Football not famous in Some parts

[Alan Wanwierd]

My Golf hypothesis would be lots of people watch it simply because lots of people play it - and gain something from watching the skills displayed and dreaming that they might be able to play in a similar manner...

The reason golf is popoular to play would have to be that in terms of 'sport' its one where peak-fitness is not required - nor is coordinating large groups of people. So its easy to get in to since you and a mate can go down the local course and have a game without too much preperation AND you can keep playing the game long after your legs and lungs have deteriorated well beyond the point where playing more energetic sports woudl be possible.

... By the same logic - how come Darts hasnt really caught on in the international community? - theres a sport with low fitness requirements, low entry costs, low organisational requirements AND plenty of advert breaks for the attention-span limited American viewers!


oh and just for balance - Whilst Amercians may struggle with the appeal soccer and worry about the lack of goals and time between scoring events, the rest of the world struggles with the Amercian sports and their complete lack of flow! How can anyone get absorbed in a game where everyone stops and regroups after every 30 seconds? The joy of soccer is that in a good game the play builds gradually - with increasing tension and anticipation. Most of the time the 'goal' itself is a minor detail in terms of the play and TV highlight packages tend to do a complete diservice in this regard often showing a relatively uneventful goal whilst missing the poetic and graceful build up moves and team interplay that it spawned from.

There have been many a 0-0 game of soccer that have been rivetting, exciting and tremendously entertaining!
[ May 13, 2008: Message edited by: Alan Wanwierd ]

[Pat Farrell]

Originally posted by Alan Wanwierd:
My Golf hypothesis would be lots of people watch it simply because lots of people play it - and gain something from watching the skills displayed and dreaming that they might be able to play in a similar manner...

Sure, watching Tiger play golf really is applicable. :-)

What most folks don't realize is that many pros, even the guy are your local country club can play scratch golf. But the tour pros are in a different world. Playing on TV for a half million bucks is a tad more stressful.


Flow? Sports have flow? Who da thunk?

[Mark Spritzler]

Originally posted by Jim Yingst:
[Mark]: Baseball, Football, Basketball, and Hockey are the big 4 USA team sports

Hm, I would think baseball is number 3 nowadays, same as the order EFH gave.

Yeah, I am just guessing here. I think I, nope I didn't even put it in order of my favorite.

Mark

[Mark Spritzler]

Originally posted by fred rosenberger:

Well, there are LOTS of breaks for drinking beer...

And so many opportunities to make it a drinking game. (Drink every time they show Tiger Woods, or drink everytime someone makes a 10ft plus putt.)

Heck even when you play golf you can drink beer. Try that in those other sports.

Mark

[Mark Spritzler]

Most of the time the 'goal' itself is a minor detail

And there's the rub.

Mark

[Peter Rooke]

I try to keep an open mind - the sports I watch are mostly the ones I've played or have been involved in. Have never watched golf – but can see the attraction of the sport after playing it for a short while. Also went to a 20/20 cricket match – and enjoyed the day – lots of beer, good atmosphere. Mostly don’t say I don’t like a sport – I just prefer to say I’ve not tired it yet!

I think there is a subtle difference with sports like cricket and golf, the player may need to concentrate for only for a short time (when the ball is bowled – for example) – but they need to be able to do this for a long period of time. It’s a different skill from that required by many other sports.

One trend we seem to have (in the UK) is for people to slump in front of the TV, rather than go to the actual stadium / sports ground. Not sure if this is a good thing, as I suspect it’s for the economic benefit of the club owners.

[Peter Rooke]

Heck even when you play golf you can drink beer. Try that in those other sports.

Yeah - quite a few of the older footballers used to do that - thinking of: Best, Adams and Co.

[Frank Silbermann]

Originally posted by Jim Yingst:
It may be a question as to where you draw the line at what's "posh". Seems like most places I've lived in the US, you could find some tennis courts somewhere that were free and open to the public. You might sometimes have to wait for an open court, or the condition of the courts might not be as nice as for private/paid courts. I think tennis is still fairly easily accessible to the middle classes in the US, and still possible for the poor. Its popularity may skew towards the rich, but it's not exclusive to them by any means.

[ May 13, 2008: Message edited by: Jim Yingst ]

When I first took a tennis class in 1973, I thought, "No wonder they say this is a sport for the rich. Every three weeks you have to buy new equipment (i.e., new tennis balls). With basketball or (American) football, once you have the ball that's all you need, and you can play for years."

Someone once did a psychological interpretation of sports preferences. They noted that when a pre-schooler draws a picture of himself without arms, it means he feels powerless. The scholar speculated that a game in which most players are forbidden to use their arms would be most popular among the lower classes in places with a rigid class structure -- as it would be a better metaphor for life among such people. In the U.S., soccer is more popular among the upper middle-class, but that's because it's a foreign game and they tend to think being cosmopolitan is classy. (Cosmopolitanism is a way to distinguish themselves from the lumpen proletariat.)