killjoy32 wrote:so we got tickets to go see the california angels (they have changed their name now right?)
Xaxaxe wrote:Badmike wrote:I had friends back int he early 80's who were predicting with all the kids going to soccer camps and playing in high schools, it would be the new popular sport of the 90's and next century. Instead, as back then, no one really cares.Soccer is, according to many researchers, by far the most popular sport for American youths (especially considering how many girls play), and every so often I'll run across an article predicting how it is poised to be become "the next big thing" on the American sports landscape.And it never happpens. Those millions of youth players are largely former players by the time they reach college age ... and then the cycle just repeats. There's absolutely nothing wrong with young people having a fun, healthy, outdoors activity, but what the writers of these articles don't seem to realize is that just because millions of kids play soccer doesn't mean they grow up to become soccer fans. I mean, a lot of kids take piano lessons, too, but that doesn't mean they grow up and attend recitals when they are adults.Soccer has one chance here: the U.S. men reaching the World Cup final* someday. Even then, for a U.S. league to reach anything approaching the mainstream, the arcane offsides rule would have to be changed — we're Americans; we don't do obscure rules that take 15 minutes to explain.
Badmike wrote:I had friends back int he early 80's who were predicting with all the kids going to soccer camps and playing in high schools, it would be the new popular sport of the 90's and next century. Instead, as back then, no one really cares.
Blackmoor wrote:Deadlord39 wrote:Good point. However, that is exactly the reason why I never watch basketball. Games where teams score 50 times each are boring.Football has the perfect medium. Scoring is not out-of-control, yet happens often enough for enjoyment.How about Hockey!! Fast, exiciting, physical and you can play it in the winter Basketball seems to be just a show (at the pro level anyway). It drives me crazy watching all the travelling, fouls and showboating. Personally I do not get why people watch a sport with no rules
Deadlord39 wrote:Good point. However, that is exactly the reason why I never watch basketball. Games where teams score 50 times each are boring.Football has the perfect medium. Scoring is not out-of-control, yet happens often enough for enjoyment.
Badmike wrote: But still, the rules would have to be "americanized" (I.e., more scoring) for US audiences to ever really like the sport. Personally, I've never watched a soccer game completely start to finish except when one of my kids or my buddies was playing...professional soccer should be shown to anyone suffering from insomnia before medicine is ever tried... Mike B.
Xaxaxe wrote:Sniping? Never heard of it ... I use PowerSnipe ... but it's got an annual fee, which, honestly, I'm less than thrilled about.
Xaxaxe wrote:Sure, but I prefer actually winning an auction every so often. +++++Sarcasm aside, sniping also removes me from the bad old days of having 15 browser windows open at 3:28 a.m. and hitting "refresh" every three seconds ... life is just way too short for that nonsense.
Badmike wrote:Xaxaxe wrote:Soccer is, according to many researchers, by far the most popular sport for American youths (especially considering how many girls play), and every so often I'll run across an article predicting how it is poised to be become "the next big thing" on the American sports landscape.And it never happpens. Those millions of youth players are largely former players by the time they reach college age ... and then the cycle just repeats. There's absolutely nothing wrong with young people having a fun, healthy, outdoors activity, but what the writers of these articles don't seem to realize is that just because millions of kids play soccer doesn't mean they grow up to become soccer fans. I mean, a lot of kids take piano lessons, too, but that doesn't mean they grow up and attend recitals when they are adults.Soccer has one chance here: the U.S. men reaching the World Cup final* someday. Even then, for a U.S. league to reach anything approaching the mainstream, the arcane offsides rule would have to be changed — we're Americans; we don't do obscure rules that take 15 minutes to explain. Perfectly put. The statistics say that every year more kids than ever play soccer. This is the reason grandiose predictions were made decades ago. Unfortunately as X said, these same kids grow up and drift away to football, baseball, basketball, etc, and then without an outlet to watch professional soccer on television regularly, they become fans of other sports. I would add one more chance to the US ever embracing soccer: If we ever produced such an incredible superstar that the US team could hang their hat on in international play. Sort of a Tiger Woods of soccer....look at how Tiger single-handedly pumped life and popularity into golf. When I was a kid, other kids took tennis lessons, now they are ALL taking golf lessons. But still, the rules would have to be "americanized" (I.e., more scoring) for US audiences to ever really like the sport. Personally, I've never watched a soccer game completely start to finish except when one of my kids or my buddies was playing...professional soccer should be shown to anyone suffering from insomnia before medicine is ever tried... Mike B.
