Belgium beats the US

[Meule]

It's surprisingly quiet here about this


U.S. MNT Falls to Belgium in Brussels - U.S. Soccer

[Mikey]

I don't follow soccer but I would blame it on home court advantage

[toys2cool]

meh.. both teams suck

[Meule]

meh.. both teams suck

Agreed

[Werewolf]

I don't follow soccer but I would blame it on home court advantage

You are not alone. I don't think many people in the states follow Soccer.

[raider5gt]

^^^^ I don't really follow soccer(football as it's known over here)i prefer American Football more action but international games of football are quite good sometimes.

[Random Axe]

I'd follow soccer/football more if there was something at stake. If we were playing for land, oil, technology or something else then I'd tune in.

[Brazoo]

Obviously I'm generalizing here, but I don't know if Americans will ever get really emotionally involved in soccer. Even as it gains popularity it just doesn't seem to mean the same thing to them.

American friends of mine seemed to think it was quaint when the US did fairly well in the last World Cup - but they didn't really care.

Maybe if they cut down the field size, increased the net size, and allowed for more body contact. Who knows.

[Dark Shadow]

Go Belgium!


It seems to me that the US has a full plate when it comes to sports. On the whole, we have our specific interests and we thoroughly enjoy them.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why certain populations have a problem with this. Why the condescension? It's not as though we're athletic isolationists, we do engage with the rest of the world by participating in the Olympics every two years.

Why exactly should the US be more emotionally engaged in a sport they're simply not interested in? Is there some sort of Divine requirement we haven't been made aware of?

[Brazoo]

I think that's basic universal human nature man.

"why are THEY doing that? Why don't THEY think like me?"

Nobody is immune to this kind of thinking. You're kinda doing it when you say "I cannot understand why certain populations have a problem with this." It's like you're saying "why are THEY doing that? Why don't THEY think like me?"

I don't get why all people don't like old toys like I do, for example. What's not to like? What's wrong with those people? See what I mean?

Anyway, I got no pony in this race - I think all sports are boring.

[Dark Shadow]

You're point might make more sense to me if I had questioned why certain populations enjoy soccer, which is not the case. I understand why some people like soccer. I just don't understand why certain people look down at those who don't.

I like Dark Shadows. I'm perfectly AOK with the fact that most people do not watch or even care for the show. I don't look down at them. I don't try to guilt them or pressure them into watching it. I don't make snide comments about their personal tastes. I don't speculate as to what may or may not be the reasons behind their disinterest. I don't make character judgments based upon their lack of interest. I just accept that it's my cup of tea, and not everyone else's.

Interestingly enough, my experience has been that it's usually people who have no interest at all in sports who comment negatively about the US's overall disinterest in soccer.

[Brazoo]

I'm not sure if you're saying I was being negative, but just to clarify - I don't think it's a negative thing that the US doesn't care about soccer. I was just pointing out that in my experience American's generally don't care. Most Canadians don't care about it either. I certainly don't!

About understanding others - I'm not trying to make an issue or point, it's just how I see things.

You don't understand them - they don't understand you. To me it's two sides of the exact same thing, but I'm not trying to criticize you for it. I'm saying I do it too. I think we ALL do the same thing.

I think we're all comfortable with people we relate to. We're comfortable with being critical of people we don't relate to.

Obviously it has to be something important for us to get emotional about it. For some people soccer is more important than anything else. I'm sure if you confronted someone who opposed one of your core beliefs - something bigger than "Dark Shadows" - a belief you had strong feelings about - you'd be critical of them too.

And I'm not even saying you'd be wrong - I'm saying that I think that's just how we all are.

[johnmiic]

I just think the US doesn't have any more room to invest in another sport, (invest in attention span). Most of the sports people follow are national past times. They've been hard-wired into our culture. Baseball, Football, Basketball are the big 3. Then you have Golf, Hockey & Tennis. Then there's car racing. There are numerous other sports beyond that; horse racing, lacrosse, boat racing and on and on. Almost all of these also take a helluva` long time to play out. I can't see anything else getting a foot in the door. You might as well ask if Crickett or Bocce will become an American National Sport.

[Brazoo]

I've often heard people comment that one advantage to soccer's popularity is that unlike a lot of other sports you don't need a lot of equipment - it's cheap to play. All you need is a ball and a field.

[Bruce Banner]

As a kid in Canada, a lot of my friends followed the NASL. They were also big fans of the English and European soccer leagues.

But of course, we were all mostly into the NHL, unsurprisingly.