Why hate a sport?

[nwave]

Watched a sony commercial recently with payton manning and some nascar guy, and at the mear mention of soccer, they start with condescending mocking/laughing.

I've always been wondering this...why does mainstream NFL/Nascar watching america hate soccer so much?

I mean you can't seem to mention soccer on TV or the internet without other americans telling you that its "gay", "boring", "no one cares", "third-world sport", "eurofag"...etc. How do you explain this hatred coming from one country for a sport that is loved by billions??? Does soccer represent some cultural or political idea that americans hate?

[DUFC206]

This is something that has always confused me as well. A few years ago, this steroid punk at my high school tried to fight me over this issue (the interesting part is that he actually started on a very good high school soccer team).

The arguement started when he said that football is so much more difficult then soccer. I was confused, so I asked him what he meant by that. He said that "football players are so impressive because they have to be big and fast and condition so much harder." I said that it was a different type of training and thus very hard to compare. I also said that i disagree that football is pyhsically "harder" because there are many more people in the world who play soccer, so to be the best you need to physically train at a level to gain an egde. I did not respond to that comment so I told him that if he didn't understand what I was saying he must have a low IQ. He said "don't ever call me stupid again" and pushed me up against a locker and pinned me there.

I don't know what evoked such a strong reaction out of him (besides the low IQ point) but I think the anti-setiment towards soccer is fueled from it being anti-american. I think it is just another example of the amazingly US centric that americans have. Out in hickville USA anything "counter culture" is a sin. Still, in history, soccer has only been popular for 30-40 years in the sense that every kid plays it (to my knowledge). I would hope that in the near future, (somewhat rare) extreem reactions to the mention of soccer will stop because it will be adopted into general US culture. However, I think that isolated examples will not stop until the repulsive attitude of a US centricity ends.

[Brian71]

Interesting that a sony commercial would laugh at soccer - considering that they are a huge Champions League sponsor (all of those Bravia ads).

The majority of casual sports fans in this country simply don't get soccer. The mature ones shrug their shoulders and go about their day, the ones who didn't get enough love from daddy kick/shout/piss/moan/etc and try their best to illegitimize the sport - generally through misinformed ignorance (at best) and downright stupidity (gay, eurofag, insert-off-color-remark-here).

http://bp2.blogger.com/_0bxL05nPVAc/R_9Ve1dWn1I/AAAAAAAAABY/bNCT6AyNTVY/s320/uncle_rico.jpg

Most of them resemble Uncle Rico, as shown above. A bunch of high-school athletes who didn't make it at the next level, still dreaming of the glory days, like back in '84 when they could have thrown a football over 'dem mountains. The vast majority of them have probably never watched soccer in person, or on television. They can probably bench more than you, however.

[AndyMead]

Watched a sony commercial recently with payton manning and some nascar guy, and at the mear mention of soccer, they start with condescending mocking/laughing.

I've always been wondering this...why does mainstream NFL/Nascar watching america hate soccer so much?

Dude, we might as well just ask why folks here on BigSoccer use pejoratives - even in News and Analysis forums - to describe more popular American spectator sports.

[Brian71]

Dude, we might as well just ask why folks here on BigSoccer use pejoratives - even in News and Analysis forums - to describe more popular American spectator sports.

Fair enough (see my post above). However, in my experience the difference is that soccer fans don't have a problem with the other, more popular American sports.

[Real Corona]

This thread has been created and discussed, over and over. I think a major problem is that often soccer and American football share seasons, fields and funds. For some reason there is a latent insecurity among both sets of fans that requires they take it out on the other set. Just cite the plethora of t-shirts available making fun of American Football for being called football, of the Fox soccer channel for calling it throw ball. Either way, anyone who make overarching statements and perpetrates stereotypes is just weak minded and insecure, and this goes both ways.

[RichardL]

Interesting that a sony commercial would laugh at soccer - considering that they are a huge Champions League sponsor (all of those Bravia ads).
tailored for the market, to appeal to what the ad-men think is the best demographic to target in that country.

Even the most flag-waving patriotic flag-waving American brands would, for example, sponsor soccer outside the US.

[BocaFan]

I can understand why a rugby fan living in England who has no interest in soccer might get annoyed by its popularity and start hating soccer. But its puzzling why people in the USA would have such hatred for a niche sport. Pretty damn easy to avoid if you don't like it.

[Sachin]

Fair enough (see my post above). However, in my experience the difference is that soccer fans don't have a problem with the other, more popular American sports.

You're joking right?

[Rev Hart]

But its puzzling why people in the USA would have such hatred for a niche sport. Pretty damn easy to avoid if you don't like it.

Well, Americans make IGNORING a Sport(such as Soccer for example) seem like such a difficult task, just ask Keith Old Bad Man, Jim Rome, and countless others.

[bigredfutbol]

You're joking right?

The vocal minority here on BigSoccer is hardly representative of soccer fans in general.

Most people I know who follow DC United also follow other teams in other sports. What's a Lot 8 tailgate in the fall without a tv hooked up to a generator showing college football?

