Lifestyle > Sports & Entertainment
MLS
bouli77:
--- Quote from: K.Dub on June 18, 2011, 08:30:26 AM ---I still don't understand why the American people don't embrace the world's greatest sport..
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there are a few reasons to that IMO :
1. from a cultural standpoint : americans equate sport with entertainment. so for any collective sport it has to be either fun to watch or to attend. i really don't think baseball is entertaining but i don't know the rules and i've never been to a baseball game so i can't speak on it. but i'm sure most americans love to attend baseball games more for the atmosphere and the experience than for the game itself. it's part of their culture and mythology so it's more than a sport. i'm a huge soccer guy but I can see why non-initiated people are not into it. it gets boring when you're expecting mindblowing goals and play and when you're getting a very tactical game with two teams nullifying each other and ending up with a tie. in america there's no ultra culture as there is in the rest of the world when it comes to soccer. they enjoy the international games but they're spectators rather than supporters. the thing is, soccer is only a sport, whereas (american) basketball is also a show (as are baseball and american football).
2. the format : a 90 minute game with a 15 minute half. it's not enough for companies looking for commercial placement every 15 minutes or so. and it's too long for americans who are non-initiated spectators who have a hard time coping with uneventful phases of the game.
3. american exceptionalism & isolationism : americans pride themselves on being different. soccer has been imported to America almost right after it was created in England, and it started growing. however, they didn't fully embrace the sport because they didn't want to adopt a sport where they could be likely to face and be defeated by their former motherland (UK) and they didn't want to develop a sport invented by them.
that being said, with the MLS developing, it seems like they have their own soccer traditions developing based on the popular collective sports there. teams like Philadelphia Union and Seattle Sounders pack their stadiums and from an outsider's perspective there seems to be much less negativity and bitter rivalry in the US than in the rest of the soccer world (maybe due to the fact that there's no ultra culture and that americans have a different way to live sports).
soccer is definitely big in canada though (for what it's worth).
Javier:
Baseball and American History really go hand in hand. It's definitely a cultural thing, but I don't agree that people just go to the baseball stadium for the experience. It's one of the few sports where the stats are entertaining to research, mainly because in baseball the stats do tell you a lot about the player and the game. It's also the only sport where each stadium has unique park dimensions that affect both the pitcher and the hitter. It's very entertaining to see a pitcher vs hitter match up, and that's really the entire ball game.
MontrealCity's Most:
--- Quote from: Lunatic on June 18, 2011, 10:12:10 AM ---It's pretty damn big here in Toronto, Canada (MLS - Toronto FC). That's because Toronto is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, with MOST people in the 15-35 age group, they're parents being immigrants from Europe (especially Italy & Portugal), therefore Soccer is HUGE here; we grew up with it but we definitely cheer for our background country (Portugal, Italy, etc) instead of Canada (doesn't help that Canada sucks)
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Were coming for you next year..
Montreal Impact\!!
K-MACC:
--- Quote from: MontrealCity's Most (ToyBoxcrew) on June 29, 2011, 06:01:29 PM ---
--- Quote from: Lunatic on June 18, 2011, 10:12:10 AM ---It's pretty damn big here in Toronto, Canada (MLS - Toronto FC). That's because Toronto is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, with MOST people in the 15-35 age group, they're parents being immigrants from Europe (especially Italy & Portugal), therefore Soccer is HUGE here; we grew up with it but we definitely cheer for our background country (Portugal, Italy, etc) instead of Canada (doesn't help that Canada sucks)
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Were coming for you next year..
Montreal Impact\!!
--- End quote ---
lets hope so toronto fc sucks but somehow they still sell tickets
Lunatic:
^ Because Toronto is such a major city, they sell tickets to any sport we love (hockey, basketball & soccer - we don't like baseball much lol).
TFC made 2 great signings today though! Torsten Frings (79 Germany caps, playing for many prestigious teams) and Danny Koevermans
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