world cup

[Wilt Dasney]

I was up 'til 7am watching the U.S.-Portugal game. (I'm a nightowl, not an early riser, so I just stayed up all night.)

Like a typical American, I normally couldn't care less about soccer, but something about the whole World Cup atmosphere has gotten me pumped.

Up next: S. Korea, in their backyard. Should be a tough one.

 

[tenchu]

Originally posted by Wilt Dasney


Up next: S. Korea, in their backyard. Should be a tough one.

That groups already had two shocks, so who knows what the outcome will be??

 

[Maria]

Originally posted by Wilt Dasney

Like a typical American, I normally couldn't care less about soccer, but something about the whole World Cup atmosphere has gotten me pumped.

LOL! I loved your first sentence "like a typical american".... hahaha... but yeah... that ´s typical! The rest of the world plays soccer and uses the metric system! You just make things more complicated! :lol: j/k:animwink: :animwink:

 

[tenchu]

Originally posted by Maria


LOL! I loved your first sentence "like a typical american".... hahaha... but yeah... that ´s typical! The rest of the world plays soccer and uses the metric system! You just make things more complicated! :lol: j/k:animwink: :animwink:

What is soccer? Ans give me pounds and ounces any day!!!:lol: :wave:

 

[Maria]

Originally posted by tenchu


What is soccer? Ans give me pounds and ounces any day!!!:lol: :wave:

Ok ok.... I forgot the Brits and surrounding areas..... :animwink:

 

[tenchu]

I heard today that the USA has 18 million registered football players, which is about 3 times the number of people who live in scotland!!! And it's still considered unpopular!!!

 

[Maria]

I think they meant "American football", not soccer... :animwink:

 

[tenchu]

Originally posted by Maria
I think they meant "American football", not soccer... :animwink:

The comentator said it in the middle of the USA's football match, so it sounded like he was talking about that!

 

[tenchu]

Quote: without counting children and the occasional player, the records reveal that the following countries have the highest proportion of participants in the game: USA (well nigh 18 million), Indonesia (10 million), PR China (7.2 million), Mexico (7.4 million), Brazil (7 million) and Germany (6.3 million).

Taken from the FIFA website.

http://www.fifa.com/Service/MR_M/23523_E.html

 

[MKCustodial]

Originally posted by Luau Cove


Have you seen that invented penalty? GOD! Then Rivaldo is shot on the chest and he grabs his face!?!
Man...

-->LUAU

Yeah, it's because of stuff like that that I really don't watch sports. Well, except Formula 1, which I just got hooked, but at least we know it's like wrestling, it's all fixed... :lol:

 

[FanofDinsey1981]

how bout that USA win!? horray! we finally had a big win!

 

[Wilt Dasney]

Well, there are about 200 million people in this country (if memory serves me), so if 18 million are playing soccer (or football, if you please ), that's less than 10% of the population.

But even if there is a solid base of support for the game here, you wouldn't know from the media. Aside from the Olympics and the World Cup, you NEVER hear about soccer in the news here...not even the all-sports news. America is rooted in a very fixed cycle of sports: baseball starts in the late spring, continues through summer, and ends in early fall; football (the kind with helmets and shoulderpads) lasts through the fall and winter; and basketball starts in the winter, continues through spring, and ends in the early summer, bringing it full circle. Anything else is kind of an afterthought here. The fact that our professional soccer league is basically a joke to the rest of the world while MLB, the NFL, and the NBA all feature the best players in the world in those sports probably says a lot.

So, yeah, we're the oddballs. Winning the Women's World Cup got a lot of press here :king: , but people weren't dancing in the streets. Any solid run in the men's tournament we might make will still be sandwiched in between coverage of the L.A. Lakers, Detroit Red Wings, and Tiger Woods.

