Why Most Americans Consider Soccer Girly

[Grisu]

So there you have it, proof that soccer is shiite, and American football is the only game worthy of the name "football." If you don't agree, you are just not smart enough to understand American football, and deserve to keep watching "footy." That is all.

nah, it just proves that american football is so boring that you have to build a huge event around it to make it bearable j/k

anybody who doesn't like football just because he thinks it's girly is probably not too secure in his own sexuality Dislike football if you want, but at least use real reasons to not like it

 

[El Justo]

i'm american and i don't find soccer/football to be "girly"...far from it actually. i think that soccer players are some of the best conditined athletes on the planet.

i think that one of the main reasons that americans don't like soccer is b/c the pro leagues here are crap. i mean, really...who is going to pay to watch these guys play? not me now, i enjoy watching the World Cup b/c these are the best players in the world. so that, in itself, is a reason for me to watch.

the one thing i find annoying though is the dives that alot of the players take. that is just pathetic imo.

 

[Masquerouge]

the one thing i find annoying though is the dives that alot of the players take. that is just pathetic imo.

Yup I think they're trying to improve that by relying more and more on video, but the road is a long and windy one.
And while I agree that soccer is probably one of the team sports with the fewest interruptions to gameplay, making use of video time-outs awkward, I think it would only be bad for the first couple of years, then players would learn that it's not worth it.

 

[Marla_Singer]

Here, soccer is pretty much third or fourth in line (depending on whether cricket is included along with Aussie Rules and NRL) yet we are one of the stronger teams in Asia, and managed to get through the group stages at the last world cup. But we probably have more depth due to the focus on sport in Australian culture.

I don't see any other sport than soccer/football where it is considered as a national achievement that the home team has reached the 2nd round of a World Cup. I recall that even many Americans were all proud to have reached the quarters in 2002!!

This fact alone probably proves that football is not like any other sports.

 

[dgfred]

I don't see any other sport than soccer/football where it is considered as a national achievement that the home team has reached the 2nd round of a World Cup. I recall that even many Americans were all proud to have reached the quarters in 2002!!

Yes, we were very proud. After so many years of hearing how cruddy US
teams were at the 'worlds' favorite game as compared to other teams, it was
very nice to see that after only about 8 years or so of 'actually trying' to put
a decent team on the field... the US was competing and even beating many
international teams. Many don't realize it but here in America the
younger kids are digging soccer and so are the parents. Less chance of
injury (not really, but seems less violent than American Football), regular season for soccer here is usually during football season (so it gives them an
alternative), and the fields/facilities/workout centers/scholarships/etc have
given us a good base to have a decent world team. High School Soccer has
gotten as big as Football in many areas of the country; not nearly all areas,
but quite many. College Soccer (both men and women) is growing every
year with the NCAA Championships getting better players and a wider audience. It seems (for instance in my area of North Carolina) some high
school teams are known for the soccer, others for baseball, others for
basketball and even others are football or volleyball 'giants'. Soccer is definately gaining popularity here, especially with the young... and in the future it is likely the US will be able to compete very well in the international
scene. Right now most people (I am 43) haven't grown up with soccer and
have mostly watched, played and lived with the big 3 sports here: Football,
Baseball and Basketball. For instance myself- I knew nothing of soccer (too
much running without the thrill of 'scoring' myself) and had only played it a
couple of times in Physical Education class in about the 6th grade. When my
daughter reached age 5 and started playing soccer (no football for girls, although she is quite good at it ) I started coaching and absorbed myself
in the game for a few years... I'm a freak like that. Since then I have grown
to like the game very much, and the different aspects of it. Girls and Guys
my daughter's age have respect for the game, and nobody even questions
anymore if a girl plays soccer instead of softball and the boys play soccer
instead of football (the seasons are at the same time). Many a team has
lost a excellent softball or football player that decided to play soccer instead.
But now those programs are just as big or bigger than their opposing sports.
It seems soccer has to grow on you as a game, and the younger generations
here are starting to understand and love the game.

 

[downtown]

mean, really...who is going to pay to watch these guys play? not me .

Apparently more and more people, since the league keeps expanding and is becoming more and more profitable.

I think they're adding a new in Philly in a few years. Maybe go give it a try! Its not very expensive...the game, a few hot dogs and a brew will be under 35 or 40 bucks.

