That one of the co-captains has promised to be a "walking protest" and the pin-up to skip the trip to La Casa Blanca has made an already precious little group insufferable. Have your beliefs, but don't be noisy and angry about it. Anyway, I have better things to do, so I won't bother to tune in.
People watch politically outspoken male athletes that they disagree with all the time. Its not really a big deal in >99% of the cases. And if it was a men's team that had filed that lawsuit, folks wouldn't really have been up in arms about it. They'd see it as part of the process. People just need to take a deep breath and enjoy the tournament. A successful women's team is ultimately better for the men's game. A rising tide lifts all boats...……………………. I personally will watch all of the US women's game and that's it.
Just not so interested. My plate is full between the USMNT, U20 World Cup, Copa America, and MLS this summer. I'll also be watching the development academy playoffs that start in early July. If I happen to be flipping thru the channels and see Germany-Spain on, I might stop for a few minutes to watch. But its not in my plans. When it comes to the women's game I only watch the USWNT, and then only the World Cup and Olympics. Its like Olympic Track & Field or diving to me. I watch every 4 years and root for the good 'ole stars & stripes. Outside of that, it doesn't hold my interest.
I think that proves many people's point though about not watching when politics and egos get the focus. Most people around here would say they are like you and only want to see the USA or less games. When the players go on a soap box and focus on the off field issues and not the on the field issues it makes it even less watchable for some. Not all obviously, but some. You brought up the men and we just don't see men bringing up politics in the Olympics or World Cup for the most part. And if they do there is some backlash from many in the population to just shut up and play your sport.
As I said earlier I will be watching all the WWC matches and all the Gold Cup as well. But I know many folks that only watch the US women or the US men in international soccer. Some of those actually believe that there is good soccer played in the MLS or in CONCACAF. They have their feelings and they have their priorities. There are even some that believe that spending time with their families or in pursuits other than watching soccer has real importance. It has actually become unimportant to me as to the "why" of peoples choices because I will not change them and they will not change me so I just try to accept what others find important in life. (We do not need to change the world, all we need to do is toilet train the world and we will never need to change it again.) I once heard of a man that raised warthogs and spent nearly all his time with them. When asked why he said, "Because it makes the roses prettier." However he had no roses. There is no accounting for what people find important. For me "soccer if not a matter of life and death, it is much more important than that," but others have distorted views of the true importance of soccer.
Everything has a context though. The Poll here (and discussion) is about Mens Soccer fans and their attitudes and expectations on their viewing habits this summer when pertaining to the WWC. Using that context it is important for me in figuring out why people would only watch a handful of games here but for other competitions would watch a lot more matches in comparison. So the roses anecdote or metaphor does not really hold much water when pertaining to the subject matter.
except if a male athlete called playing on turf "a human rights" issue he would be mocked and ridicule. Just look at the criticism that zlatan gets for avoiding turf field. These women protest at the SLIGHTEST inconvenience.
I will watch what I can. I will be traveling for part of it and will miss a lot unfortunately. I don't begrudge the women asking for more money, better treatment, etc. Even if I think they're going about it the wrong way. But their constant digs at the men's team really bug me and I wouldn't be too terribly upset if they got served some humble pie as a result. Not to mention it would make things more interesting anyway. Don't get me wrong I still want them to win more than not, just some of the fun of rooting for them has worn off a bit.
they don't get the kind of the treatment that men get when the men play in central america. How are they being treated bad?
I think it was already resolved in the new CBA but stuff like travel considerations and the fields they were playing on. The stuff not directly related to pay is all I meant by that. I don't want to relitigate the whole thing since it's supposed to be about what we're watching.
Those are serious false equivalents. Some NFL players were protesting a tradition of war propaganda in the national anthem at non int'l sporting events, with the additional issue of proven widespread abuses by the criminal justice system brought to the fore, perceived to be race-based (even if you think the proportion is over-blown), while not really throwing anyone under the bus, even though a portion of society did become irrationally offended or just didn't want to hear it in that setting. Whereas in the case of the USWNT, they collectively are outraged that they don't make as much money per game as the men when they generate much less revenue on average and collectively bargained a more desirable pay structure, while to help their case they go out of their way to denigrate the men's team who did nothing to them and are in an anomalous down period, even if the women would still out-perform them relative to their inferior competition under normal circumstances. The second situation defines the group as a negative to be worthy to be rooted against, the latter does not, even though some still will unjustifiably.
