The stupidest sport in the world

[Guest]

In all fairness, I've watched the English Premier League and I think it's better than the usual, but still pretty boring compared to a lot of other sports. I think it's pretty much like any other sport, you can't appriciate it till you try.

[Guest]

the sport that really gets me is soccer. ive tried to watch it and sometimes i can. i always seem to be taken in by the fact that i may happen to see a rare goal. so i end up duping myself into watching just one more minute.....i suppose its the fear that i may flip the channel and as soon as i do by some maracle there may actually be a goal scored. so i keep watching.........

 

what i dont get about it is the fact that the goalie is absolutely helpless in front of the abnormally huge goal that they have in soccer, but yet they never score? something just doesnt add up for me? if i could score a goal on one of those guys with both legs tied together and blindfolded then why cant they do it in a game? it seems to me that theres to many players on the field. things are just too cluttered. if they could get rid of 1 or 2 more players for each team then i believe that they could create some more action. i assume ppl watch these games to see goals scored? thats why i watch. so why not make it easier to score?

 

even hockey recognizes this and gives advantages to one team or another at different times during the game. i used to gamble on hockey a good bit a couple years ago. thats the only way that i could really watch it with a decent bit of interest and even in that sport which i believe is much more exciting than soccer it becomes dull when its 5 on 5. truthfully, i remember cheering more when a team would get the power play rather than when a team would actually score. just becos you know that when a team has the 5 on 4 advantage that you can anticipate a goal happening. so it elevates the excitement.

 

in soccer theres never any time for any anticipation of a goal. its just yawn, yawn, yawn, GOAL! "what, i missed it! damn i wasnt paying attention." you cant really predict when a goal is gonna happen and theres never any time when a goal is more likely to happen. maybe when they have corner kicks, but thats just a big cluster fuck. ive never seen a goal from a corner kick although i suppose that they do happen. then also they have the times when they line the guys up in front of the goal and the guy kicks at 'em like he's on a firing squad. did these guys commit adultery? or treason? i dont get it?

 

but yea, anyways, my point is goals are almost always unexpected. and even when a team does happen to advance the ball up close to the goal where you might begin to expect a goal might happen then its over and done with so quickly that you didnt even have time to get excited for it!

 

lets compare that to american football. where they run plays. when one team is down close to scoring then there is actually time to set and wrap your head around whats happening. if your setting at home or in the stands then you can pretty much get ready for it "ok, here it goes. this is it. this decides it. whats gonna happen?" can you see the difference between the two? as a fan watching football you get involved in the game becos can set back and think to yourself, or discuss the situation with a friend, you can debate about the best strategy for the situation may be. what you would do, what he would do, what they will do. basically theres just time to be excited about what is happening. with soccer theres no time. im not saying that soccer needs to be able to pause the game, its just that exciting moments are so few and far between and they dont last long enuff when they arise.

 

one of the other problems that i see with soccer that causes it to lose out to hockey in my mind is that in hockey if the puck gets cleared out then you dont have to wait but just a few seconds and the pucks back down into the opponents ice again. hell, the puck may go across center ice 4 or 5 times in less than a minute. so you have a reason to stay interested in whats going on at all times. but in soccer if the ball gets cleared out, then you pretty much have time to go grab a beer, or go to the bathroom and have a good shit or whatever you want before the ball actually gets back down to the opponents zone again. it takes for ever. one, becos the field is huge and 2. becos the they have to poke the ball back and forth 25 different times before they finally start to advance it past center field.

 

which brings me to another solution. if they would shorten the field some in soccer then in my opinion it would go along way to making the games better. really just for the sake of not fatiguing the players so much. it pains me to watch those guys trot back and forth down the field. they might aswell be running in a marathon. poor guys. no wonder they cant score, there dying!

 

lastly. soccer offers no symblance of functional plays. in football, you either run, or you pass. its more in depth than that but even the most clueless of ppl can clearly determine the difference. the simplicity offers intrigue. in basketball and in hockey you can see that they are at least attempting to run plays. its not as clear as it is in football but you can tell that they are trying to do something. especially when it comes to 5 on 4 hockey. its very evident when they are setting something up and its one of the most exciting things to watch in all of sports while its happening.