 

[El Justo]

yeah, they just built a new stadium in Chester, PA which is a few clicks south of the city. it's going to be a tough sell though for philly fans. however, i think that for the school kids, like dg so eloquently noted, it'll be great, especially for inner city kids that don't get exposed to the sport as much as, say, the suburbanites.

i remember going to a game a long, long time ago in philly...probably in the early 80s. can't remember the name of the team atm but they didn't last long.

scholastic soccer in New Jersey is huge actually. my old high school was always competing for state titles and the like and the running joke was that our gridiron program suffered miserably b/c all of the town's best athletes played in the soccer program

 

[Grisu]

the one thing i find annoying though is the dives that alot of the players take. that is just pathetic imo.

I think this is one of the very few things where we could gete most of the CFCers to agree on

 

[Arwon]

1. Diving and prancing around pretending to be hurt are widely done at the professional level.
2. Many world class soccer players seem like pretty boys (the quintessential example of this being David Beckam)
3. The fights tend to be really really really girly.

Am I wrong? Could someone clear up these misconceptions for me? I'm not trying to troll soccer lovers, I'm genuinely interested because so many crazy rioter types like it, I have a hard time accepting that its really as girly as it seems, and so I must be mistaken.

Discuss.


*note: The mere fact that hard hits (eg slidetackles) occasionally occur does not make it non-girly. Even figure skaters crash hard sometimes, and I'm sure it hurts like heck.

Well to be fair, Real Zaragoza are pretty much rubbish right now.

 

[TheLastOne36]

1. Diving and prancing around pretending to be hurt are widely done at the professional level.

Just because Italy and Argentina Dives, doesn't mean the rest of the word dives.

2. Many world class soccer players seem like pretty boys (the quintessential example of this being David Beckam)

I bet it's cause beckham is paying hairdressers and the like tons of money to fix up his face for the odd chance that some guy from hollywood see's beckhams face in a LA game.

 

[EnlightenmentHK]

I don't think that soccer is terribly girly, but its certainly the first choice of American parents of young children who don't want to see unathletic little johnny get hurt or embarrassed. If you can't throw, hit, or catch, that's gonna be very apparent, very quickly in baseball. And that can lead to humiliation amongst ones peers as you're marked as uncoordinated and unathletic. A lack of athleticism and coordination also becomes quickly obvious in basketball and (American) football.

But soccer little Johnnie can jog around with everyone else, get in little scuffles for the ball that he inevitably loses, but the sport doesn't make it as decisively or obviously clear that he has no business being on the field. He still gets to kick the ball on occasions, even though for very little effect, but most observers don't know that. Most kicks and dribbles in the professional game are for very little effect anyway, so no loss. And better players around him can make him less of an obvious liability.

Add in the fact that you're not gonna get hit in the eye with a 'hard' ball that can do real damage or that you're not gonna get regularly tackled by bigger kids and soccer appears the much safer alternative as well. So its the perfect choice for overprotective soccer moms with out of shape, unathletic kids. That's why its popular at the youth level.



Its also an objectively more boring sport, but that's a rant for another time.

 

[Marla_Singer]

I don't think that soccer is terribly girly, but its certainly the first choice of American parents of young children who don't want to see unathletic little johnny get hurt or embarrassed.

Now I understand why Americans are so bad in the game despite having so many "little johnnies" playing soccer in the suburbs.

Check out where do the best players of football in the world comes from. They come from favelas in Brazil, they come from the "cités" of French banlieues, they come from drunkard industrial towns in Britain or East Germany... They come from harsh places. And it's not such a mystery. Footie is rude, and has grown as an excessively physical game in the last decades. you need to be strong, to stand out despite having rats trying to grab the ball with their feet all over you. Check out a football defender like Marcel Desailly, the guy is solid as a rock. His look is enough to make you understand you should better give him the ball if you want to survive. Football is really a tough game, and injuries there are a lot more violent than those in baseball, especially when the knees are involved.

Well, I don't know where the "soccer moms" got the idea it was a gentle sport for their lovely children, but I do understand clearly now why Americans are so bad at it.

 

[Sofista]

Just because Italy and Argentina Dives, doesn't mean the rest of the word dives.

Keep trying. Sooner or later you'll hit on a winning tactic.

 

[Lambert Simnel]

I don't see any other sport than soccer/football where it is considered as a national achievement that the home team has reached the 2nd round of a World Cup.

Hmm. I'll let you know about that if we ever get to the 2nd round...

