hedwards: The point here is that as much as Europeans like to pretend like you're more tolerant, it's a limited tolerance and attention gets paid to how you're better than us. But, at least we don't throw people in jail for things that they say.

hedwards: I have a hard time imagining anything more boring than professional men's basketball. Especially that last period which takes up approximately 2/3 of the game as they try to get as many penalties in as possible.

hedwards: BTW, say what you want about American football, but it doesn't attract the sort of lower class hicks, racists and hooligans that soccer does.

cjrgreen: Blame the British, it's the national answer to every oddity of language. It's because the game it came from was called football. Mob Football

adambiser: I will agree that the penalties in the last quarter of basketball can become tedious, but it's not that different from football where they run out of bounds all the time to stop the clock except in football, they pretty much do this the entire game.

If they wanted to make football exciting to watch, they would need to drop that rule. Let the clock run no matter what. They could probably add some time to each quarter and still be OK.

iippo: mmm, class sports - we like those dont we ;)

That really depends on country. For example here in Finland the only soccer holigans are the junior league players parents, who take the matches more seriously than the players do.

iippo: The Land of the Free ;)
iippo: actually its her column, the words are written by her no one was quoting her besides the little id did in OP.

hedwards: I never implied that un-American was bad, but if people are going to stick to un-American things, I seriously question why they don't move to Canada. It's easier to get citizenship there, plus you don't have to give up things like soccer and the metric system. It's like America, but with things like that changed.

VABlitz: it's not that much of a perceived slow down of the game.

hedwards:

iippo: Well not really. Not yet atleast.

But the question did cross my mind when i read this column:

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/opinion/columnists/2014/06/25/coulter-growing-interest-soccer-sign-nations-moral-decay/11372137/

quote:
If more "Americans" are watching soccer today, it's only because of the demographic switch effected by Teddy Kennedy's 1965 immigration law. I promise you: No American whose great-grandfather was born here is watching soccer. One can only hope that, in addition to learning English, these new Americans will drop their soccer fetish with time.
.
.
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And on it goes.

If i read between the writers lines, apparently "true 'murican sports" has:

-Individual achievement > team.

-Individual fame and disgrace > team effort (or lack) as whole.

-Winning & heroes > "boring ties and even matches".

-Violence/warlike > "sports" (quote: The prospect of either personal humiliation or major injury is required to count as a sport.).

-Fights not involving game rules > actually just playing the game.

-"'murican" > "foreign influence" (whatever it means).

So maybe patriotic-combat-dramaball?

----

I am not really into american football, soccer or even icehockey - but ohboy did that column give me something to think about. Also interesting to notice that the writer is woman. Thus making some of the comments she wrote bit surprising to me, but i suppose i can see her angle.

iippo: ...Most people want to be part of something, do something social and have something to be proud of. Also chance to drink beer is always appreciated.

Now that we have mostly run out of witch burnings and gladiator matches, sports are decent substitute ;)

In short, its really social-group thing.

pakopakojr: I enter this topic thinking this will be a tit-for-tat talk about the gridiron versus the pitch...

...now all I can think about is Bill Lambeer's Combat Basketball and Base Wars.

Trilarion: But then this is quite independent of the sport that you choose. Soccer is the favorite social thing in Europe, Africa and South/Middle America and other sports take this place in other regions of the world because ... well because the sport isn't really the main thing.

Tarm: I know I'll get a lot of hate for this but after reading this thread I simply can't hold it in any more.

All I see when watching sports are adults playing as children thinking exactly like children do when they play. "This is the most important thing in the universe". The irony of it all is that the practitioners often behave as if they and what they are doing is the epitome of man/womanhood.

Klumpen0815: What I see are some millionaires doing as was agreed on.
You do not really believe they are actually playing.
I don't know how it's done in American Football/Rugby, but Soccer f.e. is extremely corrupt and it may be the same everywhere where there is a lot of money involved, it's not a game anymore then but a show.