 

but soccer on the other hand, when i watch it, i really cant ever tell when they are setting something up or trying to run a play or what? i mean, obviously they are running plays im sure. im not that naive. but my point is, you cant actually see it happening. or at least as a casual watcher i cant. maybe its just becos the plays get foiled much more easily in soccer than in other sports? due to the difficulty in maintaining control of the ball. im not sure? but sometimes it just seems as if they are zombies running around mindless. tired, mindless zombies : )

 

 

 

i dont know? i know that im missing something with soccer becos its the worlds biggest sport. but for the life of me i just cant figure out why? i mean seriously, what does it offer?

[MMATycoon]

Good post - that's interesting to hear a thorough analysis of why people don't get football.

 

First of all, fundamentally it's not a game about running plays, in an American Football sense. The only time really that you do anything like that is at set pieces (free kicks and corners). Rather, players individually and teams as a whole have tactics and ways of playing, formations and particular styles, but not in a regimented pattern, more like a general philosophy.

 

Obviously, as with most sports, it's very hard to understand what's going on or appreciate the skills involved without playing the game yourself. I think probably moreso in football than a lot of sports because a lot of what people do is second nature and instinct rather than, as you say, it looking like there is some play that you can write down in a big book of plays.

 

I think that lack of regimentation is probably why it's the most popular sport in the world. There's no shot clock to make you do something. There's no number of downs or tackles that force you to do something. You can effectively do what you like and the other team have to stop you, or they'll lose. Don't like that I'm playing defensively? Do something about it then. Can't do something about it? Tough shit. That lack of forced action makes it very, very tactical, without it being overtly so.

 

Because it's often so subtle, you'll get many people who've watched football their whole lives as their main sport and they still won't have a clue what a certain player did wrong in a certain situation or what a team did wrong tactically, so it's completely understandable what you're saying about not understanding what's going on and it looking like a bunch of headless chickens, but it's far from that.

 

In the way that with American Football you have a starting formation and that's associated with a certain play (blitz or whatever), formations are the foundation but the individual players will be assigned a role for the game and on an even more general basis, the players selected very much have to suit that role physically and skill wise. That probably goes without saying if you actually watch sometimes but with basketball or ice hockey for instance, I wouldn't have clue what skills and attributes each position had to have so you might not know what type of player plays what position.

 

Anyway, if you get a basic understanding of formations, that's the building block of understanding what's going on.

http://www.talkfootball.co.uk/guides/footb...formations.html

On a more complex level it comes down to understanding your opponent's formation ahead of time and setting up your team to exploit their weaknesses and/or pulling their players out of position to mess with their formation. This happens over the course of 90 minutes in a fluid way, rather than doing it one play at a time.

 

A seperate point about the game and how exciting it is... There always seems to be a focus on lack of goals as a justification and explanation of why football is boring. Perhaps if you don't have any vested interest in the outcome that applies but when you actually care who wins, I think the lack of goals makes it more exciting because each goal is far more significant. In American Football you get what? About 7 scores per game maybe on average? If you get 2 or 3 in a football game, that means each one is twice as significant and you celebrate it like a lunatic. More pressure on each situation, more pressure to never make a mistake, more intense reaction when you do actually score.

 

I mean, look at the FA Cup from yesterday. Chelsea hit the post/bar 5 times in the first half and were absolutely dominating Portsmouth BUT it meant nothing because they hadn't scored. That's exciting because of the chance of the upset and the utter frustration of not being able to score. Portsmouth then got a penalty completely against the run of play but missed, basically because of the pressure. 2 minutes later Chelsea score and end up winning 1-0 after missing a penalty of their own late on. That one goal was worth millions.

 

 

Likewise in the playoffs from the 2nd tier to the Premier League - that game next weekend might get decided by one goal and that one goal will be worth £100m. You only have to watch how absolutely mental that supporters will go to see that 1-0 is no more boring, for someone who cares.

 

As for the goals being too big. Doesn't that contradict your thoughts about there not being enough goals?

If anything they're too small. When football started the average height was about 5 foot 5 I believe. Keepers nowadays are more like 6 '3 or 4.