Xaxaxe wrote:Soccer is, according to many researchers, by far the most popular sport for American youths (especially considering how many girls play), and every so often I'll run across an article predicting how it is poised to be become "the next big thing" on the American sports landscape.And it never happpens. Those millions of youth players are largely former players by the time they reach college age ... and then the cycle just repeats. There's absolutely nothing wrong with young people having a fun, healthy, outdoors activity, but what the writers of these articles don't seem to realize is that just because millions of kids play soccer doesn't mean they grow up to become soccer fans. I mean, a lot of kids take piano lessons, too, but that doesn't mean they grow up and attend recitals when they are adults.Soccer has one chance here: the U.S. men reaching the World Cup final* someday. Even then, for a U.S. league to reach anything approaching the mainstream, the arcane offsides rule would have to be changed — we're Americans; we don't do obscure rules that take 15 minutes to explain.
Xaxaxe wrote:Xaxaxe wrote:Sniping? Never heard of it ... I use PowerSnipe ... but it's got an annual fee, which, honestly, I'm less than thrilled about.Bah. Upon further review, I retract any good things I've ever said about PowerSnipe. It's too expensive ($45 annually) and now I'm in a three-way fight with them and my credit card company to reverse my latest charge (I chose not to renew).I'm giving eSnipe a shot. New users get two weeks for free, then pay only for winning bids. I can already tell that I'll like it better.For those still snipe shopping: eSnipe
Marlith wrote:Even better for insomnia is Grand Prix racing...not on TV - that is almost tolerable - I mean live at the event. I went ot the Indy 500 one time. You get to sit there and wait for all the cars to whiz by in like 10 seconds or less and then wait maybe a minute or so. It is only slightly more boring than tennis. At least with soccer you get constant motion...I put soccer right up there with hockey...both sports I feel I should like but just can't bring myself to. At least with hockey there is a fair chance of violence.
MShipley88 wrote:Grand Prix racing came to America last year and tried to stage a race at Indy.....and a tire issue caused all but six teams to pull their cars off the track after the warmup laps.
Xaxaxe wrote:Auto racing is an acquired taste, for sure. I would never willingly watch a minute of a NASCAR race, but I'll occasionally check out the Formula One highlights on the Speed Channel. And the start of an F-1 race is, hands down, the best 30 seconds in all of sports. It's pure adrenaline.
Badmike wrote:Marlith wrote:Even better for insomnia is Grand Prix racing...not on TV - that is almost tolerable - I mean live at the event. I went ot the Indy 500 one time. You get to sit there and wait for all the cars to whiz by in like 10 seconds or less and then wait maybe a minute or so. It is only slightly more boring than tennis. At least with soccer you get constant motion...I put soccer right up there with hockey...both sports I feel I should like but just can't bring myself to. At least with hockey there is a fair chance of violence.Yeh, but it's all about the heavy drinking....but I agree with you. I'd rather watch a dog take a dump than one minute of auto racing. I will never be able to forget one horrific afternoon having to wait for a friend to drive me home from a trip to Memphis, we were stuck at his grandparents house and had to watch the ENTIRE Indy 500 with them and other hillbilly relatives, which btw included no women under 50 years old. I actually left during the race and walked to a nearby Subway sandwhich shop about a mile away, ate lunch, finished reading the only book I had on me, and walked back, and the MOTHEREFFING race was still going on. From there I formulated one of my famous RULES OF LIFE, to wit: "Always take your own car anywhere you go"Mike B.