US Sports - whats with them?

Originally posted by carnival_of_souls2047
American Pro Baseball is more about the zen state you go into by watching it on TV or in a stadium. It's communal experience is really more important than who wins or loses. You transcend the violence of other sports and drop into your natural child-like conscience where you become one with baseball.
I'm sure it's the same thing for Pro Cricket. :w:

I'm not sure that is the case for me - I enjoy the competitive nature of sporting events, particularly since I can no longer participate myself.

On a slightly different note, I'd like to pose a question, which should not be taken as criticism of the US, it's people or culture.

I've noticed that Americans are very reluctant to involve themselves in international team sports at which there is real competition and at which other nations excel, they just stick to their own sports. There seems to be a mindset of "these are our sports, and we're the best at them, but we won't let you join in just in case you get better at them than us"
There also seems to be quite a lot of misunderstanding of other sports - an acquaintance from the US once tried to tell me that football (or soccer) wasn't a contact sport???????

There are basically 3 main team sports in the UK:
Football
Rugby (League and Union)
Cricket

All 3 are global sports, with football in particular having a massive worldwide following, in billions of live and TV spectators from every country in the world.

Can anyone tell me of a US sport that has a global following, and that is played at every level in most countries?

The failed european experiment with US Football doesn't count.

The way I see it…


Watching soccer is like watching Citizen Kane. It's beautiful and artistic. It challenges you intellectually and, even though it’s a little slow, it can be quite enjoyable if you’re dedicated and able to look past some sub-par acting.


Watching Baseball is like watching a Julia Roberts movie. Non-threatening. Relaxing. The perfect ambient noise for a lazy summer afternoon. You can take a nap through the middle third and not really miss anything. And, to your surprise, you find yourself absolutely riveted to the last half hour.


Watching football is like watching an old Schwarzenegger movie. Brutal. A whiplash combination of intense action and awkward pauses. Athletes that are so amazingly fast and strong that you don’t even care that they’re on steroids.


Watching Curling is like watching porn. You find yourself entranced by the gentle toss and furious pumping and quickly change the channel if someone walks in the room.


Watching Hockey is like watching an old Kung Fu movie. You marvel at the speed and skill of the actors and find yourself enthralled by the creative brutality of the fights. But it’s impossible to find on television so you only watch it once or twice a year.


Watching Cricket is like watching a documentary on soil. A documentary on soil that is 700 hours long. Dirt can be very interesting, of course. It has minerals in it. Many blind animals live and defecate in it as part of the circle of life. But it’s just not something that normal people focus on for that long.


Watching basketball is like watching Hamlet performed by Olivier in Stratford. Stunning in its complexity and beauty. Intriguing in its personal vendettas, and engaging in its team tactics. Filled with characters that would probably be better off in the prison system. Simply the perfect showcase for strength, agility, and athletic creativity.

Originally posted by Essedarius
The way I see it…


Watching soccer is like watching Citizen Kane. It's beautiful and artistic. It challenges you intellectually and, even though it’s a little slow, it can be quite enjoyable if you’re dedicated and able to look past some sub-par acting.

Watching Cricket is like watching a documentary on soil. A documentary on soil that is 700 hours long. Dirt can be very interesting, of course. It has minerals in it. Many blind animals live and defecate in it as part of the circle of life. But it’s just not something that normal people focus on for that long.

Nice analogies, but I think you may be a touch wide of the mark, IMO.
In the UK, football is NOT slow - Italian, Spanish and some south american football is, but not in the UK.
The level of skill required to play the game at such a pace is truly breathtaking.

I would also contend that cricket is the more intellectually stimulating game, simply because of the number of variables that exist with each ball bowled.
There are also different forms of cricket:
Test Cricket - played between 2 countries and scheduled for 5 days
International 1 day cricket - 50 overs per side (1 over = 6 deliveries bowled)
County Cricket (UK) - played between county sides and scheduled for 4 days
Limited Overs County Cricket - amount of overs depends on the competition that is being played - minor counties can also play some forms of this.
20-20 Cricket - international or county - 20 overs per side, and a fast and furious game.

Other countries have different set ups - state cricket in Australia for example.

20/20 rocks!

And we used to drink in over the park when we wos kids! i quite liked the Kiwi flavour.

As for sports - Look left! nuff said.