 

Anyway, I think probably football's just not a sport that will ever suit the American psychology. Low points scoring, the possibility of draws, no forcing of when activity will happen... Add that to the fact that nobody plays it and I don't think you guys will ever take to it.

[Guest]

Hunting or fishing (as a sport).

 

Although I'm not sure for what reasons you're saying this (I have a guess), nor do I think that they're mainstream sports, I agree. Why don't we go and label "murdering" and "just killin' without plannin' it" as sports?

 

Okay, I went a bit over it, but I still agree.

[Guest]

A sport I like to watch but I will never play is women Sand volleyball!

 

 

For the worst sport I think Soccer is the worst.... It's like watching a slow hockey and no action! yeah I know it's need a lots of skill to be good at it, but the field is too wide, the net is very large and the ball is way too easy to see! Each time I try to watch it I lost my time!

 

If you like to run... Just run dont try to hit a ball!

[Face Kicker]

Anyway, I think probably football's just not a sport that will ever suit the American psychology. Low points scoring, the possibility of draws, no forcing of when activity will happen... Add that to the fact that nobody plays it and I don't think you guys will ever take to it.

 

well, in fairness, a lot of people here do play it, but not many continue to play it after elementary school because there's no money in it here. a lot of american athletes that would likely excel in soccer instead choose to focus their athletic endeavors on baseball/basketball/football because there's a lot more relevance to it here (college scholarships, going to the pro level, etc).

 

i mean, we didn't coin the term "soccer-mom" for nothing

 

that being said, i don't think there's anything short of some rules changes that will make it catch on in mainstream america. quite simply i think a lot of americans just don't have "room" for it. they can already watch football, baseball, basketball, hockey, etc year-round (when you lump them all together), all of which they're already more familiar with and which are well covered on the news/sports channels. if it's not made more exciting (read: more goals) to the casual fan, and if it isn't covered by the american media, then people here will continue to lose interest in it after tuning in to a game for 10 minutes and seeing nothing but people passing the ball and flopping worse than in basketball.

[Guest]

The US needs to win the World Cup for soccer to even try to reach mainstream America. I don't watch any MLS games, because they are rarely shown, but Versus or ESPN 2 needs to pick up MLS and have a set schedule. Also I like how in the UK they don't have commercial breaks until halftime. Both soccer & hockey need to do that here in the US. ESPN also needs to put more emphasis into both sports rather than focusing half of their shows on what Bret Favre is eating for breakfast and how many shits he takes a day.

[Face Kicker]

^^^

 

pancakes and bacon, and twice.

[Guest]

well, in fairness, a lot of people here do play it, but not many continue to play it after elementary school because there's no money in it here. a lot of american athletes that would likely excel in soccer instead choose to focus their athletic endeavors on baseball/basketball/football because there's a lot more relevance to it here (college scholarships, going to the pro level, etc).

 

i mean, we didn't coin the term "soccer-mom" for nothing

 

that being said, i don't think there's anything short of some rules changes that will make it catch on in mainstream america. quite simply i think a lot of americans just don't have "room" for it. they can already watch football, baseball, basketball, hockey, etc year-round (when you lump them all together), all of which they're already more familiar with and which are well covered on the news/sports channels. if it's not made more exciting (read: more goals) to the casual fan, and if it isn't covered by the american media, then people here will continue to lose interest in it after tuning in to a game for 10 minutes and seeing nothing but people passing the ball and flopping worse than in basketball.

 

If your country was into the sport and passionate about it i'm pretty sure you could be the best in the world at it. You have every race type in your country, you have an enormous population and there is no doubt that a combination of every possible gene pool and a huge sample of them would yield some players who are built to succeed.

 

If the interest was there the money would be there too for the best coaching and grass routes development of the sport. For whatever reason though America seems to play its own sports while the rest of the world plays its own.

 

The common ground tends to be the combat sports.

 

 

[Face Kicker]

If your country was into the sport and passionate about it i'm pretty sure you could be the best in the world at it. You have every race type in your country, you have an enormous population and there is no doubt that a combination of every possible gene pool and a huge sample of them would yield some players who are built to succeed.

