Alpe d'Huez said:
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Well, for one reason the United States is the most sports crazed nation on the planet. We spend zillions of dollars watching, playing and supporting a slew of sports. Nearly half the fans of the NFL are women, if you can believe that. It's insane how popular sports is in the US, and the NFL is at the top.
The NFL definitely has problems, Foxy listed them, and right now they are suing each other. But the most "popular" sport in the world is Soccer, though it has a big share of problems as well, some of which Foxy said, or rules that are just dumb:
• The way the clock counts "up" requiring fans to deal with stoppage time.
• Ties stink. But sudden death by penalty kicks are a joke. It would be like ending a tied football game with a punt, pass and kick contest. Who thought that up?
• In sports like NFL, Basketball or Baseball even, you can be under so much pressure and on the spot that if you screw up it could haunt you the rest of your life (ask the great Bill Buckner). But in soccer a player can go an entire game without touching the ball and look like he did his job, and 99% of the fans would hardly notice.
• There are too many damned leagues, cups, championships for many fans to follow.
This doesn't mean I don't like soccer. I do like it. I prefer watching it live, and used to work on the video crew for the Portland Timbers. Soccer is a great sport too. I just don't think it's as dramatic, dynamic, athletic, explosive or exciting as the NFL (or "football).
I am going to diagree with you on the statement that the US is the most sports obsessed nation in the world. I would put the Aussies well ahead of the US in terms of being sports crazy, this is based on the fact that I have lived in both countries so I am not just guessing on that.
Plus, Australia have world class teams in Cricket, Rugby union, Rugby League . Their soccer team is the equal of the US national, likewise they produce a lot of world class cyclists on road & track. They have also produced top golfers, tennis players, track & field etc. For a country with a mere fraction of the US population its quite staggering how many athletes Australia produces, also the fact that their big national sport Aussie Rules is not even international.
I am not saying that lightly either as I wouldnt be the biggest fan of Aussies in general.
On your points about soccer, like every sport it has its faults but to address a few points.
The tie situation is something that the governing bodies have been trying to get a decent solution to for a long time. But its the same in NFL, in a tied game, the team that usually wins the coin toss nearly always wins the game, right? so games are decided on a coin toss altough it does happen less in NFL.
In soccer I agree penalties are a lottery but in knockout competitions, world cup, Champions league etc its the only current viable solution. We had the golden goal which was the same as the NFL system but games would still finish tied.
Soccer has become more negative but we had two Champions league games tonight with 11 goals between them. For me a good soccer match will always beat a good NFL game.
We could pick faults with various sports all day, for example, the US Divisonal systems seems strange when not all the teams with the best records make the play-off because they are in the wrong divison. A team from the AFC could make the play-offs with an 8-6 record whilst perhaps a team with a 10-4 record in the NFC might not make it. Seems strange to many people.
I think it just depends on what you grow up with, when I lived in the US, I enjoyed the NFL more than the other US sports and even made a game down in Baltimore but in comparison to attending a soccer match in Argentina for example, there is no comparison in terms of atmosphere etc.
NFL is very simple, there is what 30 something teams and thats it, maybe thats a big plus but it goes against the European concept of free and open competition. Its a cultural mindset. I think as the US is the only counrty where NFL is played, its very simple. There is no international angle, no world cup, no European Cup etc. Because of that, of course there is far less competitions, cups etc so its more straightforward.
In comparison, the UCI are trying to create a similar system to the NFL with a closed competition with 20 teams only i.e. UCI Protour. Look at how much opposition there is to this so its the same for other sports despite the benefits of a closed entry.
As I said, we could argue all day but in closing I will say this, American football has never grown outside the US as a sport whilst soocer has spread to all corners even places where it was never big like Aisa, look at Japan, South Korea or even Australia where it has become a lot more popular. Why?
Soccer is not even my favourite sport, for team sports I would prefer Gaelic football and maybe even rugby despite growing up with all these sports.