[cormacraig]

I think the anti-setiment towards soccer is fueled from it being anti-american. I think it is just another example of the amazingly US centric that americans have. Out in hickville USA anything "counter culture" is a sin. Still, in history, soccer has only been popular for 30-40 years in the sense that every kid plays it (to my knowledge). I would hope that in the near future, (somewhat rare) extreem reactions to the mention of soccer will stop because it will be adopted into general US culture. However, I think that isolated examples will not stop until the repulsive attitude of a US centricity ends.

This is interesting, very interesting even, but what makes you wonder is the "soccer mom" stereotype when pinned up against this, which is clearly also an "all-american", conservative, counter-counter-culture character stereotype.

[hipityhop]

This is interesting, very interesting even, but what makes you wonder is the "soccer mom" stereotype when pinned up against this, which is clearly also an "all-american", conservative, counter-counter-culture character stereotype.

Soccer Mom, so this makes it a Feminine sport, only good for young girls to play, and very young boys who are almost feminine anyway, before they grow into more appropriate manly sports.......

Also the Soccer Mom, is the euro interested, leftist, probably secretly marxist, supports health care for everyone, thinks welfare is okay, probably hugs a tree every morning and probably voted for the terrorist Obama for president.

As opposed to Baseball/Football Dad, who loves his pretty daughter playing with the dolls, and actually loves America down deep in his heart, distrusts anyone who drives on the left side of the road, who likes the metric system, knows there is no crying in baseball and though he's baffled by the confusing and complicated rules of soccer that allows no scoring, that it's a good team building sport for his son until he reaches the age of 8 or 9 and can play a real sport.

[Soccertes]

I have this soccer bashing problem in my family. All my in-laws hate soccer for the reasons already listed above. They are spewing that hate to the little cousins that are now growing up. I have a 1 month old son that I'm afraid I will never be able to have him play soccer because he will be made fun of by his family and so to avoid that ridicule he'll wind up playing baseball or something else. But my question is, in your opinions, is there more physical contact in soccer than in baseball or basketball. I think so. And if that is the case why isn't baseball any more of a girly sport than soccer?


(On a side note, my side of the family is not big into any sports so there isn't much support for soccer on that side either- but hey at least there's no bashing there).

[cormacraig]

Soccer Mom, so this makes it a Feminine sport, only good for young girls to play, and very young boys who are almost feminine anyway, before they grow into more appropriate manly sports.......

Also the Soccer Mom, is the euro interested, leftist, probably secretly marxist, supports health care for everyone, thinks welfare is okay, probably hugs a tree every morning and probably voted for the terrorist Obama for president.

As opposed to Baseball/Football Dad, who loves his pretty daughter playing with the dolls, and actually loves America down deep in his heart, distrusts anyone who drives on the left side of the road, who likes the metric system, knows there is no crying in baseball and though he's baffled by the confusing and complicated rules of soccer that allows no scoring, that it's a good team building sport for his son until he reaches the age of 8 or 9 and can play a real sport.

Umm. You're being sarcastic, right?

[DavidP]

All of the soccer-bashing is kind of sad, especially in light of the fact that soccer has been played in the US for as long as baseball has been played, and longer than football or basketball (we even had a pro league back as far as 1894, three years after basketball was invented). Soccer is just as American as any other sport. I guess the fact that the US has sucked at soccer on the world stage more years than not has something to do with it. Had we been a player in the World Cup every time it's been played, and had ASL 1 not collapsed back in the late 20's, things might have been different.

[DavidP]

All of the soccer-bashing is kind of sad, especially in light of the fact that soccer has been played in the US for as long as baseball has been played, and longer than football or basketball (we even had a pro league back as far as 1894, three years after basketball was invented). Soccer is just as American as any other sport. I guess the fact that the US has sucked at soccer on the world stage more years than not has something to do with it. Had we been a player in the World Cup every time it's been played, and had ASL 1 not collapsed back in the late 20's, things might have been different.

[broomtree]

ha please, there are Americans soccer fans willing to bash other sports, though they may to belong to a minority.

[bigredfutbol]

I have this soccer bashing problem in my family. All my in-laws hate soccer for the reasons already listed above. They are spewing that hate to the little cousins that are now growing up. I have a 1 month old son that I'm afraid I will never be able to have him play soccer because he will be made fun of by his family and so to avoid that ridicule he'll wind up playing baseball or something else. But my question is, in your opinions, is there more physical contact in soccer than in baseball or basketball. I think so. And if that is the case why isn't baseball any more of a girly sport than soccer?


Your in-laws presumably won't be able to stop you from kicking a ball around with him from when he's able to walk, around the house, the backyard, parks, etc.

By the time you--his parent--sign him up for soccer, he'll already have some skill and some interest in the sport.

That'll get him started. And if he turns out to like it, watch your in-laws change their tune in a hurry. It's one thing to bash a "weird" sport that other people play; it's another thing entirely when it's your own grandson out there terrorizing opposing defenses.

[Cool Rob]

Sports are extremely symbolic of values (and masculinity), so people hate other sports as they encroach and threaten those values. With soccer and the US, for example, the "international" sport is encroaching on American Exceptionalism, hence the hate. Hockey is ok because Canada is familiar.

It definitely works both ways; I vividly remember living in Barcelona and throwing an American football around in a park with a friend. People glared at us like we were about to invade the country and set up a McDonald's against their will. One person actually tried to take the football away. Very strong feelings.