Why do people bash certain sports?

I like watching top level soccer, but die-hard soccer fans are way too sensative. Try to tell one that you don't think soccer will ever be among the most popular sports in America. Or ask them why soccer has been "the next big thing" for the last fifty years, with youth soccer continually ranking as the fastest growing leagues in the country, but it still hasn't reached it's goal? You're very likely to hear an earful about why the sport is great and American's are dumb or "just don't get it".

If somebody tells me surfing is worthless I shrug and don't give it a second though. Tell me volleyball s**ks, no big deal. I love Hurling, a big sport in Ireland, but expect nobody else to enjoy it. Never do I go into detail mode unless somebody shows interest. Why do soccer fans get so upset?
Some people are way too sensitive about it but I think most just get sick of it. There seems to be a segment of the population that tries to run it down just because it exists, something that I haven't seen as much outside of soccer, NASCAR, and, more recently, hockey.
 
I would expect hurling to be big in Ireland with all their Guiness and Irish Car Bomb drinking.

Did you know that soccer is known as futbol (football) in in much of the rest of the world? The term "soccer" only came about because Americans already called a different sport football. - The more you know!

Never thought of it that way, but I guess so. The sport also includes swinging a piece of wood recklessly in the vicinity of other people, so they have that going for them as well.
 
Never thought of it that way, but I guess so. The sport also includes swinging a piece of wood recklessly in the vicinity of other people, so they have that going for them as well.

I would've envisioned hurling to just involve some serious alone time with you porcelain sweetheart ... but big sticks too huh?
 
I would expect hurling to be big in Ireland with all their Guiness and Irish Car Bomb drinking.

Did you know that soccer is known as futbol (football) in in much of the rest of the world? The term "soccer" only came about because Americans already called a different sport football. - The more you know!

nbc_the_more_you_know.jpg
 
I would've envisioned hurling to just involve some serious alone time with you porcelain sweetheart ... but big sticks too huh?

Oh yeah, lots of violence. It's kind of a cross between rugby and baseball. Lots of beer afterward and probably some of the other kind of hurling as well. It never made it off the island though, so obviously not a sport that will capture the imagination of too many.........
 
Hey Soccer Haters, if you don't go into soccer threads to bash it you probably won't have to deal with nearly as many people defending it. Seriously, I could care less about trying to "convert you" but it would be nice to have a thread that doesn't involve people telling me why it sucks.


That's a tall order.
 
I've never been a soccer fan, like ever, but I can sit down and watch a whole champions league game no problem. Something about all the passion, the fans, it's really pretty awesome. Now MLS, that's just god awful. But give me a world cup or a uefa game and I'll gladly watch. I wish they'd televise more games on cable.
 
I've never been a soccer fan, like ever, but I can sit down and watch a whole champions league game no problem. Something about all the passion, the fans, it's really pretty awesome. Now MLS, that's just god awful. But give me a world cup or a uefa game and I'll gladly watch. I wish they'd televise more games on cable.
I don't know what it was about the World Cup, but the last one grabbed me by the balls and wouldn't let go. That was some fun watching. Can't watch MLS though for some reason.
 
I've never been a soccer fan, like ever, but I can sit down and watch a whole champions league game no problem. Something about all the passion, the fans, it's really pretty awesome. Now MLS, that's just god awful. But give me a world cup or a uefa game and I'll gladly watch. I wish they'd televise more games on cable.

If you know what the acronym "UEFA" stand for ... you might be a soccer fan.

If you know the "champions league" from a hole in the ground ... you might be a soccer fan.

You my friend are a closet soccer fan, you probably even know what "bending it" means, and can explain the idea of additional injury minutes in 500 words or less. Its sad, but you are already lost, see you during basketball season.
 
Soccer as a sport is the white mini-van, driving 45 mph in the left-hand lane during rush hour, when everyone else is going 75. Regardless of its merits as a sport (which are many), it's proponents/supporters/fans are extremely intolerant of anyone who doesn't care for it. To admit that you don't like the sport instantly gets you branded as a "pea-brained, inbred, uneducated hick", who is obviously (shudder) an Ugly American.

Their passive-aggressiveness and instant condemnation of anyone who is not a fan, is only surpassed by the body-count of people killed during the last big game during the mandatory riot.

