Quote:
Originally Posted by Professor S
Well considering the two most popular sports in North America are American Football and Baseball, and they involve more strategy than any other sports I know, I can safely disagree. North Americans like action, strategy, and suspense. All of it, not just one of the three. I prefer to not cheat myself out of entertainment.
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My sloppy point was that BECAUSE of the fact scoring in Football is 6+1/3 points, and scoring in Baseball is so very frequent, and they are the two most popular sports - the average sportsfan will equate low scoring with a boring sport/no action.
Even take Basketball, a game where 80-100 points per team is pretty standard.
Look at hockey in the 90's, before it was big(ger than it is now) in the US. You had a whole lot of 0-0 ties, and 1-0 games. Then they started altering the rules (towards 2000 and on) to garner more scoring so the game would be more advertisable to the American public who valued a high final score over a strategically defensive game. It's a moot point now, but the fact of altering a game to raise scoring for viewership stands.
I'd argue that if the average American fan truly valued strategy, they'd be more appreciative of how much strategy goes into stopping the opposing team from scoring (in any sport, except maybe bowling?), rather than hoping the opposing team doesn't have the proper strategy to stop you from getting a dumb amount of points.
That, I believe is what clouds the judgement of many Americans into jumping into watching Soccer, is that it's so different than a sport they're used to watching because the game is built around defense, rather than primarily offense. Obviously scoring is important, but getting a goal scored on you in soccer is a
big deal. Not because "nothing happens" and you just "pass the ball back and forth for 90 minutes", but because it's like a chess match. Every goal you score is like taking off an important piece from the other side, and you want to defend your goal at all costs.
To keep with the chess metaphor, sure - you can all-out-attack sometimes, and sure, sometimes you'll just plow through your opponent. But if you try to simply attack attack attack against a skilled chess player, that motherfucker will pick you apart piece by piece. So you're always trying to subtly get a leg up until you see a major opening that you can slip your Rook into, baby.
Obviously there
are some players who play simply to score goals, and never pass - and that is equally as eqciting
All joking aside though, if you're near an MLS team, I
would suggest going to a game, despite what I said earlier. I mean, if you legitimately don't like the sport and don't want to actually give it a shot, don't bother. But the game is different than what you think it is, (And the crowd atmosphere is amazing, always chanting, singing, drums beating - although I can't speak for whatever city you might be near.) It's not the Simpsons-style "pass to___, pass to ___, back to ____". Obviously there is a lot of passing. The game is based around passing a ball. That is one of the main things of the game, passing. Definitely expect passing.
Picture it like the NFL. There is passing in the NFL. In the NFL a good pass (I mean a throw, not a lateral/handback, which is also a pass) is highly lauded, give it the same respect in Soccer. Not every NFL pass gets caught for a touchdown, but you can appreciate the effort on behalf of the passer, the passee, and the person trying to block the ball.
Hell, even in Baseball the primary thing is passing a ball. You can call it a throw, but you're passing another dude the ball for a minimum 9 innings. The pitcher passes it to the catcher, the batter tries to block the pass and boot it out to a field, before another player tries to pick it up and pass it to any one various base to try get the pass-blocker out because he's mean for ruining their nice game of pass.
I'd love to hear that version of baseball on TV.
"Halladay passes the ball to the catcher. Ball 1. The catcher passes the ball back to Halladay. Halladay passes the ball to the catcher. Ball 2. The catcher passes the ball back to Halladay. Halladay passes the ball to the catcher. Ball 3. The catcher passes the ball back to Halladay. Halladay passes the ball to the catcher. The batter blocks the pass. Pass block fouled. The Umpire passes the ball to the Catcher who then passes the ball to Halladay. Halladay passes the ball to the Catcher. The Batter blocks the pass out to left field, the fielder grabs the ball and passes it to the first baseman. The pass blocker is out. The first baseman passes the ball to Halladay. The next pass blocker walks in front of the catcher. Halladay passes the ball to the Catcher. Ball 1."