My plan to make soccer watchable

[Delhommey]

So when a defender in the NFL miss reads a play or get's beat by his man is that a fluke?

Not for the Rams secondary. They've gotten it written into their playbook.

[Matt Foley]

So when a defender in the NFL miss reads a play or get's beat by his man is that a fluke? If both sides of the ball played perfect/without a fluke nobody would score in any sport.

If every football game was 6-3, I could see your point.

I'll use Delhommey's Rams example. If the current Colts played the current Rams, and Indianapolis marched up and down the field and yet the final score was 3-3, would you talk about the beauty of the game? Hell no you wouldn't. Especially if one of those field goals bounced off the defender's helmet and through the uprights.

In real football you battle it out for field position, and when you get enough penetration you earn the right to try for points. Or you can gamble and throw it deep. Either way, there is some reward for outskilling your opponent.

[Delhommey]

Germany's fluking it up as we speak btw.

[OnlyPantherFaninMaine]

No fluke, just pure domination in every aspect of the game by the Germans.

Deutschland vor!

[DirtyMagic97]

2 out of 3 games today had 1 goal scored between teams. And the other game was a complete blowout. Boring day.

[pstall]

The Americanization mindset makes it hard to follow some things. We love buffet's. We invented super size. We invented the cup holders in cars for God's sake.

We don't like movies that are opened ended unless it involves Jason, Micheal Myers or Freddy Kruger.

Guys. Get over your hang up about points. Right now, a goal is ONE freaking point. So take your panties out of your crack.

Right now, games in the early stages can end in a tie.

But there is strategy involved in the early games. If you are not the superior team, rather than try to go mano y mano, you try to take a strength away and at worse, go for the tie or at best steal a victory.

The whining about the World Cup is hilarious. It's one channel, not 5 like the Olympics. Nobody is forcing you to watch.

[Delhommey]

That being said the NFL has most of its games decided by a score (TD) or less as well. Even worse, if you sit through a whole game there are 3 to 4 times more time spent at commercial than actually running plays.

[DirtyMagic97]

That being said the NFL has most of its games decided by a score (TD) or less as well. Even worse, if you sit through a whole game there are 3 to 4 times more time spent at commercial than actually running plays.

I don't think anyone has a problem with close games. If a large majority of NFL game's final score was 7-0 though, I likely wouldn't watch.

I am a hockey fan though, so I don't mind low scoring, close games. I do mind if it is the norm. And with hockey the playing area is a small, confined space. There is constantly SOMETHING going on.

I like soccer, but it is no where near the top as far as my favorite sports go. And I really only support the US around WC time.

[Mesmer]

Yeah I'll watch a match if it's on TV but normally I don't follow the sport. I enjoy watching it but I really don't care for MLS. When they show Chelsea or Manchester Utd on TV I'll usually watch it.

[Matt Foley]

The Americanization mindset makes it hard to follow some things. We love buffet's. We invented super size. We invented the cup holders in cars for God's sake.

We don't like movies that are opened ended unless it involves Jason, Micheal Myers or Freddy Kruger.

Guys. Get over your hang up about points. Right now, a goal is ONE freaking point. So take your panties out of your crack.

Right now, games in the early stages can end in a tie.

But there is strategy involved in the early games. If you are not the superior team, rather than try to go mano y mano, you try to take a strength away and at worse, go for the tie or at best steal a victory.

The whining about the World Cup is hilarious. It's one channel, not 5 like the Olympics. Nobody is forcing you to watch.

If you'll go back and read this thread from the beginning, you'll see that the people doing 90 percent of the bitching are the pro soccer people. All I did was suggest a few tweaks that would make it more enjoyable and YOU got your panties in your crack. Meat can't watch movies with subtitles. Meat can go screw himself. Blah blah blah.

Soccer could be as fun to watch as it is to play if not for the stubborn adherence to antiquated rules. I'm not asking for NBA or NFL type scores. I'm just asking for a rules and scoring system in place that rewards the skills that these players have worked on all their lives. England has 10 players better than anyone we have, and they're fun to watch. So why is it they have to struggle to beat us? Our goal was a fluke.

[Delhommey]

Can you imagine if the Super Bowl was ever decided on a flukey play like a 4th string receiver catching the ball against his helmet?

[Matt Foley]

Can you imagine if the Super Bowl was every decided on a flukey play like a 4th string receiver catching the ball against his helmet?

How many points were scored on that play?

[pstall]

I concurred about changing the points given for ties and that's about it.

The point about fluke is fine. But it also reinforces the premium, stated by me, of the value of ONE goal. Thus the stakes are even HIGHER because one goal means so much either way.

Because Eng was only up 1 goal it made defending the net that more important.

Never heard the old saying I would sometimes rather be lucky than good?

For those that say it's unwatchable, well..don't.

One point per goal is just right. The value equals the effort and intrinsic value of said goal is plenty enough to elevate the blood pressure of what happens on the pitch.

[Jangler]

Soccer is certainly gaining popularity here... but I would think it's more the appeal of having a country team... kind of like the olympics. People will get into that more so than regular sports. I don't think professional soccer will ever be anywhere near NFL/NBA/MLB here.

In America we have the ability (mainly financially) to play sports like football, golf, basketball that require more and specialized equipment. You can play soccer with any kind of ball and four trees/sticks.

I remember in 1979 a friend telling me soccer was going to be huge in America. He never did say when, but he said it.