Comments on: Soccer is a Google beta. Football is a Microsoft release.

By: bukmacherzy

bukmacherzy — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:24:25 +0000

Soccer is like a plane, it can take you 90 mins to get from one place to the other with no stops but gridiron is like the bus going to the same place cause they will have 40 or 100 spots before they get there, it will take over 4hrs to get there and every time you stop or have a break there is always a junk food store to buy something

By: Jonothan McCash

Jonothan McCash — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 09:43:00 +0000

All it takes is a breif look at a recent local derby between manchester united and manchester city to prove your point wrong. very few games finish in the stereotypical 0-0 draw.

http://eplreplays.com/2009/09/20/man-utd-vs-man-city/

Just take a look at that replay footage from the EPL (english premier league). Its a brilliant game with goals going back and forth like crazy, the ultimate winner in the closing seconds of the game. (ironically if the opposition didn’t spend so much time celebrating the equalizing goal, there wouldn’t have been enough time for them to get one better).

Soccer is the worlds most popular sport before it involves a bit of everything.

By: schweizer

schweizer — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 11:57:10 +0000

I really like soccer because the players have to make quick decisions during the game, but still in the beginning every team has a strategy how to play. I prefere soccer because every player needs to be able to do almost the same thing and in football there are a lot of different types of players. It is a mix like the US.

By: gö?üs esteti?i

gö?üs esteti?i — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:42:01 +0000

I note with interest watching the Olympics that there are frequent ‘technical’ timeouts during various sports (e.g. volleyball). Puh-lease. These are tv ad slots and nothing else.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:37:38 +0000

Soccer is more dynamic and flowing. Football requires more thinking and planning. Soccer is instinct, Football is intelligence.

By: Jim Knopf

Jim Knopf — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:31:35 +0000

Jeff stated in his kick off comment in twitter why he think football (aka soccer) never took off in the US. And the ideas stated by him and everybody else here seem fair enough.

But what about the other questions near at hand:

1) Why has football never taken off in the rest of the world?

1a) Why are a lot of other economies equally successfull in the world, despite the fact that almost no one plays US-style football there?

2) If Jeff is right about his assumption (results vs. progress), what does this make of the fact that the world wide economic breakdown originated in and was caused by the US economic leadership and the way they do things?

By: Soccer Uniform

Soccer Uniform — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:26:35 +0000

Soccer is chocolate ice cream..
Football is strawberry ice cream…
Now make your choice!!!

By: neden kalite

neden kalite — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 21:13:42 +0000

Gesto and soccer for the rapidity. But perhaps is it a little bit too fair for the US

By: kalite

kalite — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 07:27:25 +0000

mostly on the company dime), 3 hours of tailgating, and a few thousand extra calories a week.

By: Bukmacher

Bukmacher — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 13:39:18 +0000

American football is very boring, rugby is much better, nobody except americans watch american football

By: Kevin Kelly - Football Superstar | Der Gretzer

Kevin Kelly - Football Superstar | Der Gretzer — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:07:06 +0000

[...] Soccer is a Google beta. Football is a Microsoft release. [...]

By: Internet Media audit

Internet Media audit — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:22:17 +0000

Let’s cut the pear in two, we say in France: Rugby is the right line: it is Football without protection and bad Gesto and soccer for the rapidity. But perhaps is it a little bit too fair for the US?

By: Kerry

Kerry — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:37:11 +0000

PS. Nobody except americans would ever think of american football as “tough”. Its basically a pussified version of rugby. Plus 10 times more boring and slow.

By: Kerry

Kerry — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:34:04 +0000

Soccer is football.

Football is soccer.

Suck it Americunts.

By: Dave Burdick dot com » Romantics For Football

Dave Burdick dot com » Romantics For Football — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:05:35 +0000

[...] Words I read as frequently as possible because they are often inflammatory or correct, has posted a series of tweets (read: Twitter messages) in which he and friends compare soccer and [...]

By: Bob Roberts

Bob Roberts — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:19:50 +0000

Soccer has about as much strategy as two 12-year-olds playing Stratego. It doesn’t get better with age, but is just a continuation of an elementary school game with faster players.

Football on the other hand goes from something like kill anyone with the ball to a tactical battle for control of territory with playbooks, audibles, and strategy that gets better as the game goes.

Americans generally like something with a bit more substance than soccer offers.

By: Andrew Tyndall

Andrew Tyndall — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 20:07:55 +0000

Ciaran –

Anyway, if we really want to get into interesting metaphor territory, let’s try:
Cricket is _____
Baseball is _____

Jarvis cracked the door open with a sports discussion (very unusual at the BuzzMachine) so let’s kick that door down by really boring his American readers and talking about cricket.

