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Why I Love Soccer

1) No commercials.

2) You can watch a game and get on with your life in about 2 hours.

3) The rhetorical stylings of Ray Hudson . Even if you loathe soccer, it's hard not to consider this man one of the finest color commentators of all time.

Comments

  • ConnecticoinConnecticoin Posts: 12,868 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Soccer seems to be gaining a niche following in the US. ESPN is showing a lot of Premier League games lately, the MLS is hanging in there, and you have Fox Soccer Channel.
  • lanemyer85lanemyer85 Posts: 1,326 ✭✭✭
    EPL has become much more popular over the last few years, but I don't see the same fervor for Champions League or the Fed Cup in the US yet. Personally I really only watch the World Cup and Fed Cup - country vs country and all, so basically a casual fan, but you can say all the same things for hockey save for a few more commercials. If you DVR/TIVO a hockey game, and start watching around the end of the 1st period, you can blow through the ads and intermissions, and knock out a game in 90 mins depending on penalties. The great announcers part is true though. For some reason soccer and tennis commentators always seem to have the best voices, insight, and timing.
  • CrimsonTiderCrimsonTider Posts: 1,381 ✭✭✭
    Commercials are killing the NFL. I can't claim to be a soccer fan, but I like the concept of no or just a few commercials.

    The Masters told CBS to shove their ads up their arse. I can say that I like golf.

    Golf maybe even more boring than soccer to watch. I guess to each their own.
    collecting Dale Murphy and OPC
  • hammeredhammered Posts: 2,671 ✭✭✭
    I'm a fan of the game. I played it age 6 through college.
    But I can't watch it on television. I've tried.
  • BoopottsBoopotts Posts: 6,784 ✭✭


    << <i>Commercials are killing the NFL. I can't claim to be a soccer fan, but I like the concept of no or just a few commercials.

    The Masters told CBS to shove their ads up their arse. I can say that I like golf.

    Golf maybe even more boring than soccer to watch. I guess to each their own. >>



    I don't know if commercials are killing the NFL, but they're definitely killing NCAAF. Let's face it- no matter how much you love your team, there's only so many Saturdays that a man can dedicate to a game where one team or the other is a 14 point favorite. With so many terrible games slated every weekend, and each game taking three and a half hours, and any team with two losses basically just playing out the string, it's no surprise that ratings are down.

    College football needs to go to a relegation system, like Soccer. Instead of the Big 10, SEC, etc., you have the Premier Division, 1st Division, 2nd Division, and so on. To start it off we take the top 20 teams according to the final AP rankings and put them in a conference. Teams 21-40 go into their own conference, teams 41-60, and so on. Your schedule is determined through a random draw, with the only stipulation being you can't play any team more than once. To determine who finishes at the top of each division we give three points for each home win, and four points for each away win. At the end of the season the bottom three teams (i.e., the three teams with the fewest points) in each division get relegated to the next lowest division, the top three teams in each division get promoted to the next highest division, and each team gets one protected 'rivalry' game that they get to play each year regardless of the division the two teams are in.

    For the playoff in the Premier Division we either a) set up a four team tournament, or b) let the top two teams play against each other in a home and home, with the team who scores the most total points in the two games combined being declared the champion.

    No doubt about it, this would make college football FAR more watchable then it is now. For instance, take a team like your team-- Alabama. My feeling is that 'Bama can beat anyone on any day. In fact, I'm not convinced they aren't the best team in the country. Other squads, like LSU, can make a similar claim. But what has 'Bama had to play for after their second loss? Nothing. Their season has been over for a month now. Meanwhile, teams that would probably get boat-raced in the Premier Division, like Nevada, are ranked 13th in the nation.

    Does anyone here think Nevada is the 13th best team in the country? Or that TCU is the third best? I don't. In fact, I'm nearly sure of it. But this ridiculous system we have in place doesn't allow us to prove or disprove that, and as a result interest in NCAAF has begun to wane.
  • ctsoxfanctsoxfan Posts: 6,246 ✭✭
    4) Makes for great nap time in front of the television. Better than an Ambien and a few cold ones.
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