OT: why football is better than American football

[deccan]

Originally posted by oleg:
You ask why no soccer on TV, but footbal ? I laugh on it. Every week there are 10 if not 100 times more people watching soccer on TV than football worldwide. World Cup audience is 20 times the Superbowl coverage. See, you need TWENTY "most important sport event ever" to equal just one soccer game

I think that this debate is really kind of stupid, liking sports is a subjective matter after all and I have no personal interest in sports whatsoever.

But I'd like to point out that I agree with oleg here. I'm from Malaysia and you have no idea how the masses of Malaysians follow English Premier League soccer, even though they have to stay up at ungodly hours (because of time zone differences) to do it.

And if you're wondering about the commercial dimension of it, Manchester United has official stores in Malaysia, Singapore etc. selling memorabilla for god's sake.

Edit: I forgot to mention one other thing. The ONLY reason why pay TV is profitable in Europe is soccer. 'Nuff said.

[ October 11, 2003, 09:36: Message edited by: deccan ]

[oleg]

Yes, it is a stupid debate, but why not have it, it is just for fun, right

For the record, I hate MU. I'm a Liverpool guy Otherwise I would alredy tell that in Last 10 years MU sell enough replica shirts to cloth the whole male population of US

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Oh, sorry, my math mistake here. MU sell only 1.8M shirts per year only ($50-$70 each). Still impressive

[ October 11, 2003, 12:51: Message edited by: oleg ]

[minipol]

Originally posted by oleg:

quote:

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Originally posted by minipol:
... And involving my country:
Belgium - Russia 4-3 WC 1986
Belgium was bigtime underdog in this tourney and they finished 4th.

I still full with rage about that game. Two clear offside goals and we were denied the deserved victory

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Ha! We Belgians always got sh*ty refs. Last WC, we had to play against Brazil (anybody remember that game). They weren't overclassing us at all. Then this ref from turns down a goal form Wilmots. A legitimate goal!!!
The WC before that same story. They should really incorporate some system like they have in american football where a team can challenge a decision and the ref goes to the sidelines to watch the replay. If that system existed in football, we would have been 1-0 ahead against a Brazilian team that was playing subpar for their standards.

[Alpha Kodiak]

To throw in my two cents, I was playing soccer in grade school over 30 years ago and loved to play the game. I would much rather play soccer than football (like I could play either now ), but I would much rather watch football. Not really sure why, must be some weird, twisted glitch in the American Psyche.

Although, I'm a bit like Geo. I really prefer baseball (especially the year the Diamondbacks beat the Yankees in the World Series ). It is more of a slow paced thinking game. Kind of like SEIV vs. Starcraft.

[oleg]

... Then this ref from turns down a goal form Wilmots. A legitimate goal!!!
The WC before that same story. They should really incorporate some system like they have in american football where a team can challenge a decision and the ref goes to the sidelines to watch the replay...[/QB]

I wonder about it too. The generic FIFA comment "it will slow the game" or "it will undermine the referee" does not hold any water IMHO. Games are already overstreach 90 minuts and few more to allow the chalenge will not make any difference. Americans have an inbreed sense of justice and it is reflected in sport refeering. FIFA is an aristocratic untouchable family. It can become really nasty. Italy and Spain are real powerhouses in Football but get drowned by corrupted referees in WC2002 because of the unholly money influx from home team Just my IMHO of course., but all those referee decisions stink really badly.

SPAIN SHOULD BE THE REAL WC FiNALIST !!!!!!

[minipol]

Oleg, i'm with ya. My interest in soccer has gone down a lot because of these stupid refs. Really, all respect to refs. But they have to do something about it. Maybe add another ref. And DEFINITELY add camera support.
I mean, come'on. When i see a stupid mistake of a ref that really has a big impact on the game, i switch channels because i get so mad of the injustice that i start to boil.
That's what i like about football. 7 refs, cam support. Nicely paid professional refs.

[TerranC]

Originally posted by oleg:

quote:

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... Then this ref from turns down a goal form Wilmots. A legitimate goal!!!
The WC before that same story. They should really incorporate some system like they have in american football where a team can challenge a decision and the ref goes to the sidelines to watch the replay...

I wonder about it too. The generic FIFA comment "it will slow the game" or "it will undermine the referee" does not hold any water IMHO. Games are already overstreach 90 minuts and few more to allow the chalenge will not make any difference. Americans have an inbreed sense of justice and it is reflected in sport refeering. FIFA is an aristocratic untouchable family. It can become really nasty. Italy and Spain are real powerhouses in Football but get drowned by corrupted referees in WC2002 because of the unholly money influx from home team Just my IMHO of course., but all those referee decisions stink really badly.

SPAIN SHOULD BE THE REAL WC FiNALIST !!!!!!

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I can just see where somebody could take this a step further.

[ October 11, 2003, 16:34: Message edited by: TerranC ]