Minor League Hockey More Exciting Than World Cup Soccer June 14 2010
Earlier this evening the Hershey Bears successfully defended their Calder Cup title and repeated as Champions of the American Hockey League, defeating the Texas Stars in 6 games. The good news – the Bears are a championship team based in our commonwealth. The bad news – they’re a minor league affiliate of the Washington Capitals. Ah, well. Congrats, Bears!
Meanwhile, World Cup Soccer continues to be played in South Africa, and we’re supposed to care for some reason. HotAir links to a story up on NPR which argues that Americans dislike soccer for two main reasons – one, because we’re racist scum, and two, because we suck at the game. Unfortunately for the racebaiting imbecile who wrote that article, American football, which is a far superior game to soccer “football”, is also far more ethnically diverse. America’s National Pastime, baseball, is perhaps the most ethnically diverse sport in the world. So yeah, I don’t want to hear any talk about how “racist” we are when we have every color of the rainbow on our beloved MLB teams.
And as HotAir pointed out, the American women’s soccer team recently won the World Cup, but nobody cared. Why not? Because soccer sucks. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fun to play. It’s good exercise. But as far as watching it? Watching soccer is about as much fun as watching paint dry. It’s easy to understand soccer’s appeal – it’s probably the easiest and least expensive professional sport to play on an amateur level – but that doesn’t change the fact that watching the game on TV is a complete waste. Sorry, soccer fans – it just is. I’d watch a random regular season MLB game over the World Cup championship match any day.
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Nathan Benefield Jun 15
I’d rather watch Poker on ESPN than either soccer or hockey.
Isaac L. Jun 15
Actually, the American Soccer League was much more popular than the NFL up until the Great Depression. After that, there was some political infighting as well as international resentment because we were drawing popular players from overseas that led to a split with FIFA. ASL was also ahead of the curve on a lot of rules that weren’t adopted by the international community until the 70s. But the Great Depression pretty much killed soccer in America.
I’m guessing the main reason you find American Football more interesting than Soccer is that you grew up with it. It’s a cultural thing and, judging from the content on this website, I’d say it also has to do with a certain amount of disdain for other countries, particularly Europe.
Bill Fitz Jun 15
Soccer sucks, but Nathan you are wrong about poker, its fun to play when u have money to butn and to watch but it should not be on espn.
Hockey is a real sport is played correctly like the Flyers used to. the 1970s was the golden age, out of the darkness imposed by the original 6, but before teams in bad markets like North Carolina and Dallas.
Unfortunately the Flyers are the only team that comes close to playing Hickey the right way, but the NHL makes rules that hurt the Flyers.
John keep bashing soccer, Someone, i think on the Colbert Report, said it is to simple for Americans, i mean there is little strategy, unlike football or Baseball. Hockey and basketball are less complicated so therefore less watched (not played) (ironically college basketball has more strategy than pro basketball and is more popular). Hockey would be played more if it was not so expensive and if there was ice.
PapaMAS Jun 15
True, Brother John, soccer sucks big time, and not just on TV but in the stands as well. It simply can not favorably compare in any way with our big four sports. I hate bringing my son to his soccer games because it sucks so bad but at least it’s a cheap way to get him running around for about an hour.
John Lewandowski Jun 15
Isaac, my older brother played plenty of soccer when he was younger. As I said, it’s fun, and it’s good exercise. But so is doing jumping jacks, and I wouldn’t want to watch professional athletes doing those. Isn’t it interesting that soccer was more popular before the invention of the television?
It’s interesting that you, like the liberals at NPR who waste our tax dollars spreading crap from The Nation, assume that I hate soccer out of some kind of misdirected jingoism. No; I hate soccer because it’s boring. If ice hockey players played like soccer players, they would be booed mercilessly by the crowd. Can you imagine? They would spend 90% of their time at center ice, and would only leave center ice in some random, arbitrary “play” which involves trying to set up some ringer to make a shot on goal, then going absolutely ape when the goalie makes an easy save that a hockey goalie normally has to make 20-30 of per game.
Some Americans complain that there’s not enough scoring in ice hockey. But that’s usually because of stellar goaltending, with a combined 50 shots on goal being stopped by the goalies on either end of the ice in a typical game. Meanwhile soccer gives us a 10 second “highlight reel” of a handful of shots, and we’re supposed to jump and down like it’s the greatest thing ever if the players, usually through dumb luck, actually manage to put the ball into the GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a complete waste.
Bill, I agree that hockey would likely be more popular if it wasn’t so expensive to play. At the very least you need skates and a stick, and those are far more expensive than a soccer ball.
PapaMAS, as I said, I think that soccer enjoys popularity because it’s cheap and easy to play. Unfortunately, it’s also very, very boring. Let soccer players check each other and I might watch.
Bill Fitz Jun 16
John they also need boards
also a good point a hockey goalie can give up 2 goals ans save 30, in soccer there is like 5 shots haha