Frankly, soccer is the new weapon of commies and "one-worlders" if you ask me. :wink: And none of them have a sense of humor.

Or it could be that you don't like the idea of slender men, with no upper body development, running around in silk drawers, kicking at each other. (Thtop It, You Big Brute!!!!):rolleyes:

Seriously, I like watching soccer. It is a very, very "indirect" game, in strategy terms. I saw a match last month, where the team that spent most of the time attempting shots on goal lost, horribly, because the other team would occasionally break away, but would score each time they did, while the team crowding the opponents goal weren't making them.

But I can't stand the arrogance and the way some of the fans judge those who don't care for it.

As for other sports:

Golf - Nearly every golf course is a waste of perfectly good land that could be used as an airfield or a shooting range. I mean, if you hate your wife and kids so much you'll waste all the time and money you should be spending on them enough to take up golf, get a mistress! Trust me, it's more exciting, and probably cheaper, even after the messy divorce....

Bowling - Bowling alleys would make awesome indoor shooting ranges. But the shirts and shoes rock!
 
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Not trying to stir up the pot, but what do people think the reaction would be if someone were to say they didn't like football? Say, you grew up in Chicago and cant stand to watch the Bears? I think its the same for the rest of the world when it comes to the US and soccer. It is such a large part of their culture, its hard for them to understand how the US can get by without it.
 
I would define a sport as any game that you have to practice before you play and condition your body to be better at. That includes auto racing. Race car drivers go through strength and conditioning programs to prepare their bodies for hours of physical exertion. I only recently changed my mind about auto racing as a sport when I found out that they do this.

Here is why I don't think auto racing is a sport - you could be the best driver, the most physically apt person in the field, and your car could poop out on you and you're done. Ultimately winning isn't in the hands of the driver.

Soccer - I can't stand the flopping. I do really like that guy from Brazil or whatever, Kaka, but mostly because he's a Christian in a world sport and flaunts it. I read about him in Time and became a fan of him.

I think one of the reasons people don't like the MLS is the same as the reasons why they don't like the NBDL - we like watching the best players in the world and those guys aren't playing in the MLS.

I agree with others that soccer fans are a little arrogant - if I say I don't like it they say I don't understand it, or I'm impatient, etc. I actually have a very good understanding of soccer and many of them can't fathom somebody understanding it and not liking it. I have friends that don't like baseball, football, and basketball and I have no problem understanding why.
 
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Not trying to stir up the pot, but what do people think the reaction would be if someone were to say they didn't like football? Say, you grew up in Chicago and cant stand to watch the Bears? I think its the same for the rest of the world when it comes to the US and soccer. It is such a large part of their culture, its hard for them to understand how the US can get by without it.

The Chicago metropolitan area has a population of over 9 million people. I'm gonna guess that a couple million people can't stand to watch a Bears game.

My point is, there are lots of people who like different things, so for me... when I "bash" someone for watching said sport, I'm really just doing it in jest.
 
Yes, but how understanding would some of those diehard bears fans be? i mean there are 6 billion humans on the earth, there are probably a couple billion who cant stand soccer, im just saying you will get your crazies in everything, it just so happens that Americans may be in the minority in this.
 
Not trying to stir up the pot, but what do people think the reaction would be if someone were to say they didn't like football?

I'd say my reaction would be "soccer fan huh?" :wink:

But seriously, everybody loves the NFL ... it's like Elvis or chocolate chip cookies. :cool:

I'm an NBA fan ... but that's not even worth defending against the haters. Seriously who says "the world loves basketball! (which is pretty true including the US) so you should love the NBA!" It just isn't a hot button issue like soccer.
 
I'd say my reaction would be "soccer fan huh?" :wink:

But seriously, everybody loves the NFL ... it's like Elvis or chocolate chip cookies. :cool:

I'm an NBA fan ... but that's not even worth defending against the haters. Seriously who says "the world loves basketball! (which is pretty true including the US) so you should love the NBA!" It just isn't a hot button issue like soccer.
There are fans of the NBA? I assumed the people I see at the games were paid extras. I mean seriously, I enjoy basketball, but the NBA?