Beckham tiff with a Deac.

[Junebug]

Same can easily be said for footy as well.

I think moreso with soccer. I don't think playing high school soccer or even D1 soccer in the US really clues you in into what is going on in the European leagues or at the international level. With baseball, MLB is pretty much king. If you are a good American baseball player, you are good. Period. With soccer, though, generally speaking, even the best US players are still pretty average on a global scale. The level of play in the European leagues and at the international level is really unfathomable to US high school and even D1 players.

In short, you don't understand soccer just because you played it when you were 14 or because you coach your kid's team. And if you find it boring, it's likely because you don't understand it.

 

[deacvision7]

In short, you don't understand soccer just because you played it when you were 14 or because you coach your kid's team. And if you find it boring, it's likely because you don't understand it.

I used to feel this way, but I can now understand why people might not enjoy the sport aside from a lack of understanding of everything that goes on during the 90 minutes. And I'm over it now. I think it is the best sport in the world and nothing will convince me otherwise, but not everybody needs to agree with me. If that was the case then that would be boring onto itself. Everybody agreeing with me all the time? Gross.

True, there is always something happening in a football match, which includes some twat mock-writhing in pain on the grass after some dude happened to clip his heel as he ran past him. (Which is understandably a huge turnoff for most Americans.) But even when something is happening all the time it can be boring. The phrase Death by a Thousand Cuts comes to mind here.

So I understand why people with a primordial understanding of football would say that both A) they understood football; and B) found it boring... it makes sense. They know the basic rules. They get the basic tactics and strategies of the game, but it doesn't captivate them. The game at it's purest isn't for them.

Fair enough.
However, these same people seem to enjoy a bunch of fat fucks slamming into each other every 30 or 40 seconds with a big play only happening every 10-20 minutes of actual time or so.
Lord knows that I do as well. But waiting 10 to 40 minutes (of real time) to see something that is truly exciting happening sounds pretty shit on the face of it as well. It's almost like waiting for a goal to be scored in soccer.
Except they arbitrarily count it as 6 points instead of just 1. But there are always Field Goals! For a further arbitrary 3 points; which is basically a team admitting that they aren't good enough at that point to achieve the true goal of the game, scoring touchdowns.

And giving a team an out from the ultimate goal is, by definition, .....American? Wait, I must have missed that memo. I thought America always reached for the stars and accepted nothing less? Meh, no bother. Carry on cheering on field goals and hate actual goals being scored.

Me? I'll enjoy both. And laugh at both.

 

[Junebug]

I used to feel this way, but I can now understand why people might not enjoy the sport aside from a lack of understanding of everything that goes on during the 90 minutes. And I'm over it now. I think it is the best sport in the world and nothing will convince me otherwise, but not everybody needs to agree with me. If that was the case then that would be boring onto itself. Everybody agreeing with me all the time? Gross.

True, there is always something happening in a football match, which includes some twat mock-writhing in pain on the grass after some dude happened to clip his heel as he ran past him. (Which is understandably a huge turnoff for most Americans.) But even when something is happening all the time it can be boring. The phrase Death by a Thousand Cuts comes to mind here.

So I understand why people with a primordial understanding of football would say that both A) they understood football; and B) found it boring... it makes sense. They know the basic rules. They get the basic tactics and strategies of the game, but it doesn't captivate them. The game at it's purest isn't for them.

Fair enough.
However, these same people seem to enjoy a bunch of fat fucks slamming into each other every 30 or 40 seconds with a big play only happening every 10-20 minutes of actual time or so.
Lord knows that I do as well. But waiting 10 to 40 minutes (of real time) to see something that is truly exciting happening sounds pretty shit on the face of it as well. It's almost like waiting for a goal to be scored in soccer.
Except they arbitrarily count it as 6 points instead of just 1. But there are always Field Goals! For a further arbitrary 3 points; which is basically a team admitting that they aren't good enough at that point to achieve the true goal of the game, scoring touchdowns.

And giving a team an out from the ultimate goal is, by definition, .....American? Wait, I must have missed that memo. I thought America always reached for the stars and accepted nothing less? Meh, no bother. Carry on cheering on field goals and hate actual goals being scored.

Me? I'll enjoy both. And laugh at both.

I agree with a lot of what you say here. In particular, I agree you can understand something and find it boring. (Notice that I said "likely" in my post.) I understand baseball, but I would rather watch dried paint than watch an entire baseball game.

But, here in the States at least, I think it is way more common that someone who claims "soccer is boring" doesn't really understand it. That doesn't mean there aren't exceptions, but I think that's the general rule.

 

[ProfessorDeac]

just because you used to play baseball doesn't mean that you understand it. especially at the major league level. not that thats necessarily true in your case, but i mean the vast majority of people who played even in HS don't really understand the complexities of the game

Curious about this. Do you mean from a managerial standpoint, or a player's perspective? Because I think playing in high school gives you essentially all the knowledge you need to play in the pros. The difference is skill level, strength, athleticism, etc. Disagree? Playing baseball is not that complicated.