Is there the inverse affect in regards to basketball? Do European basketball fans refuse to attend European basketball league games because they know the NBA is the better league?
As a Euro, I don't know. I think our league like the ice hockey league has a fairly strong support base, but neither sport is as popular as they are in your country, plus we don't have quite so many large indoor arenas. Our local BBL team the Derby Storm closed down a few years ago after financial struggles due to the low crowds, dut a lower level team "The Trailblazers" grew out of the wreckage and still gets a small amount of coverage in the local press. I don't think we quite have the reverse Eurosnob effect, it's just the sport isn't so well supported as a whole, though our kids like the hip hop etc. trappings that are associated with basketball.
Once a week NBATV has a european game on... I wouldnt go watch them either if i was in europe. The quality of play was horrible and nearly unwatchable. Any college team in D1 would probolly go and destroy 99% of the teams.
The concept of "Eurosnobbery" is BS. Compare the attendance at MLS matches with the other US soccer leagues. Compare the attendance at Premiership matches with lower division English clubs in the same local area. In both cases, the "higher level" teams get more attendance. People everywhere want to see the best players. This is the point of the "Champions League". That tournament automatically has less local team appeal, because relatively few people's local team qualifies. But it has a higher quotient of "best players" than any other league, and as a result, people watch around the world, not just in Europe. Frankly, the MLS has neither local team appeal, nor best player appeal. The idea of "Eurosnobbery" is that someone is watching "better players" in European leagues instead of your local team. But the reality is that only a tiny number of Americans have a local MLS team ! ML Baseball : 30 teams NFL : 32 teams NBA : 30 teams MLS : 13 teams
a lot of us claimed an english team or other euro team because we actually went through puberty before 1996. it's not realistic to expect us to give all that up now. but if someone pointedly ignores MLS in favor of "better" soccer overseas when they have a team within driving distance, well, that's just sad
So, you are saying that people in New York/New Jersey don't have a local team to follow? Secondly, for your comparison to really make sense you'd have to have a higher level of soccer in the states. The fact is you don't. I remember when New Orleans used to have the New Orleans Storm and I went to those games all the time, I didn't refuse to go because it wasn't as good MLS. And there are a 110,000 people who watch inferior football at the University of Michigan every Saturday. Apparently they don't have an NFL team in Ann Arbor so they make do with the Wolverines.
Well, frankly I went through puberty somewhere around 1981, but I still didn't claim an English team. I used to have the same opinion of soccer that Jim Rome has.
Well, it started in the 94 World Cup. USA v. Columbia. I told my best friend that I'd meet him at a bar in five minutes but to I had to prove to myself that I really did hate soccer. Five minutes, I said. In five minutes this crappy boring game will make me scream as though I were being tortured and then I'd be right over, proving that soccer really did suck. Then ten minutes went by. I had no idea what was going on. I had no comprehension of what it was that I was watching, I was clueless. But completely on the edge of my seat. 90 minutes later I got a call about where the ******** was I? "Well man, you should've seen this..." "Soccer! You watched soccer instead of hanging out with us???" The rest is history.
Didn't we recently go through this on another thread? At any rate, the markets MLS does not service are on the whole much smaller than the ones it does. The above leagues only service a population about 40% greater than MLS, IIRC.
I don't give a RATS ASS...its all about the home team. New effin' York, son. Seeing it live and showing home support beats the couch and FSC any day of the week, regardless of who is playing and where. I am an Amerisnob, one who pitys fools who would rather watch a picture projected on a screen from 3,000 miles away than see their home team play the game. That experience is inferior to what I get when my Bulls are in town. With that being said, I am at the pub to watch Premiership as long as it doesn't interfere with my Bulls.
On the one hand, one would assume that the biggest urban areas (e.g. New York) would get teams first. On the other hand, for 30 cities to be only 40% greater than 13 cities, that would have to a very loose idea of "service". In the Bay Area, the Giants stadium is only about a half hour drive from the A's stadium. But the Bay Area is about 7 hours drive from Home Depot stadium, the only MLS stadium in California. And then there are 2 MLS teams in Home Depot stadium ! West of Kansas/Texas, the only other MLS team is RSL. Driving from Van Nuys to Home Depot is difficult enough, but I'm sure you must be including the entire Southern California area as "serviced".
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7vzqGB4WLkY watch this......even thought it is about the Irish League it still appeals to fans of the MLS !!
Well take a look at British basketball teams. They seem to have alot of American sounding names because we invented the sport. If I were in Europe I would probley go to a few Eurobasketball games but would rather follow my Lebron and my cavs anyday. I def understand the poster who said they'd rather watch a live game as I do with the crew but when i'm at crew stadium sometimes I find myself wishing I was in England watching an EPL game. Whatever you want to call me I think the EPL is freak'n exciting to watch just like i think the NBA is freak'n exciting to watch.
Greek basketball games are pretty well attended, I've heard the Italian league attracts some good crowds too. I don't watch the NBA much because it feels manufactured, but I watch all of the local college teams and attend games occasionally. I also support my local soccer team (Charlotte Eagles) along side Arsenal (who I've been supporting for longer than a lot of you have supported your MLS teams). What does that make me?
I'll never understand why so many people here seem to think "eurosnobism" is somehow is just an American thing. People scoff at their domestic leagues vis a vis the top European Leagues in the overwhelming majority of countries in the world. Eurosnobs are the international norm, not some kind of American exception. Otherwise the list of the most watched leagues in the world would basically parallel the list of the most populous countries in the world.
the American flavor of snobbery is especially unique in that we didn't have top flight soccer for so long. it's tough to change the old geezer's habits who frequent the pubs on early saturday and sunday mornings.
I don't understand the energy MLS fans put some much into into eurosnobs; who really cares what they watch?
A communist. It's the "holier than thou" attitude . . so incredibly easy to align oneself with a club such as Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal, and scoff at the team they have playing in their hometown because they don't match up to their adopted clubs 3,000 miles away.
I hear ya, but why give a shit? We like MLs and follow it, who cares if some bozo is watching somthing else instead. Everyones got their own thing. I like the Prem. I can actually see why people like it better than MLS. I don't share that feeling myself, but is that crazy for someone to like a much better league thats further away than a less one here at home? I dont think its that dispicable really. Do you watch small budget independent movies or big budget ones? Same kind of deal there.