The literal, non-metaphorical, answer to your question would go like this: “Cricket is a test match; baseball is Twenty20.”

Yet for all the innovations of Twenty20 that make cricket more like baseball, an underlying difference persists: in baseball the pitcher has control so scoring runs is hard and making outs is easy; in cricket (any form), scoring runs is the norm and taking wickets is hard.

Thus any generalizations made earlier in this thread about non-Americans being tolerant of low scoring sports fall afoul of cricket, the non-American world’s second most popular team game, unless you count “scores” as being wickets not runs, which nobody does.

In any event, as Twenty20 tinkers with its rules to try to equalize the match-up between bat and ball, I predict it will become more like baseball. Fielders will wear gloves to make outs easier and runs scarcer; and the format will be adjusted to allow more frequent innings breaks for television advertising, with each innings of 20 overs being broken into four sets of five so the rotation between batting and fielding grows more similar to baseball’s top and bottom of each inning.

By: BW

BW — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:43:02 +0000

“Not everyone can kick a ball with precision while making it spin around but anyone can through a ball with precision.”

I assume you mean throw, but are you serious? If you find throwing a football that easy, you should definitely try out.

By: Kasey Ruedas

Kasey Ruedas — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 04:59:26 +0000

Soccer is a game of diligence (when I played, each player played the whole game). Football is a game for players who want a quick fix (offense and defense take turns). Football is American because most people don’t want to work hard for a couple of points performing a more tedious task if they can earn more points for less work.

By: web tasar?m

web tasar?m — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:30:35 +0000

Anyway, if we really want to get into interesting metaphor territory, let’s try:
Cricket is _____
Baseball is _____
etc…

By: Tony

Tony — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 01:29:24 +0000

Football is one hour of sport wrapped into 2 hours of commercials, 8 hours of fantasy team planning (mostly on the company dime), 3 hours of tailgating, and a few thousand extra calories a week.

Count me in!

By: Ciaran

Ciaran — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:41:49 +0000

Re-reading my Tweet I’d almost agree with Cooler (at least regarding my comment): that said, there is something strange in the way that football (soccer) has never really taken off in the US, yet has in almost every other nation on earth. I think the point about financial incentives for the participants probably plays quite a large part, as does (since the advent of televised sport) the fact that you can only squeeze in a few ad breaks.

Anyway, if we really want to get into interesting metaphor territory, let’s try:
Cricket is _____
Baseball is _____
etc…

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:25:53 +0000

Andrew says:
Rubgy is not as violent and therefore players don’t need pads.

I have to disagree on that comment mate, have you seen a rugby game? 40 mins each half, no breaks every few mins and everyone attacks and defends, taking each other down every few seconds and no breaks until someone obviously scores.

So what makes american football more violent? I mean if I had a helmet for sure I would run into someone with it, after all they have pads to protect them, right?

Watch clips in youtube like this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA7LsuGt3Gg&feature=related

But if we really want to talk about getting your testosterone going then lets talk MMA, now that is a total different thing, but lets stick to football codes for now..

I guess there is a reason why football “soccer for americans” is the most popular sport around. Not everyone can kick a ball with precision while making it spin around but anyone can through a ball with precision.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:00:31 +0000

Peter Says:
“>Rex Hammock > “American football is war” if you call that war then what would you call Rugby Junior or Rugby League… have you ever watched these sports? watch it then tell me what you would call them… no helmets or padding here, rubgy is a man’s game.”

Rugby is a tough sport played by tough people, that’s easy to see. The difference is that you need pads to play football the way its meant to be played. Rugby is not as violent and therefore players don’t need pads.

As for soccer and football, I think Americans who really love the game find that you can’t get the testosterone and violence in any other sport. Soccer just doesn’t have it.

By: Charles Smith

Charles Smith — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:46:40 +0000

Soccer never took off in America because until recently there was no economic incentive for the best athletes to pursue soccer- they make an unconscious choice very early on to pursue a sport where they could make money. We are seeing the same phenomenon happen in reverse with basketball in Europe- as the leagues grow there (and the NBA scouts more effectively), we see more and more world class basketball players coming out of Europe. As more US soccer players go abroad and MLS gets better, I think we’ll see continued growth in the interest of soccer- the ratings for Euro 2008 were significantly better than those for 2004- ultimately, no matter the sport, the quality of overall play is a significant factor in its popularity.