How was that again? Not one mention or highlight on Sportscenter. One of the most beautiful goals in US history, a brand new coach, first match since WC 2006, yet not one motherscratching mention of the match, or the terrific 3-1 result. Oh, gosh! We got on the ticker, maybe we should all worship ESPN for the generosity? I'll believe the pipe dream of the ESPN committing to soccer when I see it.
We like watching sweaty people in australia hit the ball to each other over a net. We like breaking down tips from inside sources on whether russ grimm and mike tomlin had favorable interviews for the pittsburgh steelers job. We like seeing diagrams on how the indianapolis colts defensive ends tendency to rush upfield will limit their ability to stop the run.
ESPN just shows what the people want to see. Unfortunately, Americans, by and large, have miserable taste in sports. Baseball? Honestly, talk about one of the most boring ideas ever conceived. I know it's tactical, and all, but come on. The sport was invented by slightly overweight people who weren't athletic enough to excel at any other sport. As far as American football (the one with touchdowns & quarterbacks), I'm a big college football fan in addition to being a soccer fanatic, and don't think the two are mutually exclusive. However, the NFL has to be one of the most boring professional sporting leagues I've witnessed. The style of play is dramatically different from that of college football. Every team runs virtually the same offense, and the league is so defensively dominated that if a tailback averages 65 yards per game rushing (1000 for the season), we're praising him, when at the college level, a 65 yard per game average over a 12 game season would be a footnote, hardly noteworthy. I'm sorry for ranting; I guess I just have a chip on my shoulder about how America's #1 sports media network can spend 3/4 of SportsCenter previewing tomrorow's NFL playoff games and not so much as mention an actual piece of sports news related to soccer.
I think you're spot on here. My two favorite sports are College Football (GO DAWGS) and Soccer. There is one obvious link to me between the two - passion. The players AND fans of these two sports have more passion and fire than any other sport in the world. Sanford Stadium on a Saturday afternoon filled with 90,000 red-clad semi-intoxicated people is a beautiful sight and an electric atmostphere. The two US Nat games I've been two, while the crowd was 1/3 of what it was at a UGA game, was just as electric.
I was greatful that they did show highlights of the fifa 06 WC, but you would wish they would atleast show some highlights of the games today. I also dream of Priemereship games showing on EPSN every Saturday wouldnt that be awsome
Why do these threads always degenerate into someone bashing other sports? The NFL and MLB can be very exciting and dramatic. The ratings for tomorrow's games might just be indicative of that to some extent. Just because you personally might not appreciate the subtleties and nuances of WHY defenses are excellent in the NFL, doesn't mean that the NFL is objectively awful. As far as those "overweight people who weren't athletic enough to excel at any other sport" - I have no idea what Abner Doubleday's athletic prowess was, but if you're talking about the people that actually play baseball, I think the Deion Sanders, Bo Jacksons, and Jackie Robinsons of the world might disagree. And let's not forget - I'm sure just a few people out there might look at soccer players and suggest that these 5'8" 150lb wimps are hardly athletes capable of playing other sports either. <sigh> Seriously, there's room enough in the sports landscape for all these sports to thrive. If you want to knock SportCenter's coverage (and I do agree it is horrible in all things soccer), that's one thing, but why the need to attack the other sports themselves? I think that elitist attitude is what rubs a lot of non-soccer fans the wrong way to begin with and turns them off the sport. It smacks of some sort of inferiority complex that makes people think of soccer as a prissy sport for small kids with no hand-eye coordination or tenacity who like to hang out together and make fun of the football players because they're incapable of being ones themselves.
No offense intended here, but that's highly ironic seeing you are on a soccer forum. No, not because I think soccer is boring, but because many Americans do.
You know what, Alkyoneus Asleep, I actually think you're spot on with most of this. I was mostly being facetious in my last post--venting my frustrations over the lack of soccer coverage in the media related to baseball and the NFL. And I think you're right that the elitist attitude of a lot of soccer fans probably turns off non-soccer fans. I do however hold the opinion that baseball is a boring sport--it's just not interesting to me. And I don't think that it requires the same amount of athletic prowess found in basketball, soccer or football, but that's just me. Obviously many people share different views and that's fine with me. I will tell you the one allure of baseball that I appreciate is how grassroots it is in organization in this country. Virtually every moderately-sized city in the country has a minor-league team to support, which eventually feeds into the major leagues. Not only does this make it convenient and fun to track the careers of hometown folks you watched in high school or college, it also unifies communities behind the local team, and makes it special if a player from that team works his way into the big leagues. But I digress. Anyway, thanks for the response--I apologize for being facetious in my last post.