 

[Lambert Simnel]

For what it's worth, I find this sort of "argument" quite bizarre. Football is a fundamental part of my soul - I can't watch any game and not end up supporting one team over the other, for example. The tension I felt when watching the 2nd leg of the CL semi-final between Barcelona and ManU was hellish - the only equivalent moments have been ones of major personal trauma (oh, and any football match involving Scotland). But if people don't get it, I don't care.

I also just don't care if people don't get baseball. Being in the UK, if I think the person is genuinely interested, then I'll try and describe the attraction of the game, but, for the most part, Europeans aren't prepared to look past the rounders element and misnamed "World Series". So they don't get it. And I don't care.

Ditto for cricket. Ditto for American football.

More than anything else, I reckon it's just a sign of immaturity, this business of trying to belittle others' favourite sports.

 

[TheLastOne36]

Now I understand why Americans are so bad in the game despite having so many "little johnnies" playing soccer in the suburbs.

Check out where does the best players of football in the world comes from. They come from favelas in Brazil, they come from the "cités" of French banlieues, they come from drunkard industrial towns in Britain or East Germany... They come from harsh places. And it's not such a mystery. Footie is rude, and has grown as an excessively physical game in the last decades. you need to be strong, to stand out despite having rats trying to grab the ball with their feet all over you. Check out a football defender like Marcel Desailly, the guy is solid as a rock. His look is enough to make you understand you should better give him the ball if you want to survive. Football is really a tough game, and injuries there are a lot more violent than those in baseball, especially when the knees are involved.

Well, I don't know where the "soccer moms" got the idea it was a gentle sport for their lovely children, but I do understand clearly now why Americans are so bad at it.

Exactly. all of the good Polish players came from the bad areas of polish towns and cities, where you had to know how to fight someone three times the size of you when you were six. I don't know any players who were brought up in a nice apartment in Krakow or Warsaw and became really good later on.

 

[Masquerouge]

Yes, we were very proud. After so many years of hearing how cruddy US
teams were at the 'worlds' favorite game as compared to other teams, it was
very nice to see that after only about 8 years or so of 'actually trying' to put
a decent team on the field... the US was competing and even beating many
international teams. Many don't realize it but here in America the
younger kids are digging soccer and so are the parents. Less chance of
injury (not really, but seems less violent than American Football), regular season for soccer here is usually during football season (so it gives them an
alternative), and the fields/facilities/workout centers/scholarships/etc have
given us a good base to have a decent world team. High School Soccer has
gotten as big as Football in many areas of the country; not nearly all areas,
but quite many. College Soccer (both men and women) is growing every
year with the NCAA Championships getting better players and a wider audience. It seems (for instance in my area of North Carolina) some high
school teams are known for the soccer, others for baseball, others for
basketball and even others are football or volleyball 'giants'. Soccer is definately gaining popularity here, especially with the young... and in the future it is likely the US will be able to compete very well in the international
scene. Right now most people (I am 43) haven't grown up with soccer and
have mostly watched, played and lived with the big 3 sports here: Football,
Baseball and Basketball. For instance myself- I knew nothing of soccer (too
much running without the thrill of 'scoring' myself) and had only played it a
couple of times in Physical Education class in about the 6th grade. When my
daughter reached age 5 and started playing soccer (no football for girls, although she is quite good at it ) I started coaching and absorbed myself
in the game for a few years... I'm a freak like that. Since then I have grown
to like the game very much, and the different aspects of it. Girls and Guys
my daughter's age have respect for the game, and nobody even questions
anymore if a girl plays soccer instead of softball and the boys play soccer
instead of football (the seasons are at the same time). Many a team has
lost a excellent softball or football player that decided to play soccer instead.
But now those programs are just as big or bigger than their opposing sports.
It seems soccer has to grow on you as a game, and the younger generations
here are starting to understand and love the game.

That's what I want to hear! The better national teams are, the better the world cup will be, so keep on improving that game

 

[warpus]

misnamed "World Series".

I'd have far more respect for baseball if this competition had a more .. proper name.

 

[REDY]

Why Most Americans Consider Soccer Girly?
Because C.Ronaldo.

 

[Lambert Simnel]

I'd have far more respect for baseball if this competition had a more .. proper name.

I'm tempted just to reply that I don't care. But since we can assume that to be the case, let's talk about this one - why on earth does the name of the tournament's final have anything to do with the nature and the quality of the sport ? C'mon, Warpus, you're too bright for that sort of knee-jerk reaction.