I just hate soccer. It’s frigginly popular outside US, so maybe a lot of you don’t understand my contempt for it…
You’ll never see or hear and objective argument about this. Cultural and personal bias will always get in the way.
I like watching all codes of football. Soccer included. Played at the highest level, and in the right spirit, you can’t help but appreciate the skill and athleticism and even the physicality in some games, like Glasgow Celtics - Glasgow Rangers.
It has it’s down sides and annoying aspects, but so does every sport.
[quote]ronaldo7 wrote:
tom63 wrote:
Andy63477 wrote:
Soccer is a sport, where you need real skill. In american football, you only need to be big and in some positions to be fast. It’s pretty much like sumo wrestling, the bigger guy often wins. If you’ve nerver played a certain sport, you can’t understand how interesting it may be.
Obviously you know little about football. Being very strong, big, and fast helps, but you need the athletic ability to play. I would argue you need a lot more athletic ability to play football at a high level. Throw a pass fifty yards downfield and hit a wide receiver in hsi hands while a 240 pound linebacker and a 270 pound defensive end are trying to take you head off.
Try running full speed while controlling the ball and defenders trying o take the ball way from you. You can be the smallest guy and do this IF you have SKILL. In American Football you have to be fast and strong first and then your skill will set you apart from the other players however in Soccer you can be big and strong and if you can’t control, pass, shoot the ball you mean nothing.
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Dude, you need skill to play any sport. Look for example at all the football busts coming out of the combine. As a Jacksonville Jaguars fan, Matt Jones is a perfect example. The guy is 6’6" runs a 40 in around 4.38 and has a crazy vertical. However, he has no skill and therefore is garbage. On the other hand, look at (another Jaguar) Maurice Jones-Drew. The guy is 5’6" and a monster because he has instincts, plain and simple. There are plenty of huge, quick guys in football who simply don’t have the skill set and thus can’t play with the pros (see Vince Young).
You need athletic ability and sport-specific skills in any sport to get by. You can’t say any sport requires no skill or form.
second most watched sport is actually formula 1, too bad it’s getting kinda boring lately 
[quote]PimpBot5000 wrote:
How about another question…
Say every person on Earth were magically provided with the equipment and facilities for every sport. Hockey pucks, soccer balls, racing yachts, lacrosse sticks, swimming pools, etc. Hell, thoroughbred horses even.
What sport would emerge as the most popular?
[/quote]
Strange question.
There is one sport that fits the thread’s description of a most manly activity, and which is absurdly expensive.
Without a doubt I would immediately start with…Polo.
How awesome would that be?
Runner up: Parachuting
[quote]Rogers16 wrote:
I think rugby and NFL are the two best sports we even asked at my school if we could play NFL instead but they said they couldnt afford the equipment which is bullshit anyways football gets me too angry the players maoning and diving every game and the ref making the shittest decisions all the time.[/quote]
Your school should spend more time on grammar and less debating silly topics.
DB
[quote]Doug Adams wrote:
PimpBot5000 wrote:
How about another question…
Say every person on Earth were magically provided with the equipment and facilities for every sport. Hockey pucks, soccer balls, racing yachts, lacrosse sticks, swimming pools, etc. Hell, thoroughbred horses even.
What sport would emerge as the most popular?
[/quote]
Softball, it’s co-ed after work and comes with beer.
[quote]Nikiforos wrote:
Andy63477 wrote:
Soccer is a sport, where you need real skill. In american football, you only need to be big and in some positions to be fast. It’s pretty much like sumo wrestling, the bigger guy often wins. If you’ve nerver played a certain sport, you can’t understand how interesting it may be.
I’ve played soccer at a semi pro level and have trained with my college’s american football team although I’ve only played practice matches. American football is a very, very tactical game and there’s a lot more attributes required than strength. However I do sort of agree with a little of what you’re saying that it’s a more attribute-based sport than soccer, but there’s nothing wrong with that.
Soccer on the other hand is unique in that the athletes are ridiculously specialised for the sport and have very highly developed the athletic attributes they need. A pro soccer player in EUROPE or SOUTH AMERICA at 20 yrs old already has over a decade of experience and competition. So suffice to say the skill level is akin to many olympic sports or even higher.
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How is the level of experience any different than any other sport? Pick any sport and I guarantee you that nearly all of the top-level athletes have been playing that sport since an early age. Anyone who claims that one sport has a monopoly on “higher skills” is someone who has little knowledge of sports played at a high level. To expand an example being used on here, if you take a big, fast, strong guy, let’s say 6’5" and 300 lbs who’s never played American Football and throw him in an NFL game and throw him on the offensive line, he will absolutely get his clock cleaned by ANY NFL defensive lineman. There is a special skill-set required to be an effective blocker. It is this skill-set that determines who makes a career of it and who doesn’t. It is a long list of big, strong and fast guys that couldn’t make it in the NFL.
Every sport is highly specialized nowadays, which is why it is so rare anymore to have someone who can play more than one sport on a professional level, or even at the developmental level. And you will never convinced me that one sport is easier than another to play at the highest level.
DB