 

If the interest was there the money would be there too for the best coaching and grass routes development of the sport. For whatever reason though America seems to play its own sports while the rest of the world plays its own.

 

The common ground tends to be the combat sports.

 

 

i think the money needs to be there before the interest will get there though. at this point it's just too far behind the other mainstream sports here in order to ever catch up without some serious cash injections. in a lot of ways i think it goes like this:

 

Timmy is great at soccer and baseball.

Timmy wants to go to college but doesn't have much money.

Timmy knows he can get a scholarship if he focuses on baseball.

Timmy stops playing soccer to focus on baseball.

Timmy goes to college on a baseball scholarship.

**fast forward 15-20 years**

Timmy coaches youth soccer on the weekends.

 

 

it's really a double-edged sword. they need money to increase interest, but without interest they can't get money.

[Guest]

i think the money needs to be there before the interest will get there though. at this point it's just too far behind the other mainstream sports here in order to ever catch up without some serious cash injections. in a lot of ways i think it goes like this:

 

Timmy is great at soccer and baseball.

Timmy wants to go to college but doesn't have much money.

Timmy knows he can get a scholarship if he focuses on baseball.

Timmy stops playing soccer to focus on baseball.

Timmy goes to college on a baseball scholarship.

**fast forward 15-20 years**

Timmy coaches youth soccer on the weekends.

 

 

it's really a double-edged sword. they need money to increase interest, but without interest they can't get money.

 

Thats it in a nutshell, over here the best players earn around £150,000 per week, Sky Sports spend a fortune on the sport, promoting it, covering it and paying the clubs for TV rights and fans spend a fortune to watch it on sky, go to games and buy shirts etc.

 

We have clubs spending hundreds of millions on players every year, astronomical wages and transfer fees are part of the sport and it's all money that essentially comes from the fans. Without that sort of interest in the game the money would not be there.

 

Due to the huge interest in the sport here there is huge money in the sport.

[Guest]

sorta loving the fact not one person has yet to mention Aussies rules. Guess it must be a pretty awesome sport.

[man5616]

Some of you guys have weird definitions of mainstream sports

 

The difference between what a lot of you guys are talking about and what I meant is not what you like or dislike, it's sports that are really popular but seemingly there is little skill or point to the game. That's what I meant about rugby league. I couldn't watch Ice Hockey either but I see the skill involved there. I'm sure people who dislike baseball, football or golf would recognise there is a hell of a lot of skill involved.

 

I mean, obviously there is some skill involved in rugby league, I'm not daft enough to think that there isn't any at all, I just think it's totally diluted when most of the game is spent doing something which takes absolutely zero skill whatsoever, in just running straight at the guy right in front of you like a zombie.

 

only the forwards will run in to each other[which u already know]..this is equivalent to a body punch in mma/box, ie it prob wont win the match on its own, but a few hurt tired forwards will allow the smaller faster men to work around the ruck. The reason league is my favorite ball sport is the fact u can rely on pure aggression to win a match, when in most sports u r penalized for it..league is high paced action, way above the girls sport of soccer.

[Guest]

I think Lacrosse is the stupidest sport in the world.

This one!

You bite your tounges! Watch a game or two this weekend (College lacrosse semifinals Saturday (4 and 6:30 ESPN2)) and maybe you'll change your minds.

 

Stupidest professional sport, to me, is bowling.

[Guest]

why is poker considered a sport?

[jiggy]

The dumbest sport ever is still Racewalking.

[CardiffWanderer]

One of the fundamental things about the game of football (soccer) is that you need to appreciate the skill involved in the build up and the movement of the game. I had to do the conversion to football to american football which was just as difficult.

 

The bets way I have been able to explain it to Americans is the middle of the game, all the short passes being like several short 2 yard runs into the inside which go forward a couple of yards and then ultimately go into nothing and then the goal is normally from an inspirational play like a long pass or a runner who manages to find the whole in the defense and makes the 50+ year run. It just doesn't have any gaps in the game.

 

However in the case of the goals, they are very small when you have a big GK in there. It is very difficult to score.

