why does a sport have to 100% masculine anyway? What makes a masculine sport better than a feminine sport? Any NEJM studies? WTF now we are onto EBM now? Some of the NEJM articles are pretty bad anyway...
Geez... it's just all about preference. Some people like contact sports and some don't though soccer does count as contact sport with a whole lot of bumping and ahem... elbowing. Of course u can always say it's not like football. We all like what we like and arguing online is not gonna change each person's opinion one bit.
We watch our soccer and we watch our football. Whatever. We don't need to like each other's sport, but disrepect is a strong word to use Hockeyplaya.
"Why does a sport have to 100% masculine anyway? What makes a masculine sport better than a feminine sport? Any NEJM studies? WTF now we are onto EBM now? Some of the NEJM articles are pretty bad anyway..."
Big Al,
If, to you, "####" means being among the most physically fit athletes on the planet, making three times as much money as the highest paid so-called NFL "superstar," and getting to sleep with Posh ####e, then I'll be #### any day.
