From the Meryl Streep School of Drama:
Posted on 06/16/2014 2:02:23 PM PDT by ReaganÜberAlles
Feels like this soccer crap is being forced on us on ESPN, etc. Yes, just change the channel but why is there this effort to make believe that Americans love soccer and love the WNBA? They are two artificially created.
All the participation Trophy kids love it. They grew up on it like we did football/baseball/hockey. Brings back memories of free no-score pizza parties and group hugging.
Soccer along with bowling, curling, and table tennis for starters.
It is a boring sport where the players pretend to be struck by the other team. Really, all the major teams practice faking a hit.
Waste of time.....
I remember when they showed the national spelling bee. February was always tortuous until they figured out the NFL has something going all year.
With a couple of tweaks it could be much more popular in the U.S. - I’m thinking with, like, ring ropes and folding chairs it could out-draw even the WWE. Oh, yeah, and a steel cage they lower over the pitch with ballbats and chainsaws attached to the sides. “Twenty-two men enter, one man leave!” I’d buy tickets.
Really?! Holy crap, I thought they’d moved on from that.
When the United States wins the world cup it will officially be a third world toilet. A country that is good at soccer is horrible at everything else.
I remember when they broadcast go cart races on a bicycle track from a college campus here in Indianapolis. The good old days!
Soccer probably originated with victorious tribes kicking the heads of defeated enemies around the field. I do not know why anyone would think it is a sissy sport.
2) There are a lot of channels out there and not that much programming cheaply available. NBC Sports Channel might be "pushing" cycling lately, but I suspect they just show it because it's there and the hours to fill are there and cycling is cheaper than basketball or football or baseball. Ditto on lacrosse. Nobody I know is interested, but it shows up on the local sports channel. It's a cheap get and if they show it often enough maybe the public will take an interest.
3) After decades of promoting soccer and decades of mass immigration, there very definitely is an audience for soccer. Plus, it's a little like the Olympics: a lot of the sports aren't that interesting, but the fact that it's a global event makes it interesting -- to talk about if not actually to watch.
4) Is anybody really pushing WNBA? I suppose, sure, the fact that they show it at all constitutes "pushing", but it's like it's on all the time, is it? I can't say that watching it would be worse viewing than soccer or lacrosse. Would you?
Again I’m not a soccer fan, but MLS averages about 20k per game for 19 teams.
That’s not trivial by any means.
The England-Italy game that was played on Saturday averaged a 2.6 rating for ESPN with 4.615M viewers. That makes it ESPN/ESPN2’s most-watched non-U.S. Group Stage World Cup game ever. The network says that only three U.S. men’s Group Stage matches have delivered a larger audience (the side has yet to take the field this year). In terms of household ratings, England’s defeat at the hands of the Azzurri is the 2nd highest-rated non-U.S. Group Stage World Cup game, falling behind Thursday’s Brazil-Croatia opener which scored a record overnight average of 3.2 in the metered markets. Univision, meanwhile, reports that its World Cup audience is 25% larger among total viewers than in 2010 through eight matches.
I bet tonight's US-Ghana game will draw more viewers (combined Univision and ESPN) than last night's NBA fifth and final game.
The FIFA World Cup is the quadrennial soccer championship held every four years since 1930 (with two exceptions as a result of that whole WWII thing). The Cup’s final game is the single most viewed sporting event on earth. The 2010 match between Spain and The Netherlands was watched by an estimated 700 million people. That’s a decent chunk of the world’s entire population.
I am so, so, so, glad you posted your opinion about my opinion about the game of soccer and ESPN’s coverage of the World Cup. You have made my life complete. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. No really, I mean it. I am being very sincere. I really, really care about your opinion about my opinion and I have no doubt your opinion of my opinion will immediately cause me to hate myself and soccer (soccer even more.)
Are you Gay by any chance?
http://www.gallup.com/poll/4735/sports.aspx%22
Yes soccer has almost doubled in popularity in the last 11 years! From 2 to 4%. LOL
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