This has already been demonstrated to be a falsehood. NFL interest went substantially down for a much worse reason. When they watched, a significant portion rooted against those players/teams. Ali was a pariah for something he was proven right for. As a US men's national teamer example, a lot of people can't root for Geoff Cameron because he was a Trump supporter. They define him as that in a 50/50 nation where both candidates that are offered up in the corporate duopoly have warts all over. The much-maligned athletes are also examples of individuals not where teams collectively hold a belief. I don't agree with that assessment. There are costs and benefits to it, especially given what the women are asking for to succeed even more or receive maximum compensation for what they've already produced. They want to cull money and resources from the men's program in a zero-sum game. And the better the women perform relative to their lesser comp in comparison to the men, the more it could be entrenched as a sport for women (and children) in this country. The women have hovered around #1 in the world for decades and the men's team just missed the World Cup. That's not to blame the women's successes at all for that and I don't necessarily make that connection either there's any cause-effect to the men not reaching higher heights at this point. There could be an offsetting impact of drawing more interest and pride in the game to around even things out. But it's not empirically shown to be cause to root for them, independent of shenanigans. I would root for my fellow countrypeople if not for said collective behavior.
I’ve lost count the number of men’s matches I’ve attended. US Sweden will be my first women’s match. Really looking forward to it.
Yeah, why would a woman be upset about being required to visit a creepy “wandering hands, grab ‘em by the pussy” molester and sexual predator? Or a man for that matter
The men’s team would never be slated to play on a turf pitch. The recognize sexism when they see it. And they’re right.
no instead they play in crappy conditions in Central america , get lasers in there eyes and get urine balls thrown at them but those poor oppressed women have to play on turf.
The women and MLS players - should never be able to play on turf. Turf has almost ended my career before. I can’t believe they have to play on it
Nobody should ever play on turf. Even the best turf fields are not as good as even poor grass fields. However having good grass in many of the climates that have soccer teams is quite expensive and it is harder to have multipurpose stadiums if you have grass. The "problem" comes down to greed on the part of players, management and stadium owners and operators. The players want the maximum salaries. Management wants to maximize profits. The stadium owners and operators also want maximum profits. Any extra expense eats into all of those so and nobody wants to foot the bill or everyone wants someone else to do so. Having said that I do not think that striving for better conditions and more money is, to me, any reason to not watch a given team or group. I am a "fan" of women's soccer because skill matters more than strength in women's soccer and there is less thuggery in women's soccer. I follow the men in spite of how cheap the players refs and others have made the sport. All soccer is good but some is better than others.
They played at Century Link in 2016, Alamodome in 2015, GeorgiaDome in 2015, Gillette in 2015, Providence Park in 2013, etc. Gold Cup games were played at Alamodome in 2017, so they could have wound up there again. NRG is hosting games this year and I'm not sure if they switch out the artificial turf anymore for special occasions. As if USS as a big business cares much as long as it makes cents. "People confuse how they're made to feel with knowledge" - Chris Hedges
Mark Twain was in an unnaturally generous mood when he wrote that, then. I'd expect his more pungent version to be: "Most people use statistics the way a drunkard uses a lamp post, more to piss on than to be enlightened by".
Maybe the women are referring to road games, because they've played a ton of home games in the last few years due to their elongated victory tour, but haven't competed on artificial turf there since '16, when they did a couple times. And as I pointed out, the U.S. men also did that year, a few in '15. I think I'd rather play on Turf than some of those Soldier Fields, which the U.S. men have competed on multiple times in recent years. They had sections of grass being uprooted all over. Yankee Stadium is even worse, although I don't think the national team has played there, just the NYCFC boys just enjoy that privilege on a regular basis. Don't think they've ever claimed their human rights were being violated though.
To the best of my knowledge turf was laid down for all the ones you listed here with the exception of that game in Portland against Belize.
Apparently I missed one for each, in 2017. USWNT in Cincinnati and USMNT in Chattanooga. Almost every one I recognized as a grass stadium off the bat.