[Cyberyeti]

 barmar, on 2012-August-08, 15:05, said:

Yeah, I think that's what I've heard as well. And the helmet provavly exacerbates this, since the heavy helmet increases the momentum.

I also think I heard about researchers who want to put accelerometers in kids' helmets, to get some real data about this effect, but cash-strapped school districts are not able to afford them.

The accelerometer tech exists and has been used in college football for a while. The NFL players' union is blocking them being used in the pro game as they don't want to be told they've taken too heavy a hit and pulled out of a game when they feel fine.

[Zelandakh]

Talking of JPR Williams and head injuries...

[MrAce]

 Jacki, on 2012-August-06, 20:21, said:

I'm sure this topic has been discussed before, but I'm not a regular at the Water Cooler.

As an Olympics junkie, I found myself watching USA vs Canada in a Soccer match today. That's what we call it, Soccer, the rest of the world calls it football. Football to those of us in the USA means a pigskin and a lot of muscular guys trying their best to badly hurt another person.

But it got me thinking...and back to the topic.

On any given weekend, Saturday and Sunday, at the local parks you will see tons of 'soccer' games going on with ages starting about 5 years up to the teenagers. Lots of parents and fans, lots of refreshments and noise all around as everyone cheers on their favorites.

But that's it as far as soccer is concerned in the USA. Once the kids get out of high school, soccer is a distant memory except for some community games it seems...it has never caught on as a popular sport as, say, football, baseball and even softball. But in the rest of the world it's a passion.

It's a rare family that doesn't have a kid or two involved in soccer. What happens that we here in the USA don't have the interest in soccer (ok football) as a professional sport?

Jacki

I think you should not compare an official olympic sport (Football) to a regional or national popular game.

American football is a nice game, but even the most fanatics of them can live without watching a game long time. There are millions of people in the world who basically lives their life for the weekend's football (soccer) match. You can not watch soccer as you watch a movie or opera as the way you guys do in America. You don't need to put sexy girls called cheerleaders or people with big animal costumes to make people motivated to the game. In fact in soccer they try everything to calm down the crowd, often special forces or military is used as a baricade between fans of two teams. You can not understand what soccer means by watching Pele or Beckenbauer or Beckham after they are retired. You can not understand soccer without actually watching a soccer match live (not on TV) in England,Germany, Spain, Italy etc etc. I can not explain you the shake of the earth by simply cheer of the crowd EVEN before the 22 men gets into to the field.

But you may find this related to your topic

http://fredericiana....er-vs-football/

[Cyberyeti]

What Mr Ace says is on the money, although I've never been to the really hot atmosphere games (Galatasaray/Fenerbahce, Celtic/Rangers, Boca Juniors/River plate), I recall my spell in Doetinchem many years ago doing a summer job. The local team De Graafschap are a sort of yoyo team between the top division and the second tier. The ground was pretty small and I guess held about 6000. At one end of the ground was a set of corrugated iron sheds with wire mesh facing the pitch for which the purpose was unclear. Then Willem II (whose fans were notorious for hooliganism) came to town and their fans were herded into the sheds, and they continually banged on the metal and screamed from half an hour before the geame to half an hour after when they were let out once all the sensible people were long gone. One of the most electric atmospheres I've ever been in despite only about 3-4 thousand people being there.

[luke warm]

 TimG, on 2012-August-06, 20:59, said:

We in the US like:

1) Scoring; and
2) Commercial interruptions.

this ^^^^

 nigel_k, on 2012-August-06, 21:25, said:

Easy - because it's boring. In Australia and New Zealand we also call it soccer because we have other forms of football that are more popular.

and this ^^^^

Quote

A harder question to ask is why football, baseball, and hockey are not more popular outside North America. Basketball is not as popular as it could be either.

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...

[Cyberyeti]

 luke warm, on 2012-August-18, 13:17, said:

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.

[Trinidad]

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

[barmar]

Today's XKCD seems apropos:

[Aberlour10]

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

[barmar]

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.

[Cthulhu D]

 barmar, on 2012-September-12, 19:21, said:

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.

[barmar]

 Cthulhu D, on 2012-September-12, 23:02, said:

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.

[blackshoe]

The cartoon is a lie.

[nigel_k]

 blackshoe, on 2012-September-13, 16:39, said:

The cartoon is a lie.

Yep, hockey is missing from the left hand side.

[Bbradley62]

 nigel_k, on 2012-September-13, 21:04, said:

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...

[daveharty]

 MrAce, on 2012-August-18, 04:58, said:

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?

[mike777]

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.

[Aberlour10]

 mike777, on 2013-March-13, 09:34, said:

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

[billw55]

 Aberlour10, on 2013-March-13, 09:52, said:

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

Of 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.

[wyman]

 daveharty, on 2012-September-14, 12:00, said:

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.