Then monkey you should have a look here:
www.belowtopsecret.com...

Seems LFC fans are a bit of a rarity on here, so the more, the merrier!

Originally posted by budski
The level of skill required to play [soccer / football] at such a pace is truly breathtaking.

I would never argue that. The athleticism and skill of soccer players overseas is amazing.

Our problem in the U.S. is that all our best athletes play basketball or football. We've never seen that transcendent soccer talent home-grown here in the States. We have to send out for our icons (Beckham, Pele), or hope for dual citizenship (Adu). Makes it harder to embrace.

I would also contend that cricket is the more intellectually stimulating game, simply because of the number of variables that exist with each ball bowled.

Man. After reading that description of cricket I will change my analogy as follows:

Watching cricket is like watching a David Lynch movie. Once it starts, everyone in the audience is pinned to their seats for the duration. That's because you get so exhausted trying to figure the damn thing out, you don't have the energy to get up and walk out of the theatre.

In the US now more kids are growing up playing Soccer/Football than in the past. The sport is becoming more popular, that combined with lots of immigrants coming from Soccer/Football countries might improve the game of US teams significantly in the next few years.

We have a long way to go to catch up with in Soccer/Football though Europe has a 80 years at least headstart.

Originally posted by DarkStormCrow
We have a long way to go to catch up with in Soccer/Football though Europe has a 80 years at least headstart.

The key to making U.S. soccer great is not so much catching up to Europe and South America in terms of talent...we have an amazing pool of young athletes in the U.S. that could be amazing soccer players. The key is having soccer catch up to basketball, football, and baseball in terms of $$$ and publicity.

It's about recruiting.

Until the Allen Iversons, Marvin Harrisons, and Tori Hunters of the world start carrying a soccer ball to elementary school instead of a baseball or football, they will never take their insane quickness and athleticism onto the pitch instead of the court...or gridiron...or diamond.

And I'm not sure that soccer can ever match what those other sports have to offer (in the States) in terms of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and prestige.

I agree the potential talent pool is immense, but until ESPN and the like quit showing Poker and Billiards and showing Soccer/Football. Things wont change much the only way I get to watch any Soccer outside of the Spanish Language channels is either PPV or have the super expanded cable package and get the Fox Soccer Channel. ESPN had the American contract for the Champions League last year and showed like 8 games.

Maybe as we develop players that can make it big in Europe people will start to take more notice.

Originally posted by DarkStormCrow
I agree the potential talent pool is immense,

Maybe as we develop players that can make it big in Europe people will start to take more notice.

You have to understand that kids in countries where football is the national sport, grow up kicking a ball - and at a pretty competitive level.

Then you have the national infrastructures for spotting talent and coaching.

The level of experience in the game is massive - and this doesn't happen overnight.
It's gonna take at least 20-30 years before the US would be anywhere near ready to compete at the same level.

I know the US has been in the world cup, and not done badly - but this is typical of FIFA trying to break the US market by any means possible - the US national team needs to take sportsmen away from other area's, but consider this - the average footballer is around 6 feet tall and weighs around 170lbs.

Whereas, there is no such thing as an average size for a cricketer - from 5'6" up to 6'10

[edit on 16/7/2007 by budski]

True enough the infrastructure is no where near where it is for American Football Baseball and Basketball. That will take years to build up, the good thing is more folks are playing Soccer/Football. Bad thing is they have lots of entrenced sports to compete against for funds especially in schools and colleges where the 3 major sports take all the money.

[edit on 7/16/2007 by DarkStormCrow]

It's worth remembering as well, that most of the money in UK football comes from sky TV - stadium/shirt sponsorship and gate money pay the bills, but the TV money provides the gravy.
www.footballeconomy.com...

Champions league is worth a lot, but only the top 4 teams from the premier league play in it.
www.uefa.com...=16384/newsid=77336.html

The problem is that the game is played at a much higher level in europe than anywhere else in the world - young south american stars are snapped up at an early age to play in europe, which weakens SA leagues - although the standard is still pretty good.
What the US needs, is a few clubs capable of playing in an America's version of the champs league - this would provide an initial boost, but the coaching and talent spotting need to improve drastically.

The same pretty much goes for cricket as regards TV money - except most of the money for counties and grass roots comes from test cricket.