American football was pushed big time in the UK back in the 1990s and a lot of marketing went into it and it was a popular sport on TV here for a while. Also all kinds of pro teams popped up here and in Europe, but luckily everybody soon came to their senses and its popularity went down the toilet.

That's the NHL for you. The fighting is ****ing stupid and it draws the wrong kinds of fans. I hardly ever watch NHL hockey anymore because of it. The real game has become a joke to them. I much prefer watching the junior leagues, European leagues, and the women's leagues where no fighting rules are strictly enforced.

.............and NHL is the only bearable American sport to watch as well.

Fixed that for ya.

They immigrated away from those countries for a reason so they wouldn't exactly like taking everything their mother countries and bringing them here. It just so happens that football got lost in the transition.

he was right. Canada is part of America whether you like it or not :P:bonkhead:

North America

Oh my god thank you. Fighting is the worst thing i cant believe how dumb it makes fans. I went to the oilers game on thursday and everytime our "fighters" were out doing nothing productive people would cheer and then boo Hemsky when he didnt score. **** hockey fans i seriously hate them so much

Ppl still think don cherry is relevant and not absolutely insane and thats scary to me.

Those are the kind of fans that Goofle loves the bat shit mental ones that love to see fights and what makes the sport he loves so great.

This same logic should therefore apply to Hockey then according to him.

The rioters tend to come out in full force for championship games though and If the local team wins they riot. If they lose they riot!

It applies to mostly with Hockey fans but has been known to happen with Basketball and American Football fans as well.

That doesn't mean the passion doesn't exist. It's just expressed differently. Hockey fans are incredibly passionate about the sport. People go to great lengths expressing support for their favourite teams. I'm sure the same can be said for association football.

I hardly think sport comes into that concept. In fact the hotbed of American soccer stems from the Latin Americans immigrants there and I would say they are largely responsible for the growing popularity of the sport there.

In fact the only other countries that are comparable to the USA and Canada in terms of football (soccer) are Australia and NZ and the link between the two is that both USA/Canada and Australia/NZ were originally isolated from the old world, rather than actually forgetting their roots. But then again, football never actually took off in Australia and NZ, but rugby and cricket did.

Again you're talking absolute crap DJ. True football fans HATE any sort of fighting, bad behaviour or hooliganism. It's what gives the sport a bad name and it most certainly is NOT what makes football great. Just shows that as little as I admittedly know about American Football, you know eff-all about "proper", real football. :rolleyes: :banghead:
And when did Goofle ever claim that fightng in the game was good? He was talking about cheering, laughing, applauding, the odd pitch invasion, all in good taste and with all fans bonded together. Nothing like riots or any sort of trouble, which we all hate to see.

There's actually a whole Wikipedia page devoted to football fan hooliganism. Football hooliganism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oh, right. You guys don't fight like Americans do over the outcome of a game. I forgot it's all rainbows and sunshine and unicorns.

This is possible the reason then.



He never claimed that fighting in the game was good but he was talking about how passionate the fans are and from an American perspective a large majority of your football game ends up with fans fighting each other. Green hooligans is pretty accurate. Movies are just like real life.

No not at all, he's just pointing out the sheer euphoria and emotion that one feels when supporting a team.

You think that doesn't happen with other sports?

You do know that fan is short for fanatic right?

If someone is a fan of a sport then they exhibit those same traits when they see their favorite team play except maybe in Tennis when they are generally pretty quiet but only cheer/applaud after sets/points.

The only time I actually hear anything significant over here about European football is when fans riot over something trivial. That's not the image that should be projected to North America about association football, but unfortunately that's what many of us think of.

I don't know if it's a valid argument though, to suggest that football fans are more passionate than fans of American sports, from what I've seen Americans seem to go ape over their sports just as much as anybody else.

Green Street? That's not accurate at all :D, I go to games regularly myself, that kind of stuff was commonplace in the 70s and 80s, it doesn't happen so much now. That film was embarrassing Londoners playing up to the camera (obviously). 'Firms' are fucking cringe worthy.

You get maybe two or three incidents a year and certainly not at a club like Arsenal which is the team Goofle supports.

Places like Turkey, Italy or Argentina I'd say it's more common..

I've not been to a huge amount of football matches, but those I have been to have luckily been in various countries and have to say the most electric in terms of atmosphere was in Argentina watching Boca Juniors.


Boca Juniors vs. River Plate Argentina football soccer fans - YouTube

Yeah, but I think football fans are generally more passionate and especially in Britain. You see the support England take abroad for things like the World Cup for example, the Scots at Wembley last month, Celtic/Rangers, club away support and so on. And I don't mean dicks covered in merchandise with big sponge hands and 50 megapixel cameras I mean making noise and getting behind the team. Also a lot of football rivalries go deeper than football.

I hear what Goofle is saying, for example nothing touches the drama and emotion of things like the World Cup. See my thread in the sports forum, even people who don't follow the sport have posted in it.

