Reason #6725 why soccer is the best sport

I had a good conversation with a friend of mine while watching Spain vs. Italy about the (IMO sorry) state of American sports and how great soccer is. I stated my main reasons for why I love soccer:

1. Most rabid, passionate, involved, loud fans of any sport
2. Efficient gameplay (90+ mins of clock time for every 2 hours of real-time, vs. say the NFL, 60 mins of clock time for 3 hours 15mins of real time) and no commercials during gameplay (what has turned me off the NFL in recent years is the extra TV timeout after kickoffs - just egregious IMO - and don't get me started on how long the last 2 mins of a NBA game takes)
3. The complexity, depth, competition, and organization of the different leagues domstically and in Europe, and how there are concurrent league and Cup competitions
4. Players who care (I know, but while watching the Euros and seeing players lay it out for their country, think about the US Basketball team and how many players choose vacation over national representation)

My friend and I were talking about how much sponsorship/advertising there is in soccer, and how it basically is there to offest being commerical-free (save for halftime), and how it is easier to tune out a banner in the background than a 30 second commerical.

My friend then asked me a question that I am still thinking about, and wanted to offer to FUSA (and NFL fans in particular): Will we ever see corporate sponsorship on NFL/NBA/MLB jerseys? (The frightening counterquestion that I had was, if "Yes", would it reduce the amount of commericals shown during broadcasts? - I pessimistically said "No")

 

My biggest pet peeve about American sports is when it is championship series time for the respective sport, the finals always start at 9:20 pm for those of us on the East Coast, the most heavily populated time zone in the country. So, the games end after midnight at the earliest. Only the Stanley Cup starts at 8:00, and even the Super Bowl ends late after they pump all the extra garbage into it.

What that says is that you need to mortgage your house to be able to buy 2 tickets to go to the finals, so we'll price out the live audience to all except the high rollers who don't cheer. And since the audience at home is going to either be dead tired in the morning or say the hell with it and go to bed, or Tivo the game where it will be practically impossible to avoid finding out the results of the game before you watch it, they are saying we'll just disregard the audience at home too. All in the name of squeezing every last dollar out of the game, so we can pay stiffs like Barry Zito $126 mil over 7 years.

That doesn't happen in soccer. I realize Sky has a Faustian pact with the EPL in Britian and supporters there can gripe about how money has changed the game there, but I like how that is largely not the case here.

I have an unfair advantage over the homosexual communist jokes that my family dares life and limb to make about soccer. Six foot three inch me walks my 270 pounds out of the gym and plops my honorable discharge onto the table and we play a game of mine's bigger. I am undefeated 8)

 

What branch, Steve?

 

I actually had a teacher call me a communist whilst watching the champions league during lunch break........
As for the timing of major american sports events, on the west coast it gets on your nerves when they happen right around dinner time or earlier. I enjoy my food and actually being able to make the most of daylight hours. I could go on about the scheduling of tv shows but I won't as it a far stretch to relate it to this thread.

 

Army, Military Police -- and my career highlight was bringing 12 young men and women (including myself) home from Baghdad w/ all our missions completed and zero purple hearts amongst us.

Were you in? There's a few of us on the board.

 

I'm in flight school at NAS Pcola on the Navy side.

 

I'm a military brat; spent 22 of my first 24 years on or around military bases in Europe. I decided to move back to "the world" instead of enlisting so I could first find out what I'd be fighting for.

I've gotta say, this civilian life, staying in one place more than 5 years, ain't half bad.

 

Cool, didn't realize there were some priors on the board...although to be honest I meet a lot more military guys who are soccer fans than civilians for some reason.

And back to the topic at hand: I agree, I love football, but the commercials are getting ridiculous these days.

 

My guess would be that they have had the opportunity to leave the USA and explore other cultures. Outside the US football is pandemic with a short incubation period!

Also, to play football - all you need is a beer can and 1 other person - so you can play on the front line anywhere in the world.

 

P'cola. I head to Gulf Breeze and the Beach over there to hang out with my soccer loving buddy every now and again.

PM me your phone number, and we'll have to schedule a match viewing (preferably against his prison stripes team.)

 

KickFlip, it's good to hear about your current endeavors.

