Cyberyeti Posted August 18, 2012 Report Share Posted August 18, 2012 baseball is huge in latin countries and japan... i think even basketball has int'l appeal... football seems to be growing, nfl at least... soon there will be teams in canada and england...Basketball is a global game that the UK doesn't really get but most of the rest of Europe does. Baseball is huge in comparatively few countries, and a minority sport that does exist but isn't on the radar of most sports fans in most of the world. NFL has had a following in the UK since it hit national free to air TV in the 80s although now it's mainly on satellite. I think on F2A you get the Sunday late game, MNF and the superbowl, the late games being at 1am. You do however get 1 or 2 games every Sunday evening on public digital radio here. Satellite gets 2 games every week on the Sunday plus the Thursday games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trinidad Posted August 19, 2012 Report Share Posted August 19, 2012 Some sports are fun to play. Other sports are fun to watch. Just because soccer is fun to play doesn't mean it is also fun to watch. I am European. When I was young, I played soccer almost every day (rain or shine). I understand a lot more about soccer than about football. I never play football myself (since I think it is boring to play it at a recreational level and I am to much of a nerd to try beyond recreational level). But, I watch a lot more NFL than I watch soccer. Because I find it more fun to watch football than soccer. To take this reasoning a step further: I play a lot of bridge, I watch little bridge (and for a bridge layer I actually watch a lot). Bridge, more soccer than soccer. Rik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barmar Posted September 12, 2012 Report Share Posted September 12, 2012 Today's XKCD seems apropos:http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/sports_cheat_sheet.png Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aberlour10 Posted September 12, 2012 Report Share Posted September 12, 2012 Live football 365 days a year is a must in Europe, The bet industrie grows and people want to bet even if only matches from 3rd albanian division are available for it at some moments. A strong smell of conspiracy behind it B-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barmar Posted September 13, 2012 Report Share Posted September 13, 2012 What struck me about that cartoon is that football is essentially the only sport that the masses care about. What is it about Americans that we're able to follow 3 major sports leagues, while everyone else just follows one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cthulhu D Posted September 13, 2012 Report Share Posted September 13, 2012 What struck me about that cartoon is that football is essentially the only sport that the masses care about. What is it about Americans that we're able to follow 3 major sports leagues, while everyone else just follows one. Err, that's a pretty myopic view of the world - you're totally wrong. For example, the English follow Cricket, Football and Rugby Union very heavily. In Australia Australian Rules, Rugby Union, Cricket and Rugby League have massive footprints. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barmar Posted September 13, 2012 Report Share Posted September 13, 2012 Err, that's a pretty myopic view of the world - you're totally wrong. For example, the English follow Cricket, Football and Rugby Union very heavily. In Australia Australian Rules, Rugby Union, Cricket and Rugby League have massive footprints.Yeah, I let the cartoon fool me into forgetting about those other sports. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackshoe Posted September 13, 2012 Report Share Posted September 13, 2012 The cartoon is a lie. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigel_k Posted September 14, 2012 Report Share Posted September 14, 2012 The cartoon is a lie. :DYep, hockey is missing from the left hand side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bbradley62 Posted September 14, 2012 Report Share Posted September 14, 2012 Yep, hockey is missing from the left hand side.With hockey and basketball having essentially the same seasons, hockey is never the major topic of conversation among sports fans in the USA. But, in Canada... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveharty Posted September 14, 2012 Report Share Posted September 14, 2012 American football is a nice game, but even the most fanatics of them can live without watching a game long time.I am surprised to see this Timo, surely you are aware of how many small Texas towns revolve around the Friday night high school game. College football fans in places like Columbus OH, or Lincoln NE, or Tuscaloosa AL, or dozens of other football enclaves would be surprised to hear that soccer fans are more passionate about their sport. And while the NFL offseason is indeed long, fans still find ways to get their fix...the NFL draft regularly gets better ratings than live broadcasts in other sports, for crying out loud. More than 25 million watched the first round this year. This is a football-mad nation, and the NFL's recent preoccupation with things like concussions, "bounty systems", etc. doesn't seem to be hurting its popularity at all. As others have suggested, the only thing that is really going to put a long-term dent in football's popularity here is for loads of parents to decide not to let their sons play. FWIW, I really like watching soccer; I don't understand the argument that it's inherently boring. Certainly it can be, but have you watched a baseball game lately? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike777 Posted March 13, 2013 Report Share Posted March 13, 2013 And I've been told that relegation in European soccer doesn't actually work, either. It just creates "weak sisters" who rotate in and out of the higher leagues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aberlour10 Posted March 13, 2013 Report Share Posted March 13, 2013 And I've been told that relegation in European soccer doesn't actually work, either. It just creates "weak sisters" who rotate in and out of the higher leagues. It works. The league system without relegations works only on play off base, but here is not a single football league in Europe based on these US sports systems Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billw55 Posted March 13, 2013 Report Share Posted March 13, 2013 It works. The league system without relegations works only on play off base, but here is not a single football league in Europe based on these US sports systemsOf course I am from the US and therefore biased, but playoffs seem better than just having a season and giving the championship to the team at the top of the table. The EPL way feels like the oft-quoted comparison of matchpoints to IMPs: the EPL (like matchpoints) is in part a test of who beats up the weaker contestants more thoroughly, rather than who is best against each other among the top teams. Then again, Europe has the Champions League, a great thing with which we have nothing to compare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wyman Posted March 13, 2013 Report Share Posted March 13, 2013 FWIW, I really like watching soccer; I don't understand the argument that it's inherently boring. Certainly it can be, but have you watched a baseball game lately? Agreed. And football (US) can be boring too. And it's pretty slow-moving. I was a soccer player until college. And for whatever it's worth, I can pretty much only watch baseball or football (US) if I have some vested interest in the game (a team I root for, $$ on the game, fantasy players I'm following, ...). I do enjoy going to baseball games, having a beer, socializing, etc, but it takes a lot to get me into the game. With soccer, though, I can watch pretty much any game between any two teams. Mexican 3rd division? Sure! I realize that I'm in the minority, but soccer is one of my favorite sports to watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyberyeti Posted March 13, 2013 Report Share Posted March 13, 2013 It works. The league system without relegations works only on play off base, but here is not a single football league in Europe based on these US sports systemsSoccer, maybe not, rugby union in the UK is very similar to a US system, as is rugby league (in fact RL uses a slightly different Australian model for their playoffs). Both have tinkered with a no promotion model The lower divisions in England have a playoff system to find the final promoted team (2 up and 3-6 play off for the third promotion place), and some leagues have done this with 2 up 2 down plus the third bottom team in the higher division and the 3rd-5th teams in the lower one playing off. In the summer in England only, cricket comes up in conversation. Also in areas of the country, the two rugby codes are at least as popular as soccer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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