Anyone following any of the World Cup?

I’m not a huge fan but I love having another venue for the world to compete. The teams I am watching
USA
Mexico
Germany
Argentina
Brazil  -only cause they are the like the Yankees of the futbol world…

Ohhhhhh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCcirGy9RPU

Go USA!

FIFA.com

I actually watched much of the USA vs England. Reminded me that soccer is just slightly more exciting to watch than golf.  :wink:

What’s the world cup?  Can I pour a pint in to it?
Actually would like to hear that Team USA does well.  I say hear because I doubt I would watch it.

You might like this, Major:

I’ve caught a little of a couple games, but the weather has been beautiful (after a week of rain), so I couldn’t stand sitting in front of the TV when I could be outside enjoying the sun and setting up a hop trellis.

I think since Americans generally don’t play the game growing up, they’re less likely to watch. Those horns constantly blowing during the games are EXTREMELY annoying.

Because even as children Americans realize that the game is boring

LMAO! :smiley:

In Germany you get those with the purchase of a case of beer. And they are annoying the heck out of people. Some even watch the games w/o sound.

As for the excitement of the game, how is baseball or football more exciting than soccer. In those games you have a commercial break every 5 min, it seems, which is why soccer is not very popular with TV brodacasters. I don’t follow soccer much, though.

Kai

  • A MILLION on the baseball being boring. Did the little league thing and all, but it’s just too boring to watch.

I knew Kai would chime in.  ;) American football is much more cerebral than soccer, even with the lame commercials. It is more like chess. I know people say soccer has an element of strategy as well. But, from watching it, I can’t really tell what it is. But I will give my understanding.

Soccer is mostly about passing the ball. The excitement does not really come from scoring, but from getting close to scoring (otherwise who would watch a 1 - 1 tie?). So, when a score finally does come people have at least one … maybe two times during the game to really cheer. So the game is mostly based on suspense of getting close to scoring.

FTR: Baseball is boring as hell too. And I can’t stand hockey either. Basically the same thing as soccer, but on ice, with sticks. Boxing and American Football are really the only two spectator sports I can tolerate to watch.

BTW: I definitely thing that soccer is more appealing to the rest of the world because almost everyone has played soccer in those countries. I also think that, up until recently, soccer was easier to break into on the professional level than, say, American Football. You don’t have to be 6’5" and 250lbs+ to play soccer. I can actually respect that.

“Baseball is a simple game…you throw the ball, you hit the ball, you catch the ball”…not a game for lollygaggers!

Hockey is like Nascar, some only watch for the hitting or fights ( or crashes ).

Now curling…there’s some excitement for you!!

Nascar, now that is just silly. I’d rather watch soccer any day than Nascar.

It’s funny that I live about 10 miles from The Monster Mile in Dover, DE and I have never been there for a race. As far as Nascar goes I could take it or leave it…and I feel the same way about soccer. I played soccer all through my youth and high school. Soccer is very fun to play but boring to watch IMHO.

The rest of the world is totally into the sport as we are into baseball and football. There’s really not a big interest into soccer as the there is in ROW.

It’s just really never caught on here in the states as it has been a staple around the world.

Soccer is no different from any other game in that if you do not understand it you will not enjoy it.  I grew up watching it, talking about it, and played it at the Divsion I level.  The World Cup for me right now is like the NCAA tourney every year.  I’m not getting any work done when a game is on.  Baseball is horribly boring, football gets annoying with all the stoppages and advertisments (it’s rare that I can sit through a whole game, but that’s probably because my team has sucked for most of my life), NBA is usually 1 or 2 people score and the rest of the team just runs around or stands outside the arc, golf is…well golf, and hockey I can tolerate especially if it is a live event.  But, the numebr one thing I can’t stand about all American sports is that when you win your league you are somehow the “World Champion”.  What a crock.

You kick the ball into the net… what’s to understand? :wink:

Tried watching a little bit but I kept getting this constant buzzing in my ears.  Had to turn it off.

When I was living in NC I got into baseball quite a bit and was surprised how exciting that game can actually be. But now I just don’t have the time to watch any games.

One thing about German soccer (or Fussball) that you have to keep in mind is that it is by far the most popular spectator sport. Here in the US you have baseball, football, basket ball and hockey which have about the same popularity and their seasons don’t overlap much to support that. There are other sports in Germany as well but they are much less popular.

The other difference in Germany is that teams are not franchises of the mother organization. They are independent and they can rise and fall through the different levels of soccer leagues.

Kai

The only time I found soccer interesting was when Brandi Chastain celebrated her game winning penalty goal in the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup against China.  :o

+1 of football being cerebral though the violence of the game doesnt hurt its popularity.
To me the soccer field is just too big and there are too many players.

I’ll ignore the hockey comment…