Kornheiser -- "Basketball is the game"

i'll say this, yes basketball will be around in the other countries in europe and asia and will stay there but in all honesty , no it will not be the most popular sport in the world because it is expensive to play, not as expensive as hockey or american football, but *************** how many kids around the world would pay for a basketball that is a bit expensive and buy the shoes and look for a gym to play when they could walk out into the street, find a couple of kids kicking a tennis ball, orange or a real soccer ball and just join in regardless of footwear, that is what goes on in africa, i dunno bout brazil/argentina maybe it does too, but for kids around the world basketball is not and most likely will never be in the same realm as football/soccer.
but yes basketball will be around in all those countries.

 

The limiting factor on basketball is the same in the rest of the world just as it is in the US. Namely its mostly about size and physical prowess. By the time high school ages are reached a lot of people are automatically precluded from participation mainly due to physical limitation.

If soccer ever takes off in this country it will happen mainly in the junior high - college ages where so many kids drop out these days, and it will happen because you don't have to be 6+ feet tall or weigh 200+ pounds.

 

That argument doesn't cut it. Basketball isn't designed to draw that many fans. If you've got the 25,000th closest seat to see basketbll, you don't see much (I know, I used to go to Spurs games).

There's no way soccer is more popular here than b-ball is in several euro countries. And basketball is growing in populairty faster.

But where the analogy falls short is world basketball is picking the low-hanging fruit. They're capturung the portion of sports attention that isn't focused on soccer. It'll be a lot rougher going when they have to win fans at soccer's expense (which, of course, being a non-mutual exclusive activity, they'll never hve to do, but after a certain point, the attention they got would have to start taking away from soccer's bandwidth).

 

Let's see.....Real Madrid is playing the Champions League Final on the same day Real Madrid basketball is playing in some Euro League Final. What team is getting the attention?

Kind of like the MetroScum beating Dallas on the same night the Football Giants are losing in the Meadowlands to San Fran.

 

you know, when i lived in Germany five years ago, a lot of kids were playing basketball before soccer practice. Only, there were know basketball hoops. They used the crossbar to goals used for 5v5 games. If they hit it on a shot, it was a point. Then after five minutes of this stuff, one kid would always drop the ball and shoot it with his foot in the goal and with no one getting mad or surprised or even frustrated, all the kids would start a mini soccer game. Kinda like when we were young playing pick up soccer games and the brat always picked up the soccer ball and said "let's play football!"

 

One thing that is really evident from these Basketball World Championships is how un-patriotic americans are. And most americans probably think they are patriotic. From watching on TV it seems like the US opposition had more fans than the US did at every game.

In all reality basketball fans don't get to see many teams with as much talent as that US team. Even without the leagues top players it still had as much talent as any NBA team. Well I guess it wasn't prmoted because maybe the NBA doesn't really profit from it, who knows?

Oh well, at least in the US will get lucky enough to see the Lakers be touted as "world champs" by Marv Albert et. al. next june after they beat up on a team from Jersey or Philly or Boston.

 

Or Greece, Israel, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Croatia, Lithuania, etc.

 

True.... True.... But it's all an opinion of perspective.... The World Championship don't really matter to us, but slap the name Olympics on it and each game would of been a sell out...

Truth of the matter is that a majority of people don't go to basketball games during the NBA season... There overpriced and you get a better view watching it on TV... NBA attendence is slipping faster the MLS is growing...

 

...And I was happily reading this somewhat pleasant thread, when suddenly up comes this annoying post from some Englishman spewing the same typical anti-Argy tripe so typical of them. Perhaps he/she is envious that Argentina excells at yet another sport that they do not?

Why don't you all just grow the F********** up!

Thank you, and have a nice day.

 

Hold up their... How about the typical anti-American tripe, the one who blames all his countries failures and repression on the United States?... WHILE at the same time enjoying the privledges and excess the USA provides.... Those are my favorites...

 

Attendence at the 'meaningful' USvYUG BBall match:

5,362

 

I've always thought it harder to play 'pick-up' basketball then 'pick-up' soccer due to the requirements of each sport. Wouldn't that affect overall popularity?

Both sports require about the same amount of athletic gear, so that wouldn't be a big deterrent for either one..

Don't bash global basketball too much, because I think AEG is trying to convert the Millenium Dome in London into an arena, with one of the sports being basketball..

 

Pick up basketball is the easiest sport to play in the US. All you need is 1 or 2 people and a hoop. Hoops are at every playground and in a large amount of people's driveways. You don't need a lot of space either not like you need a large field. Pick up soccer lets see you probably need at least 4-6 people plus a large area playing surface plus 2 goals which you won't find as abuntantly as basketball hoops.

 

Why not? All you need are four jackets and/or backpacks - that's how we did it when I was growing up.

 

Basketball is a great game. It very well may become a world game. You could argue it already is. But that DOES NOT mean soccer stops becoming a global game. It just doesn't work that way Tony. And all the money in the world won't help the sport if it all goes to the players. IOW, life is relative Tony.

I will say this. If you had to pick two sports that could be truly global - these would be the two. It costs NOTHING to play either game. You need a ball and a goal. Basketball requires some concrete and you can't make a goal out of a pile of rocks, but it is still darn cheap relative to hockey or baseball or football or even cricket.

 

Basketball is pretty global- along with soccer, it's a very good indicator of how globalization has invaded a society. I'd recommend Big Game, Small World A Basketball Adventure by Alexander Wolff for some good perspective.

But to paraphrase one of ESPN pundits: in many countries, soccer is the first, the second and the third sport.

Anyway, there's already a "world basketball league" - it's the NBA. The NBA itself will be a obstacle, as it already siphons off the worldwide assets- players and TV money.

Then outside the US, the European league system, patterned after the way soccer works, will be the top alternative to the NBA. In China, the pro basketball and soccer leagues seem to be similar in popularity- and I'd guess soccer is bigger in Korea and Japan. As for where I know basketball is one of the top sports- Israel, Lithuania, Yugoslavia and Philipines, those countries aren't exactly major markets. I can't t say anything about any of the South American countries- namely, Brazil and Argentina

As for basketball becoming the top sport- I'm waiting for more top leagues (NBA feeder leagues) to appear in more countries. And for 5'10" to 6'3" point guards from those countries to show up in the NBA.

 

Easy there, partner. I may be wrong, but I don't think Motterman is English. Don't let his misuse of the word "football" fool you. He might be a Europoseur, though, I don't know.

 

Not true.

 

When you're THE World's superpower, you don't need to win basketball games to feel proud about your country.

And, please, let's get real here. The Lakers are the only World's champs. I could care less where the games are televised.

 

I agree. Basketball is the easiest sport to set up a game. Even one on one can be very competitive.

 

Definitely. Why this is so difficult of a concept for people is beyond me.

 

Errr...umm.... I'm an American. But aside from that, it's not necessarily an "Anti-Argy" sentiment, it's more a "any national team, league, or club who dive and fake injuries at an appaling over the top rate" sentiment.

Now I know that it's "part of the game" and "everybody does it", but I see more of it in certain parts of the world than others, personally. And in this case, I thought the player in question was acting injured to influence the refs. I yell at players who "flop" in the NBA too, so I wasn't being completely unfair or anything, IMO.