but we're talking about very vague stats here, what are those injuries, how serious are the injuries, are the stats divided into age groups, parents take kids to the ER for any bump or bruise...an adult ice hockey player won't go to the ER unless the bleeding doesn't stop...adult soccer players throw an ice pack on the injury have a beer and go to bed...I taped up the torn ligament in my ankle and played regardless never going to an ER, stupidly I even played with torn ACL's, (I still can't believe I did that)...an injury that may stop a baseball player from playing will not stop a hockey, rugby or soccer player from competing...
LOL. Save it. Everyone knows better. They bring stretchers onto soccer fields to carry professionals off after hurting a leg. Biggest drama queen sport ever. The only time a stretcher hits any other field of play is if they think someone has a broken neck.
Well I love baseball...it's the sport I'm passionate about... I played it, coached it and I follow the majors. Many people find it boring and slow moving...games go on with no time limit..etc. and that's fine... I don't know why folks take these discussions so seriously, I'm not personally offended if someone says they don't like baseball. Now calling a sport "girlie" is a little over the top, but c'mon get thicker skin. If you have played the sport, you know the intricacies and the skills required to play it. You know the level of athleticsm required to be good at it...so pay no heed to the haters. They have women playing football in lingerie now wearing less protective equipment than the pros..so to argue that girls play soccer therefore it's a girls sport is somewhat ludicrous. Guess what, girls play football too. For some it's MMA, hockey or soccer or track...it's the wide World of Sports... there's no reason to put down another persons passion..if it's not for you that's fine...but don't hate on it. I certainly don't measure a sports value on how "manly" it is or by the amount of risk it involves or the level of injuries sustained by playing it...that's a little silly if you ask me.
which proves what? it proves that most americans have no clue as to the complexity and technical skill required in soccer...while the rest of the world gets it... it also proves that those americans who do understand it won't pay to go to 2rd rate soccer played in the US, I don't pay to see it here either...I go to europe to see elite matches... ooow here's an interesting stat...the sport in the USA with the most participants?...soccer 18 million...
well there you go...see any soccer players starting threads to insult and troll baseball?...this wasn't a thread about the merits of soccer, it was a thread to attack the game and those who play it as cupcakes, wussies, gay... I've played baseball, not well, but enough to know it wasn't the sport for me...I'm also aware that it's highly technical and like soccer extremely difficult to play at the highest level...to each his/her own...there's no reason to start threads to deliberately flame the forum....
To be fair, 'the beautiful game' is one of the common nicknames for 'soccer': And when it is played at its best, it is a beautiful game, full of precision skills, perfect timing, and flowing movement on and off the ball.
In fairness to Kronik, he didn't start the thread, another person posted the clip calling soccer players - wussies compared to rugby players... and Kronik tends to be combative about things no matter what it is. Your passion is soccer, and globally, multi-millions if not billions of people follow the sport... I would pay no heed to those that don't like it or criticize it..clearly it has a huge following.
That must be it. We dumb Americans don't understand a sport a semi retarded monkey could understand. Bravo. Ethiopia has outsmarted the US again. I don't know where you got your stat from, but it's a male/female sport. Go ask around how many women have played football. The most played sport in the US at the highschool and college levels is football. Hell, half of the US probably played in a soccer league when they were 6 years old before they realized how horribly boring it is.
The USA has its own sports, for some reason, and nobody else in the world really plays or cares about any of them. That doesn't make them 'not good' or 'not difficult' or 'not hard' or 'not skillful', of course, just different sports.
That is not exactly true now. Football is gaining popularity all over europe, mexico and canada as well. Baseball is also gaining as it is now played in a variety of islands as well in Japan and other places.
It is , without a shadow of doubt, whether individuals like it or not, the most popular sport in the world. Exact figures are obviously hard to judge, but probably about 400 million people watched the last World Cup Final game live, and possibly about three quarters as many watched a repeat (and it was apparently broadcast in 214 countries):
rather than tuning into a rugby match it would be better to watch an episode of UFC but if one wants to watch elegance, style, and technique they can watch soccer no?