The reaction to a goal in football cannot be surpassed by a singular point in any other sport. Obviously a "match point" in any sport is comparable, but I am taking about the average goal.

We aren't discussing that.

Oh we aren't?

Yep, that's it. Green Street Hooligans. I was just taking the piss though didn't you see my last line about movies being real life? :p:

That posts supports my view lol I have no interest in hooliganism.

And even from a pure aesthetic point of view, football is the best sport. And the hardest to master.

I thought it was a serious comment :o:.

I'm a bell-end.

I'm not talking about football. You said baseball and basketball weren't watched or played by people outside America and that's not true. I forgot to mention Chinese basketball--that's where Yao Ming came from. And South Koreans are nuts about baseball. There have been a few of them in the MLB. Hee Sop Choi comes to mind. Oh, and Shin Soo Choo also.

Soccer? Completely disagree. A quarterback needs to trsin so much more than any soccer player

passion
ˈpaʃ(ə)n/
noun
noun: passion; plural noun: passions; noun: Passion; noun: the Passion


1.
strong and barely controllable emotion.


You just defined "passion" right there ^^, so that is exactly what was being discussed.

I think baseball is pretty big in Japan too, and it's huge in the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Nicaragua (in fact, it's their national sport). It's no wonder that half the players in the MLB are from those countries.

Yes, I mentioned that. I didn't mention Cuba or Nicaragua but, yes, baseball is HUGE there. The Tigers have always had Venezuelan players since I was a boy and they still have them. And on the roster are all these Hispanic players: Cabrera, Martinez, Infante, Santiago, Peralta, Veras, Pena, Benoit, Albuquerque, Tuiasossopo, Avila.

Yeah. That all stemmed from a comment DJ made about the fact/belief that because Americans don't think much of football it can't be that popular. I then went on to explain that basketball, baseball etc are not popular outside the US. Perhaps I should have said AS POPULAR, but surely you know what I meant? Just because one section of the world --- even if it is USA --- sees something as not being their thing does not mean the other 95% of the planet doesn't.

Anyway, we ARE talking about football: check the thread title.

On another note, I love how the Batlord lobbed this grenade and then legged it to leave us all fighting in the trenches while he laughs at us from the Batcave! :)

For the love of God! I'm not suggesting violence doesn't happen in games but is is very much in the minority, hated by the real fans and a thing the FA are trying to stamp out, though of course they never will.

My point was against DJ's contention that violence was what made the game good, which is about as stupid a thing I've heard him say. If I misheard or misread then I apologise, but I'm pretty sure that's what he maintained.

Edit: No, pretty sure that's what you get from this comment...

Lol @ this thread

"My favorite sport is better because wah wah wah"

Hockey is the best sport takes more skill, strategy has nuances and is hard to master. Wrestle me

Hockey certainly does not take more skill.

If you would tone down your outrage and go back to the comments leading up to what I said. You would see/realize that I'm just saying the reverse of what Fluffy and Goofle said to prove a point about how they are coming across.

Fluffy's point is that if only one country loves a sport then it must be bad because of it. So that's why I made my statement to just turn around what he was saying. I didn't say it just to boast and be like FUCK YEAH AMERICA!

Also I saw the outcome of this trollish OP coming that's why I rated it a 4/10 on the first page but I ended up falling into it as well as others so I should rate it higher then because it did it's job.

8/10


Also, I didn't say violence in the game or by the players is a good thing. I was following up Goofle's point of the fans as he says being "bat **** mental" aka passionate. Those same passionate fans are the ones that end up fighting and causing violence over the sport not that the players fighting are what makes it good. You did misunderstand what I said. I just noticed you even quoted me and still didn't read it correctly. Did you not see that I mentioned Goofle's name in that quote meaning that it was something HE STATED and not an opinion of my own.

Debate me

Because controlling something with your hands is natural. Controlling something with your feet is not.

Running is natural. Ice skating is not.

That's not sports bro

So? I've played hockey, it's not that hard to learn to skate on ice. I remember the first time I went to an ice rink, after about 20 mins I was fine.

Try kicking a ball from 25 yards out into the goal at pace, controlling it in the air etc.

Lol so it's "man my sport is the best contest"

Also dude I'm not disagreeing with you but sports are different. It's like you yhink the same players could do it on ice. WrongZ

Yeah dude, holding a 5-6 ft curved piece of wood while standing on ice, balancing on two sharpened metal blades is so much easier than running. Or should I say flopping. Last time I checked there weren't too many people getting their entire front 8 teeth knocked out from being hit with a soccer ball, on the other hand it has happened to several current NHL players who have been hit in the face with a puck and many of them have come back to finish the same game. I see soccer players fall to the ground like newborn deer every 30 seconds in fake pain/agony, but I also see hockey players literally fight each other until their fingers are broken and their faces are bloody yet still find ways to stay on their feet, which consequently are balancing on two pieces of sharpened fucking metal. Quit dreaming. Being able to quickly transition from going 20 miles an hour forward to 20 miles an hour backwards in <30 seconds isn't something any soccer player could do if they tried.