 

 

[Guest]

I nearly laughed myself to death when I read "Lacrosse is a pussy sport". That deserves least intelligent post of the year award.

 

I dont know if the field variety they play in the USA is for pussies but the game of lacrosse in Canada is a very rough game.

Its funny how I seem to like watching almost all sports. I find non playoff baseball boring and soccer can be a waste of 90 minutes.

 

You really must watch this crazy new combat form of arm wrestling. Wait till you see this.

 

[jeepis]

I dont know if the field variety they play in the USA is for pussies but the game of lacrosse in Canada is a very rough game.

Its funny how I seem to like watching almost all sports. I find non playoff baseball boring and soccer can be a waste of 90 minutes.

 

You really must watch this crazy new combat form of arm wrestling. Wait till you see this.

This is without a doubt the epitome of awesome...

[Guest]

If your country was into the sport and passionate about it i'm pretty sure you could be the best in the world at it. You have every race type in your country, you have an enormous population and there is no doubt that a combination of every possible gene pool and a huge sample of them would yield some players who are built to succeed.

 

If the interest was there the money would be there too for the best coaching and grass routes development of the sport. For whatever reason though America seems to play its own sports while the rest of the world plays its own.

 

The common ground tends to be the combat sports.

 

What you fail to understand about soccer in america is that over here it is a sport for rich kids (See Landon Donovan), and of course people with ties to big footballing countries such as hispanic imigrants, not a sport for Americans that are hungry to suceed in athletics. This is why america won't do well in the world cup for quite a long time. The people that would be good at it choose either basketball or americna football depending on what region of the US they live in.

 

Also the format of the MLS is absolutely terrible. We have a draft to pick young players and playoffs to decide champions. The actual season has very little importance. Their contracts are also incredibly strict and is the reason why for the first time ever America has a World Cup team where at least 1/2 of the squad actually play in clubs located overseas. Imagine that lol.

 

Basketball is the american past time. Courts are everywhere, just about any type of shoes will do, and you don't need protective equipment.

 

I think the quality of american sports is starting to suffer because they are not internationally popular. The NFL has become so ridiculously conservative and basketball has turned into a game of flopping and crying where players don't play with an ounce of passion unless they are about to win a championship.

 

European football has turned a little soft also. I find the difference between the type of calls that award penalties around the time of the last world cup and today pretty amazing. However, it is still an amazing game because of skill and variety of tactics.

[Guest]

You really must watch this crazy new combat form of arm wrestling. Wait till you see this.

I vote for this. Stupid doesn't even begin to explain it.

[Guest]

I vote for this. Stupid doesn't even begin to explain it.

I cant believe more people arent talking about how crazy this shit is....

[jiggy]

What you fail to understand about soccer in america is that over here it is a sport for rich kids (See Landon Donovan), and of course people with ties to big footballing countries such as hispanic imigrants, not a sport for Americans that are hungry to suceed in athletics. This is why america won't do well in the world cup for quite a long time. The people that would be good at it choose either basketball or americna football depending on what region of the US they live in.

 

Also the format of the MLS is absolutely terrible. We have a draft to pick young players and playoffs to decide champions. The actual season has very little importance. Their contracts are also incredibly strict and is the reason why for the first time ever America has a World Cup team where at least 1/2 of the squad actually play in clubs located overseas. Imagine that lol.

 

Basketball is the american past time. Courts are everywhere, just about any type of shoes will do, and you don't need protective equipment.

 

I think the quality of american sports is starting to suffer because they are not internationally popular. The NFL has become so ridiculously conservative and basketball has turned into a game of flopping and crying where players don't play with an ounce of passion unless they are about to win a championship.

 

European football has turned a little soft also. I find the difference between the type of calls that award penalties around the time of the last world cup and today pretty amazing. However, it is still an amazing game because of skill and variety of tactics.

 

Um, that is baseball big guy.

[PackLeader]

Basketball is the american past time. Courts are everywhere, just about any type of shoes will do, and you don't need protective equipment.

 

I'd agree that basketball is America's equivalent of soccer. It'd be great to see soccer take off though. I think it's the best viewer team sport in the world at the high levels.

[Guest]

Love playing soccer. Watching it makes me want AIDS.