Do you ever want to smack armericans who call 'soccer' boring?

[legz]

Football's a global brand, too. I hate calling it a brand, but the amount of marketing, hype and spin behind it means i can't avoid it.

Thats probably the problem. Most globalised brands have a strong US influence. Footballs probably the exception. US sports have big business galore behind them, but just can't export their 'product' for love nor money (don't come out with the 'but baseball's HUGE in Japan' line - it may be huge but football still dwarfs it). Their megastars are barely known out of north america, and their big 4 sports are tiny next to football. Football has very little US influence, hence the Americans get the same feeling about football that the French do when McDs tries to set up in one of its towns.

 

[twistedAM]

true, but if people aren't buying your shit to begin with then you won't have that multi-million marketing budget to sell even more, innit?

or you could also factor in that the particular brand was there first in many territories and gained a strong foothold.

and therein lies a problem in the history of US sports esp football and baseball (let's face it hockey is never going to have a global appeal cos most of the world has less ice than Canada and basketball is a relatively younger sport) because weren't they sort of hyped up in the early days as some kind of nationalist thing as in "hey we're a new power in the world and we'll promote our own sport as well"

(note..I could argue this more coherently i know but i have to go out but hopefully you get the gist of what I'm saying)

 

[kained&able]

The british are playing a French game?

Whatever the etymology of the word, cricket, has more than one meaning. That's the point. The word needn't describe nor resemble the mechanics of the game.

The french meaning is immaterial, since 'cricket' does not mean club, in English.

I'm not full of shit theres lot of theroys as to why its called cricket None of which involve insects.

By the way the first ever international game of crickets was canada vs usa.


dave

 

[Rainingstairs]

Get rid of the sticks, put it on grass, remove the padding, make the pitch and goals bigger and use a spherical object. Then it might be aesthetically pleasing

And as for the gridiron shite, theres no bravery or athleticism involved. Its just rolling around homo-erotically on the floor clad in spandex with a lot of overweight, out-of-shape men who love to pat each other on the buttocks every 5 minutes when they take a donut break. (Thats why globally, only 1% of the population bothers with it and why it'll always be living in the shadow of football)

hardly.

 

[Rainingstairs]

- until they get knocked off their game

...by all the human growth hormones those baseball players have been squirting in the veins!

 

[Rainingstairs]

American football is great! I started watching it about 2 years ago. It's not a game that you totally ZONE out watching. Like a zombie at the pub. But whatever, Euro footballs great too. The Zidan head butt sold it to me, but very rarely it seems does anything happens in soccer that people would actually talk about afterwards. Even all the fake injuries got boring.

It also seems like the popularity of American football among women (me included) has been increasing. They're starting to sell pink versions of jerseys at the stores etc etc. It's great that it's not just some male pastime and that the sexes can come together and make it fun.

Fantasy football is also fun! Competing against your friends, building your own teams etc. Anything that you can do with other people BESIDES get wasted every weekend is a bonus.

Anyway, it's kind of sad how much you English CAN'T STAND Americans...Americans don't hate you. Hell, we hardly even think of you. Not very proactive to hate people you don't even know, or lump them into some gross stereotype.

 

[ChrisFilter]

Anyway, it's kind of sad how much you English CAN'T STAND Americans...Americans don't hate you. Hell, we hardly even think of you. Not very proactive to hate people you don't even know, or lump them into some gross stereotype.

Well, actually, the whole world can't stand Americans. We're probably your best friends

We don't hate you, this whole thread is tongue-in-cheek and spurred on by a bit of trolling from a certain Canuck.

 

[Rainingstairs]

Well, actually, the whole world can't stand Americans. We're probably your best friends

We don't hate you, this whole thread is tongue-in-cheek and spurred on by a bit of trolling from a certain Canuck.

That's strange. B/c whenever it came down to it...People have always considered Americans laid back and pretty happy go-lucky.

Who you don't like are the middle-america uncultured tools and our satan of a president. the everyday american, one who reads and travels and thinks and doesn't take the rest of the world for granted is actually pretty damn cool.

why do you insist on take the worst this county has and blowing it up to where it's the only thing that counts? I know England has some right nasty cunts but I don't bash them on the internet, calling all English right nasty cunts.

It's a shame that America is so isolated, I wish it weren't so. But besides Canada and Mexico...we are sandwiched between two oceans. That surely counts for something

 

[Skimix]

Well here's an American who became a fan at our last game of the season against villa

http://sportsgeekly.wordpress.com/2008/05/12/first-time-experience-at-an-english-premier-league-soccererrrfootball-match/

And I am absolutely not one of those people running around pissed in the road playing football