I was wondering if anybody had a good explanation for this total lack of participation at these forums IN THE MIDDLE OF A WORLD CUP!!! I guarantee you that if the US Men were playing a freaking friendly against the Cayman Islands, in the middle of the night, there would be ten times more posts than we are getting right now for the women at their main event. We are the superpower of the sport, we have waited three years for some relevant to happen and… NOTHING. This is not a regular current events forum where the WWC might be ignored. This is a SOCCER site. What’s going on? I don’t want to think what this means for things like the future women’s league, because I don’t want to have really bad thoughts, but I don’t like the vibes or better said “the lack of vibes in the air.”
But how many of them would be worth reading? There have been dozens of posts since the last match - how many more do you want?
You are right in terms of the quality of most of those multibple posts in the US Men forums. However, ithe number of posts tells you something very important: the interest and excitement the game is having. They mey not write something worth reading but you can tell they are watching and thinking about the game. Here, for this WWC, we're in life support. Numbers are most important and we don't have them.
good question. there doesn't seem to be that much overlap between posters here and posters in the various men's forums for some reason.
I think if you look at views rather than posts it appears to me there is quite a bit of "participation". Not everyone feels they have to actually post. I look at views the same as people in the stands...
The lack of posts is because many people on this site that are truely passionate about the mens team just don't care as much about the women. I have been following the tournament, I know who all of our players are, I even have lost a fair amount of sleep to watch the games. But the difference for me is the lack of sleep is from watching the games in the middle of the night or at dawn. Last summer the lack of sleep was from nerves. I hope we win this tournament, but if we don't, eh. When the mens team plays, even when I know we should lose to a team, I am usually pretty upset by each and every loss. The womens game just doesn't inspire that kind of passion in me yet. As the game develops and becomes more competitive internationally (something that seems to be well on its way) I think this will change. Also, the tournament being in the fall with a far east time zone and every Men's League around playing in season has stripped some attention away.
Trying to get to the top of the mountain produces stronger passions than trying to stay there. The US women have been at the top since day 1 and will likely at least stay near the top for a long time. The men on the other hand have come up from the bottom and are still not a shoe-in to win many of their games. Hence, we get upset/overjoyed for everything the men do and yawn about the women. More than likely it that most of the posters here are men and we prefer the mens game to the womens (to the point where the WWC is out-posted by last nights Fire-FCD game).
The 2nd half of that game was pretty good! It was way better than U.S.-Sweden. Denilson's ball fake was better than anything I've seen Marta do so far in the world cup.
I am a regular poster on the women's forum, hardly ever even read the men's forum, let alone post there. I have been mostly avoiding this board since about a week ago because of all the negativity. There's usually a fair bit of complaining and constructive criticism here, but there's also a healthy dose of camaraderie. I am surprised and a little offended by the "experts" who have come out of the woodwork, when in the last few years they couldn't be bothered. I guess there are only so many ways to say "You suck", then you kind of run out of words.
Maybe I've been around the negativity of the men's boards too long, but I was kinda hoping and expecting people to pile on the new poster for starting a thread, using Comic Sans in a larger size, and asking a simple question and wanting a complex answer. The biggest reason more people aren't posting is... there are far more fans of the men's game than the women's game. I post on this board when the women play friendlies. Normally, the post-game threads are the same as the pre-game/PBP thread. Under Women's International, there is a Women's World Cup board, so some posting has been there. I watch matches live, so I may sprinkle in observations and analysis as the matches progress. Normally, there isn't too much more to say after the women's games (especially since they are normally one-sided). Basically, that's my way of saying I haven't been waiting for something to happen. I think many of the posters, haven't been waiting either. They also have watched the friendlies and tournaments leading up to the WWC. Those that post on these boards are obviously people who follow the sport and most follow the team as well. There are simply fewer fans and it doesn't hurt that there is a 12 hour time difference between start times in China and the East Coast Stateside. ...and the whole new women's league in 2009. Investors know crowds won't be the size crowds of the men's game.
For me at least, there have been many threads on here that I have wanted to post a reply to. Except when I finally have the time to sit and compose a reply, someone has already beaten me to the punch and darn it all, sometimes I agree with their opinion. I don't feel I need to constantly add "I agree" to everyone's post. If someone says something better than me, which has been known to happen, then I just let it go. Maybe it's just me but I don't want to read a thread where it has one reply and then 15 replies quoting that first reply and adding "Right on" or "I completely agree!" And I'm sorry, if I'm staying up to watch a game at 3:55am, the first thought going through my mind after the game isn't "Oh my god, I need to get on BigSoccer and post till my fingers fall off!" It's more like, "Oh my god, where's my bed?"
I followed the last 2 WWC, but I haven't really been interested in this one. A lot of it has to do with the time zone. I'm not a big enough fan of the women's game to wake up at 5 am to watch them. The other is that I haven't really seen much improvement of the US women's team. Too much reliance on athleticism. Not a very entertaining team to watch. Not every skillfull.
how about the lack of advertising/poor placement by Bigsoccer? Log in during the Men's World Cup and you are bombarded with news and boards regarding that tournament. For the Women's World Cup? You have to scroll all the way to the bottom to get to the boards.
Ask Big soccer........they changed forum..........they also got a bunch of kiddie moderators who destroyed the atmosphere of the forums,
I laughed about the font and (ridiculous) question. Then I noticed the Sept '07 join date. So, either a young newbie who hasn't figured out the demographics of the bigsoccer community or is trying to stir something up. Seriously, is anyone really surprised at the post # difference? I'm a HUGE women's soccer fan but I also understand the larger reality. Of both sport fanboards and sport fanbase. I'm also surprised by the number of folks in the women's forum that are upset/angry over the level of criticism which is very mild in comparison to the men's. Could you imagine the uproar over Jobson's inclusion if the level of umm, attention was the same? ...oh, wait, ABMOD flashback....
I'll offer a serious reply. I really enjoyed watching them win the Cup, but was completely turned off by their hubris afterward. The part that really pushed me away was the often explicit statements in the press (and especially in that ridiculous book that came out after the Cup) of 'our women won the cup, why can't the men?' To compare the level of competition in the two tourneys--especially at the time, when so few nations had any serious women's program--was ludicrous. In the same vein, the WUSA founders' arrogance was also disappointing. I'll watch the matches, but wouldn't count myself as an avid fan.
Hey... easy... what did I ever do to you? I think we're doing okay over here in our little corner of BigSoccer thank you very much.
I'm with you. The other thing is how the women's team plays. I still hope they do well, but it's clear that our women's coaches and selection systems are even worse than our men's.
Well, so far this morning, they're pretty awful. A real lack of awareness of what's going on around them, but even worse, absolutely no patience.