In defense of baseball, hitting a round ball with a round bat when the ball is moving upwards of 90 mph and not in a straight line is considered one of the hardest things in sports to do. The batter has less than a second to decide whether the pitch will be worth swinging at or not. I too wish soccer got more play time on Sportscenter. However, when soccer starts getting better ratings they will give it more air time. Just look at how much time NASCAR used to get before its audience exploded. Now there are commentators who break down each race beforehand on Sportscenter. And it might be difficult for the US version of Sportscenter to show highlights from all of the major soccer leagues in the world, because there would be precious little time for the almighty sport of the NFL. I really am hoping that Beckham coming over will have the affect of ESPN giving more air time to soccer.
They have an obligation to sports fans to show what's newsworthy. Even if soccer isn't very popular, the game certainly warranted 30 seconds at least.
ESPN, what's that? I watch Fox Soccer and GOL. I only watch ESPN if they are carrying a match I can't watch anyplace else. And then usually I turn the sound off so I don't have to listen to stupid comments, but it was interesting listening to Bruce Arena yesterday. If you don't like ESPN, don't watch it.
You are correct. Outside of the World Cup not enough people care about soccer. The NFC and AFC championship games are today and it is conference season in college basketball. It is much more important to get those highlights on tv.
I don't watch Sports Center.But for those that do a mere mention that the game was played and we won would not have taken anything away from the rest of their coverage.There is no possible excuse for not giving the USMNT thirty seconds of their time.
The super bowl is coming up. Hillary Clinton could announce that she's leaving Bill for David Beckham and it would still play second fiddle to a story about the Steelers coach search. Coverage should pick up with MLS this season and in the run up to Copa... Or so I hope...
You had me until the Bruce Arena comment. It was painful listening to him say what this team needs. To bad he had no idea what we needed 6-7 months ago. Also add the Setanta channel with FSC and GolTV.
i didn't expect them to breakdown the formations or even offer up any opinions, but i definitely thought they'd give it half a minute of their time. heck, they could have led into it with some kind of beckham gossip story. i think a bigger concern is that the stadium was half empty. it's not like they played at the rose bowl. that place should have been packed. oh well. i haven't given up on espn. at the very least, they do cover almost all the games live.
Seriously, you summed it up best. Sometimes I sit there watching Sportcenter thinking to myself, "what the hell is this crap? Do they really need 5 fat ex-NFL players sitting at a booth in $1000 suits drawing lines on a screen diagraming the Colts run-blitz defense. Does the average person actually care to see that?"
Which *is* the most important item obviously. I'm just not understanding why a minute or two amongst the endless, repetitive drivel on the NCAA, NBA, NFL, Tennis and the NHL can't be found for soccer, both MLS and the national team.
I do. Seriously, the NFL and US soccer are my two top sports and I love them both. Like another poster said, no reason to knock the intracies of another sport that you may not like. ESPN will cover US Soccer if the ratings demand it, and that's the root of the problem. As to why the ratings are low, I have had numerous discussions with friends in Europe about this and it feels like an entirely different thread.
You wasted 1 hr watching Sports Center so you could see soccer highlights...change the channel to FSC or GolTV. Don't waste your time next time watching Sports Center for soccer highlights.
Yes because most Americans care to see that instead of soccer. The first time Chivas USA played LA the game was shown in tape delay because the NFL draft was on and ran over. I'm sure the NFL draft drew better ratings. With that being said, ESPNEWS is what really annoys me. A few years ago N.C. State blocked a last second field goal vs Indiana to win a game. I was at work, so I missed the game. It was shown on ESPN2, but they only showed highlights of the top ten teams that played on other networks. I'm also sort of glad that soccer takes somewhat of a back seat. I get so sick of hearing about Duke vs UNC and Ohio State vs Michigan. I don't think I could ever watch the national team play again if they were that over hyped.
Well, the telly networks have come a loooong way from 25 years ago in the coverage of US Nats soccer. Believe me, it is and will be getting better.