Viewing Habits Suggests Soccer's Rise. Baseball's Decline.

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0u812

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Jan 14, 2012
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The reason baseball is declining is that its too damn boring. Soccer is taking over because every kid in the world plays it, and the world thinks its the greatest sport (I dont, too damn boring).

Football and basketball are successful due to excitement and uncertainty on every play/down/possession.
 

coolerifyoudid

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Feb 8, 2013
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I don't think it's quite apples to apples there. I just feel like so much of soccer is spent with wasted action. You play for 90 minutes for maybe a combined 4-5 minutes where a goal could be scored. At least with football there is a potential for a score on every play. And there's smaller wins/losses that occur with trying to get first downs.

To me soccer is like if you took the shot clock away from basketball. You could just pass the ball around and hold it and take advantage if an opportunity arises. No one would want to watch that (I'm looking at you, IHSAA...).

I used to feel the same way until I really started watching games and practicing with my daughter. Having never played myself, I was impressed with how hard it was to get the ball from my her when she was even 10-11 years old. The smaller wins/losses in soccer are possession related and 1v1s. Losing possession in the wrong scenario can lead to a goal pretty quickly.

The skill and tactics and stamina needed for soccer are really astounding. I think a lot of people view soccer as much easier than it is and focus on the lack of scoring and flopping (btw, even soccer fans hate flopping). And it was trendy to hate soccer in the US because for a long time since we didn't have any global success. I don't care if someone doesn't care to watch it, but there is a weird cult of people that go out of there way to attack it.

In terms of the shot-clock comparison, every sport has a stalling aspect that people don't like. My wife hates that football teams can milk the last 3 minutes of a game if the opposing team doesn't have timeouts.
 

Kaner04

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MLB has made a change to how the baseballs are being sewn to hopefully increase the drag.
 

Clonefan32

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I used to feel the same way until I really started watching games and practicing with my daughter. Having never played myself, I was impressed with how hard it was to get the ball from my her when she was even 10-11 years old. The smaller wins/losses in soccer are possession related and 1v1s. Losing possession in the wrong scenario can lead to a goal pretty quickly.

The skill and tactics and stamina needed for soccer are really astounding. I think a lot of people view soccer as much easier than it is and focus on the lack of scoring and flopping (btw, even soccer fans hate flopping). And it was trendy to hate soccer in the US because for a long time since we didn't have any global success. I don't care if someone doesn't care to watch it, but there is a weird cult of people that go out of there way to attack it.

In terms of the shot-clock comparison, every sport has a stalling aspect that people don't like. My wife hates that football teams can milk the last 3 minutes of a game if the opposing team doesn't have timeouts.

I don't disagree that it takes tremendous skill and stamina. I realize that even the most basic passes require extreme talent and skill. But it doesn't change the fact that 95% of the game is spent as a non-threat to score. And while that technically is true too with football, as the vast majority of plays aren't scoring plays, the game-within-the-game of first downs at least adds a consistent element of excitement.
 

Kaner04

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lol. instead of doing anything meaningful they focus on the low hanging druit.
Well hopefully it would make it more difficult to hit home runs at the pace they’ve been hit the past few years and put more of an emphasis on putting the ball in play. But players want to hit home runs so we’ll see how much things change in a year
 

BigTurk

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The Simpsons had a good take on soccer (though I will watch a soccer match on television any day over baseball).
 

VeloClone

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Well hopefully it would make it more difficult to hit home runs at the pace they’ve been hit the past few years and put more of an emphasis on putting the ball in play. But players want to hit home runs so we’ll see how much things change in a year
Won't increasing drag on the balls also make breaking balls much more effective since there will be more force on the ball and more movement? You would probably see more breaking balls thrown since there would be more movement on breaking balls and a small decrease in velocity on the fastball.
 

Kaner04

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Won't increasing drag on the balls also make breaking balls much more effective since there will be more force on the ball and more movement? You would probably see more breaking balls thrown since there would be more movement on breaking balls and a small decrease in velocity on the fastball.
I think what I read is that it would take a few feet off a ball hit beyond 375 feet so I think it wouldn’t effect a ball going 60 feet that much. But maybe
 

Kaner04

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I think what I read is that it would take a few feet off a ball hit beyond 375 feet so I think it wouldn’t effect a ball going 60 feet that much. But maybe
Also about 1/3 of the league is storing their baseballs in humidors which keeps them slightly heavier
 

coolerifyoudid

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I don't disagree that it takes tremendous skill and stamina. I realize that even the most basic passes require extreme talent and skill. But it doesn't change the fact that 95% of the game is spent as a non-threat to score. And while that technically is true too with football, as the vast majority of plays aren't scoring plays, the game-within-the-game of first downs at least adds a consistent element of excitement.

Sports that have one player specifically designated to stop a score are going to be more defense-oriented, usually require an exceptional effort to score. I think hockey has similar things said about it. What you view as a non-threat to score is often an offense trying to break down a defense by positioning tactics. And keep in mind that some of the passing is also to give players a breather since there are no time-outs during game play. NBA players run around 2-2.5 miles per game. A soccer player usually averages 8-9.5 miles.

It really comes down to how you view the sport. Every sport is capable of a very boring game. Indoor soccer and futsal are much faster paced, resulting in a lot more scoring. However, you're not going to find many soccer fans that prefer that to a traditional style.

I'm not trying to 'convert' you btw. Some people will probably never like soccer and that's fine. I'm admittedly not as big of a fan as others on here. I will say that I have gone to a lot of live sporting events and a highly-spirited soccer match is as fun as any of the others.
 
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VeloClone

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I think what I read is that it would take a few feet off a ball hit beyond 375 feet so I think it wouldn’t effect a ball going 60 feet that much. But maybe
Drag on a ball is what causes it to break when it has spin on it. That is why they don't want scuffed balls remaining in the game and why they crack down on players who are scuffing balls. It is also why 4 seam and 2 seam pitches behave differently as the seams spin around the ball.
 
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CloneJD

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Baseball has difficulty with change because they are beholden to 125 years of history/stats. It really seems that some more drastic steps then changing the seam profile of the baseballs are in order.
 
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isucy86

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I think MLB has a huge problem on its hands. I'm a Cubs fan and I will try to tune in when they are on, but I have absolutely zero interest in watching any other team. It's just too damn boring, and they do such a poor job marketing their young stars. There's a concerted effort to keep the game bland and emotionless and it makes for a bad product.

Most soccer also isn't too high on my list, but I do enjoy a morning EPL game, and I really enjoy watching national team stuff. But I don't see myself tuning into a random weeknight MLS game anytime soon.

MLB needs to get smart about its TV contract. The blackout rules are an absolute joke!!! Why make it harder for fans to catch their team play.

Look at the Cubs Marquee Network. It has been dropped by just about every streaming service but AT&T Direct TV. Marquee is on Mediacom, but personally not a fan.
 

BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
Drag on a ball is what causes it to break when it has spin on it. That is why they don't want scuffed balls remaining in the game and why they crack down on players who are scuffing balls. It is also why 4 seam and 2 seam pitches behave differently as the seams spin around the ball.
Go with seamless balls