To follow what GBFC said, about footy and Iraq -- for about two weeks we had the same daily mission and would go past the same soccer field, which was close to where we would go to for execution of the mission. So I would see kids there just before we disembarked and just after we left for the day. I would have loved to play with them! Unfortunately, there was the serious chance of getting blown to bits while I would have sprang a hard tackle on someone, and while I love the game, I don't love it that much. Also contribulting to my inability to play was the fact that I was wearing over 60 pounds of gear, and the heat, but every day that I would see the kids out there playing, it would command my attention for a brief second. Sigh.

And I agree -- civilian life does have its perks too.

 

The AF side my Pop played for trained with Peterborough.

Surprisingly, I didn't pick the game up from him though. I got started on it as an adult by some Europeans that worked for my company when I lived in Seattle and then FSC & it's EPL coverage completed the addiction.

For me, the commercials aspect played a larger role than you'd guess. Baseball was the game that fell to the wayside, I find it almost unwatchable now b/c it takes so long. I have a friend who got into Rugby, in part, for the same reason.

 

If I were a corporate big wig with and large marketing budget I would prefer to have my brand prominently pasted across an NFL or NBA jersey or run in the background as a banner than run a commercial during the same NFL or NBA game. Why? Because people like me do not watch commercials. The remote control was invented so that I could sample other broadcasting while television commercials are running. It seems like the only programming in our house that remains on for more than 15 minutes at a time is soccer. In fact many sports programs have lost me as a viewer because I have found a more entertaining game to watch while channel surfing during commercials.

In fact, I will go out on a limb and guess that the dvr may lead to commerical time becoming less and less valuable. I am now far more likely to record a regular season NFL or MLB game than watch it live just so I can fast forward through the commercials and cut my viewing time down considerably. I have better things to do than sit and watch anyones commercials.

 

To answer your question Bradical about sponsorship on jerseys I would say yes..eventually. If the owners of the Dallas teams (Jones and Cuban) had their way they would already have them. However, the combination of the traditionalist establishment (can you hear Bob Costas?) and the small market teams (the Cowboys would get $25 mill vs Buffalo lucky to get $1 mill) will keep this from happening for the foreseeable future. I have a Seahawk (Lofa Tatupu #51) jersey and the thought of a Starbucks logo being prominent makes me cringe. However, would I not buy one because of a small logo on the sleeve? Of course I'd still fork out the cash.

I don't watch NASCAR, but sponsorships are so engrained in that sport that the fans don't think twice about which billboard to root for or when the winning driver will answer a question with 'The Viagra-Doritos-Champion Spark Plug Dodge ran good all day'.

Now would this cut back on TV commercials?... :lol: :lol: :lol: No

 

I don't think we'll ever see it in NFL or MLB, but the sponsorship of NBA jerseys is done everywhere else except for the USA more or less. I could see it happening, however on the other hand, I can see there being no point . . the question is, will the basketball teams make more money off of the shirt sponsorship or jersey sales in general?

You can guarantee that jersey sales will plummet if sponsorship starts, so it's an important question to ask. For the ones who knows the numbers, it may be an easy one.

 

If I'm not mistaken, MLB did go with advertising on the batting helmets during some games in Japan. Want to say it was a series with the Yankees a couple years ago.

 

My question to those Jedi out there that know much more about the European game than I is.....Can you provide examples of hard nosed, tough, battled thru injuries to lead his team to victory guys? (other than McBride cause we know about BMac) When talking with fans of other sports their biggest complaint is that footy players are weak because of the excess of flopping and acting like they were shot with a cannon at close range when bumped into. I think a list of good examples that we can provide the soccer sceptic should help quiet the "soccer players are not real athletes" garbage I hear often from other sports fans and some talk radio personalities.

 

Not only did the MLB have advertising on both the jerseys and helmets in Japan five other countries did the same in World Baseball Classic. According to the article Ricoh paid MLB more than $10,000,000 to sponsor the 2 game series. Just because David Stern doesn't see it happening does not mean it will not. Anyone else remember the Spiderman theme bases?

There was a time when putting advertising on Wrigley's ivy covered outfield walls would have been a taboo thought too. As teams look for alternative revenue sources to turn a profit the day will come when the almighty dollar will win over the owner's pocketbooks if not their hearts and minds. Although I think most owners hearts and minds are directly connected to their pocketbooks so it is sort of like a 3 for 1 sale.