Quote:
Originally Posted by KJ3
no offense meant but how do you guys watch soccer? i've tried, i really have, it's just so agonizingly dull for me. that and hockey. i assume the game atmosphere is different than the t.v. viewing....still, i can't imagine a soccer match would peak my interest very much higher than it does anyway regardless of venue.
what is it? what draws you guys in?
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I'm not really a hockey fan, but they aren't bad in person. As far as soccer I think it helps if you have played the game. Things that look simple on TV take on a lot more meaning if you have some idea how difficult a play it was...even if it didn't amount to anything. Either way, it's something i think you have to learn to appreciate. The chess match is much easier to see in a football game. In soccer everything is always in motion, and once you learn to appreciate all the little things going on and the strategies at play it really is an amazing game. Scoring chances are so rare that when your team does score, or even creates an opportunity to score, it is that much more exciting. If you really think about it, there are plenty of games in the NFL that end 21-14 or 14-10. That's really not much more scoring than 2-1 soccer game.
Of course I also love to watch a "boring" pitching duel in baseball, or low scoring defensive football games.
One thing I really like is that it's 45+ minutes, plus some injury time, a 15 minute break....and then another 45+ minutes and your done. No commercial breaks. No timeouts to ice the kicker, or to draw up a new play. Just play.
I played Soccer most of my life, but I honestly didn't watch much soccer until the Dynamo came to town. It had to do more with just not having a rooting interest in a team than not liking it. I would watch the World Cup when it rolled around or any US national team match, but I never bothered trying to find a place to watch the EPL or anything like that.
Now that the Dynamo are here I keep up with MLS more, but still rarely watch a MLS game unless the Dynamo are playing...or it's late in the season and the outcome affects the dynamo standing.
I still can't get into any of the foreign leagues. I will watch international matches/tournaments though. The Euro Cup was great this year. I also work for a German company so I'm going to have to listen to them talk about it all anyway. It is kind of fun to root against the Germans so I can give them a hard time when they lose too.
It really comes down to what you get used too. Most of the Europeans(there are a few big fans though) I work with have a hard time understanding how I watch "american football". There argument always come down to "it's a few seconds of play, and then everyone just stands around for thirty seconds". I tell them the same thing, if you learn a little about the game and understand what's going on then you would understand the excitement that can build up while you are watching them stand around.
there's stuff that annoys me about soccer....all the diving, complaining to the ref, acting like you have been shot and then popping up a minute late. Sometimes teams are just content to get a tie to advance in a tournament and they just fall back into shell and do everything possible to slow down the game with no interest in actually attacking. I still enjoy it though....if it's not a good match, I just turn it off just like I do for any other sport.