 

[FanofDinsey1981]

some people I have talked to claim that soccer is "too boooooring". yeah, and what the bleep is baseball?

and the funny thing is, there are TONS of soccer leagues around the country (USA), and unfortuantly, not the TV coverage. I played when I was a kid, for about 8 years, so I know about the sport. but what about those who haven't played it? what the USA needs is a great commentating team who will make it exciting for us to watch. maybe there will be more fans then.

swimming is another sport that gets amazing coverage, but only during the prime time of the olympics. I want to watch swimming events, but can't because they are simply not on.

another problem with the US? We have too many sports to watch. Baseball, football, hockey, and basketball all have their time to shine, and they over lap, but take up most available tv time. after that, is car racing. (not a sport. a skill.) you would think that with the standard 60 channels on every home in america, they could find a slot or two to show us other sports!!!

*stepping off soap box*

 

[Maria]

First of all, soccer (we call it "futbol") is the mos popular sport here, followed by baseball. I guess it is the one that EVERYBODY plays because you basically need nothing to play it! just a ball..... not like baseball for which you actually need a budget no matter how u look at it.... so.. being the cheapest one can be played for poors and riches equally on the streets, than in a football field.

Anyways... our comentators were talking today about the differences between football in other countries and football in the US, and they were telling that the US team was good and knew how to play, they have the discipline to make it, but they also said "if only the US knew about them..." That´s true... they won, and nobody knew it! Nobody celebrated it. Nobody went out on the streets to celebrate it. I persoanlly hate seeing people going on the streets and climbing our monuments when Mexico wins... I guess it is part of being latin, but that part I don´t like... actually makes me mad... but the bottomline was that the rest of the world was aware of their teams and the Wordl Cup, but the US. just what Wilt Dasney just confirmed. Btw, thanks for giving me the schedule of sport events.... well said!

:animwink:

Ah! and I don´t think soccer is boring... those poor guys never stop running! I think american football is more boring than that... it must be really desperating having to go back to their positions and do it all over again once you fall on the gorund! :animwink:

 

[Wilt Dasney]

Well, I'll admit that I've always been in the "soccer is boring" camp before now, but I've watched more in the last 3 days than I've probably watched in my life...and enjoyed it. I guess it's an acquired taste, like any other sport. I covered men's and women's soccer at Georgia Southern for the campus paper last year, so I sat through quite a few matches and learned a good deal about the game, but still never really got into it. (Of course, the god-awful heat and early weekend starting times may have contributed to that. )

I'm enjoying this event, though, and I'm watching everyone play, not just the U.S. (I even ran off a few maps so I could find all the smaller nations. Sorry, Senegal and Uraguay. :lol: )

But, anyhoo, maybe I'll pay more attention to soccer after this is over. Like another poster said, baseball is as "boring" as soccer, and I watch that because I have since I was a kid and love it regardless of its slow pace.

--Hey, Maria, our teams are in groups slated to meet in Round 2; if they both make it, we could see a Mexico-U.S. tilt next round. --

(Geez, my posts are really long, aren't they?)

 

[Wilt Dasney]

BTW, why isn't my post count increasing? I've been stuck on 91 all day.

HEY, GUYS, I SHOULD BE EARNING MY EARS BY THIS POINT, BUT THEY'RE HOLDING ME BACK!!!

*grumble grumble* If Walt were still around, this wouldn't be happening!

 

[Maria]

Posts in chit chat don´t count!

Yeah! I heard that today! If we both make it, we will be playing against each other! How cool! :animwink:

 

[Al]

we have our worldcup on our two main terrestrial channels - BBC1 and ITV1

What do you guys watch the world cup on?

 

[Maria]

I see it on almost every single freaking channel! gggrrr...

Well.. not on all, but at least 10 channels show football here!

 

[tenchu]

Originally posted by Alberrisford
we have our worldcup on our two main terrestrial channels - BBC1 and ITV1

What do you guys watch the world cup on?

And we get to listen to gazza!! Ha ha ha ha!

It's impossible to understand a word he says!!:lol: