Toggle sidebar

Around the League Thread part V

  • Xenforo Cloud will be upgrading us to version 2.3.5 on March 3rd at 12 AM GMT. This version has increased stability and fixes several bugs. We expect downtime for the duration of the update. The admin team will continue to work on existing issues, templates and upgrade all necessary available addons to minimize impact of this new version. Click Here for Updates
Status
Not open for further replies.
Maynard said:
Been hearing this from my soccer fan buddies for 30 years.

“It’s not that popular now but just wait until….”

Yeah ok.
Click to expand...

I've followed Liverpool for 40 years now, and I played 10 years here. But yeah, exactly this. It's not made for the typical current American fan. It probably had its best shot when we had the NASL which had legit stars in it, not as far past their prime. Back then people weren't in as much of a hurry and actually still enjoyed watching slower sports like baseball. Now the MLB is highly regionalized and viewership is still dropping. The MLS is OK, but new fans today are SSAT (super short attention span). YouTube was even getting too long for them so now it's TikTok. It's never going to catch on here, most fans like short bursts of entertainment. It's also why other slow, popular sports like Cricket will never have a shot here. If it doesn't have commercial breaks, it's probably not going to make it here.

The passion of European football is unrivaled, we don't have an equivalent here. That 2nd leg CL win vs Barca was probably the single most intense and crazy sporting event I've ever witnessed. The closest thing I've seen to a crowd reaction here was when DB scored that EN goal to sweep St. Louis. That's the absolutely loudest I've ever heard Staples, even in the cup final it didn't get close to that level. It's like that in European soccer with regularity. It's a huge social event over there and teams are a source of local pride.

I watch a lot of sports from other countries, I don't watch a lot of stuff here outside of the NHL and some NFL games. I catch some Angel and Laker games occasionally, I watched the NBA a lot more until around the early 2000's. I think one sport that might actually be able to gain a following here is Rugby. There's a running clock, so the games are really short even though they are 80 minutes. If you watch it, you know exactly what I'm talking about, it kind of flies by. It's got a lot of the things US fans like, it's physical and athletic with lots of action outside of scrums and kicks.
 
  • Like
  • Wow
Reactions: Reaper45, Rumpelstiltskin, Kingspiracy and 5 others
Fishhead said:
I've followed Liverpool for 40 years now, and I played 10 years here. But yeah, exactly this. It's not made for the typical current American fan. It probably had its best shot when we had the NASL which had legit stars in it, not as far past their prime. Back then people weren't in as much of a hurry and actually still enjoyed watching slower sports like baseball. Now the MLB is highly regionalized and viewership is still dropping. The MLS is OK, but new fans today are SSAT (super short attention span). YouTube was even getting too long for them so now it's TikTok. It's never going to catch on here, most fans like short bursts of entertainment. It's also why other slow, popular sports like Cricket will never have a shot here. If it doesn't have commercial breaks, it's probably not going to make it here.

The passion of European football is unrivaled, we don't have an equivalent here. That 2nd leg CL win vs Barca was probably the single most intense and crazy sporting event I've ever witnessed. The closest thing I've seen to a crowd reaction here was when DB scored that EN goal to sweep St. Louis. That's the absolutely loudest I've ever heard Staples, even in the cup final it didn't get close to that level. It's like that in European soccer with regularity. It's a huge social event over there and teams are a source of local pride.

I watch a lot of sports from other countries, I don't watch a lot of stuff here outside of the NHL and some NFL games. I catch some Angel and Laker games occasionally, I watched the NBA a lot more until around the early 2000's. I think one sport that might actually be able to gain a following here is Rugby. There's a running clock, so the games are really short even though they are 80 minutes. If you watch it, you know exactly what I'm talking about, it kind of flies by. It's got a lot of the things US fans like, it's physical and athletic with lots of action outside of scrums and kicks.
Click to expand...
I am waiting for the National Hurling League.

 
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: Reaper45, Faterson, Fishhead and 1 other person
So there is a press conference scheduled by the Press. Time for the worst kept secret in hockey to be announced. They have their coach.
 
Butch 19 said:
I'll never understand how some hockey fans can also follow soccer.
Click to expand...
The atmosphere in a PL ground blows away any hockey arena (or any other Sport for that matter) I’ve ever been in. Its also very technical and system based like hockey ( love that stuff), so there is a major similarity there. I HATE the diving that’s come into the game (I’m old enough to remember it not happening) but other than that it’s a great sport to follow.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kings Rule
bland said:
That ain't open to debate, it's night and day. Any given night at Crypto and you would be lucky to see 50% of the crowd that shows up looking at the ice and not their phones.

You watch European leagues and you'll see that fans keep their seats for generations, sing songs for players and keep grudges from decades before. Fans there know what they can expect from their teams and actually hold them to that standard. The supporters from smaller teams know they can't compete for titles but pack the houses and live for cup competitions and local rivalries.

When Ronaldo lost his infant son this year the week of the Man United Liverpool match, the most heated rivalry in England, the entirety of the crowd at Liverpool stood up for the whole 7th minute, Ronaldos jersey number, to sing and applaud him - one of the most divisive players in the sport. You will NEVER see anything even near as respectful as that from a hockey crowd:



Hell, how many people even in this niche forum of a niche team in a niche sport actually know what they are talking about?
Click to expand...

Spot on.

My first trip to Anfield I was 20, with my mates who weren’t Liverpool fans. The passion and emotion from ‘You’ll never walk alone’ at the start of what was a nothing game brought me to tears. I can’t describe it, it was almost a spiritual experience which was incidentally shared by the two Romanians crying in front of me 😂, also at their first game. My mates now love Anfield as much as I do.

The buzz around the ground is amazing before a game, even that is better than most sports events I’ve attended. As you say there are songs we sing at Anfield and you have to learn the words (it’s expected pretty much), although the huge repertoire is fairly unique in the PL. Some season ticket holders are officially well past 150 years old!! 😂

I was told (No idea if true) Minnesota was one of the better crowds in the NHL. I honestly felt like I was in a library for both games I attended this year (Kings and Oilers) at times you could here a pin drop. Whereas at Anfield I’ve celebrated goals and ended up 30 feet away from my seat in the arms of a Scouser that I’ve never seem before or since.The crowd just roars and wills the team on.

The Ronaldo tribute was truly amazing, but not even slightly surprising.

Maynard said:
Soccer fans are DYING to legitimize their sport in North America and no matter how hard they try, it just doesn’t happen. It starts to become condescending, like we’re just not capable of “getting it”.

Just enjoy your sport. Stop trying to recruit everyone into liking it.
Click to expand...
I agree with that, each to their own. Nobody is right or wrong over what they like.
 
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: Rumpelstiltskin, Faterson, Raccoon Jesus and 2 others
Fishhead said:
I've followed Liverpool for 40 years now, and I played 10 years here. But yeah, exactly this. It's not made for the typical current American fan. It probably had its best shot when we had the NASL which had legit stars in it, not as far past their prime. Back then people weren't in as much of a hurry and actually still enjoyed watching slower sports like baseball. Now the MLB is highly regionalized and viewership is still dropping. The MLS is OK, but new fans today are SSAT (super short attention span). YouTube was even getting too long for them so now it's TikTok. It's never going to catch on here, most fans like short bursts of entertainment. It's also why other slow, popular sports like Cricket will never have a shot here. If it doesn't have commercial breaks, it's probably not going to make it here.

The passion of European football is unrivaled, we don't have an equivalent here. That 2nd leg CL win vs Barca was probably the single most intense and crazy sporting event I've ever witnessed. The closest thing I've seen to a crowd reaction here was when DB scored that EN goal to sweep St. Louis. That's the absolutely loudest I've ever heard Staples, even in the cup final it didn't get close to that level. It's like that in European soccer with regularity. It's a huge social event over there and teams are a source of local pride.

I watch a lot of sports from other countries, I don't watch a lot of stuff here outside of the NHL and some NFL games. I catch some Angel and Laker games occasionally, I watched the NBA a lot more until around the early 2000's. I think one sport that might actually be able to gain a following here is Rugby. There's a running clock, so the games are really short even though they are 80 minutes. If you watch it, you know exactly what I'm talking about, it kind of flies by. It's got a lot of the things US fans like, it's physical and athletic with lots of action outside of scrums and kicks.
Click to expand...
I lived in Berlin and Hamburg and remember when there was a big game on you could hear a big roar on the street from people watching on tv when a goal was scored. Never heard of anything ever like that for any other sport. I’m not a fan of soccer though as it seems like there’s something fundamentally wrong with the sport because you can’t use your hands lol.
 
Maynard said:
Soccer fans are DYING to legitimize their sport in North America and no matter how hard they try, it just doesn’t happen. It starts to become condescending, like we’re just not capable of “getting it”.

Just enjoy your sport. Stop trying to recruit everyone into liking it.
Click to expand...
Oh, we get soccer - it's BORING!!....
 
bland said:
[soccer] fans are generally more respectful
Click to expand...

American soccer mums, maybe? You must not have visited Europe... You can easily get killed there. Look up Wikipedia for the death tolls around the world over the decades. I guess soccer is so boring you gotta fight with someone, or else you'd get bored to death. What the Rangers fan did to the Bolts fan the other day, would be considered a mild slap in the face by European football hooligans. Barbed wire fences need to be erected between the opposing teams' fans – unthinkable for them to share neighboring seats! Walking into a crowd of home team fans while proudly wearing the guest team's jersey is tantamount to suicide. Whenever my city plays a "rivalry match" (called "derby" over here) against the next bigger city up north, something like Kings vs. Ducks, special police and army forces need to be called in, patrolling the streets, keeping the opposing teams' fans separate and protecting public and private property, which they often fail to do anyway. All paid for by the taxpayers, including those who couldn't care less about football. Sometimes, the police or the army need to accompany the guest team's fans to the train station, or else they wouldn't make it alive on their own.

Convinced? Thanks, I thought so.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AbsentMojo
Soccer is boring. Its appeal to rest of the world is it can be played anywhere with just a ball and a pitch - so its not mediated by income and maybe the only sport anyone played when they were a kid in many parts of the world. So when you grow up with the sport it has sentimental value. In USA - we grew up playing a little bit of it - but most of the best young athletes got into other sports like baseball. My guess is Abner Doubleday hadnt invented baseball we'd be more into soccer.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Faterson and KINGS17
AbsentMojo said:
Soccer is boring. Its appeal to rest of the world is it can be played anywhere with just a ball and a pitch - so its not mediated by income and maybe the only sport anyone played when they were a kid in many parts of the world. So when you grow up with the sport it has sentimental value. In USA - we grew up playing a little bit of it - but most of the best young athletes got into other sports like baseball. My guess is Abner Doubleday hadnt invented baseball we'd be more into soccer.
Click to expand...
I think part of America's affinity for baseball back when it was invented is that people worked more jobs which required manual labor. The ballpark was a place where people went to relax for a few hours, and the pace of the game suited that ability to relax and enjoy the game.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Reaper45, Faterson and AbsentMojo
Fishhead said:
I've followed Liverpool for 40 years now, and I played 10 years here. But yeah, exactly this. It's not made for the typical current American fan. It probably had its best shot when we had the NASL which had legit stars in it, not as far past their prime. Back then people weren't in as much of a hurry and actually still enjoyed watching slower sports like baseball. Now the MLB is highly regionalized and viewership is still dropping. The MLS is OK, but new fans today are SSAT (super short attention span). YouTube was even getting too long for them so now it's TikTok. It's never going to catch on here, most fans like short bursts of entertainment. It's also why other slow, popular sports like Cricket will never have a shot here. If it doesn't have commercial breaks, it's probably not going to make it here.

The passion of European football is unrivaled, we don't have an equivalent here. That 2nd leg CL win vs Barca was probably the single most intense and crazy sporting event I've ever witnessed. The closest thing I've seen to a crowd reaction here was when DB scored that EN goal to sweep St. Louis. That's the absolutely loudest I've ever heard Staples, even in the cup final it didn't get close to that level. It's like that in European soccer with regularity. It's a huge social event over there and teams are a source of local pride.

I watch a lot of sports from other countries, I don't watch a lot of stuff here outside of the NHL and some NFL games. I catch some Angel and Laker games occasionally, I watched the NBA a lot more until around the early 2000's. I think one sport that might actually be able to gain a following here is Rugby. There's a running clock, so the games are really short even though they are 80 minutes. If you watch it, you know exactly what I'm talking about, it kind of flies by. It's got a lot of the things US fans like, it's physical and athletic with lots of action outside of scrums and kicks.
Click to expand...
I'm suprised rugby hasnt taken off more in the US, it is our national sport here in NZ. It has all the skill and big hits/ physicallity that makes a game interesting. I guess all the rules get a bit confusing for the casual observer.

I do wonder if there will be a bit of a push for the game there soon, a big american company silver lake (?) has just invested heavily in the all blacks and national the game here.

Realistically a sport doesnt seem to take off until the country has some success in it, which attracts all the kids to play it.

Liverpool are my team too, followed them for about 20 years. It will be interesting to see how the new boy Nunez goes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rick Knickleback
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Top Bottom