It' not as true as it was, certainly, but while American Football is definately gaining in popularity, it's still very much a minority sport everywhere outside the US, and a very, very long way behind even Rugby (both codes) in terms of the number of countries where it could be considered reasonably popular, has professional leagues, is played by kids, gets results reported on the main national news, etc., etc.. It's still nowhere near being an international sport, and nowhere near the point where there could be a major international tournament like a 'World Cup'.
I never contested that it doesn't require skill, as any sport in the world requires a certain skill set. However, the skills required for soccer, and the sport itself, are unappealing to Americans for a variety of reasons. When an American sees a athlete being carried off a field on a stretcher because he got the wind knocked out of him, it disgusts us. When we see a player fall to the ground acting like he's been shot because his leg was touched, it sickens and angers us. When we watch two teams kick a ball back a forth for 90 minutes to end in a 0-0 tie, we want to blow our brains out.
Thos sentiments are by no means unique to Americans - most of the world, including soccer fans, feel exactly the same. The FIFA stretcher rulings, where they insisted on players being stretchered off for treatment, whether they needed that or not, sometimes just so that they can get off and walk back on again, have been a particular source of controvery - it was totally ridiculous, and everybody knew it (apart from Sepp Blatter and his cronies, but most football fans have little good to say about the game's runing body anyway!). That does seem to be a little more peculiar to Americans - the idea that actual scoring is the only interesting part of a game worth watching. Some of the best and most exiting football games I have seen have been 0-0 or 1-0 affairs, and likewise some of the most enjoyable games of rugby I've watched have been low scoring, forward-dominated games. Just because there haven't been many (or even any!) 'points' scored doesn't necessarily mean there hasn't been good play to watch during a game. It must be a cultural thing.
SOooo you argue like a girl's blouse, never mind playing a gay game. No one cares... about sports that are only popular or even known in one country...which gaily brags and brays it is the "world champion". Another case of if you can't win it, buy it. Make up a new, terrible sport that only you play and no one will beat you at it. Everyone laughs about it, you know. It's only distancing your from the rest of the normal world, highlighting that silly sector of US which is nationalistic, isolationist and for whom the world ends at the US shore. You're just embarrasing yourself with lack of knowledge again. Get a hold of a football boot and have someone kick you a good one in the shin with it. They can chip the bone without even trying. It's almost like they're designed to break legs. I have medals for five a side football. Most women have played it. There is a professional women's game, not as popular as mens. But it's true to say we generally don't appreciate it the way men do because it interferes with life. That can be said of any sport which pointlessly wastes that much time. Yes, there are probably about 5 teams here I suppose each city has one. But it's not really a sport. Crowd of big drugged up guys running for 2 minutes and then substituting because they're not fit enough to run for long, is all I see. Plus a lot of noise and no action. Rugby is much better to watch unless you're watching the South Americans, who are so skillful. It's unappealing because you're not fit enough to play it. ...Diving is tactical if the injury isn't genuine...only certain teams/nationalities who really are prone to be diving cheats and those don't always dive. Italians, the Germans when they play here, for example, have been diving cheats because they know we are volatile and once the players lose their temper they lose the game. They dive and create unjust fouls to deliberately cause that. Your players are not on the field long enough to be carried off. They sub so often I'm surprised you see them long enough to remember their names.
that's it exactly no it's soccer...soccer dwarfs all other sports...it's no different then here, for every high school football team(with enormous inflated rosters where many kids only see seconds playing time per game) there are literally dozens of equivalent age league soccer teams...I have two universities in my city and three colleges, out of that only one university has a football team along with two Jr. football clubs vs a few hundred adult soccer teams... typical sports ignorance on your part, those who go about bashing other sports know very little about those other sports or their own for that matter...
Cricket is wonderful to watch - it's the only game you can fall asleep in the middle of and not miss anything!
