World Cup - "soccer is boring and stupid" thread

[Borek]

Why can't we use a name that is unambiguous - piłka nożna.

 

[cjl]

The name football is not ambiguous for about 7 billion people. It only is for americans.

Soccer is unambiguous for 100% of the world's population though, since to my knowledge, there isn't any other game called "soccer" in the world. It also originates in Britain, if I remember right, since it started as an abbreviation for "association football", to distinguish it from "rugby football", which at the time was abbreviated to "rugger". Now, of course, the latter is usually just called "rugby", but still, the term "soccer" is hardly an American invention.

(Oh, and since "American football" originated from "rugby football", it makes sense that it kept the "football" term. Nothing surprising about it when you learn the origins)

 

[micromass]

 

[micromass]

And then I'm not even talking about this:

http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/map%20metric%20jpg

 

[AnTiFreeze3]

It's Myanmar (not Burma), now, you uncultured heathen from the underworld. This is what socialist propaganda does to an otherwise well-mannered person. What a shame.

 

[AnTiFreeze3]

Pending my own moderation: picture will be back soon

Here we be:

 

[TumblingDice]

And then I'm not even talking about this: (map of countries using metric system)

Oh my! I would have never noticed the connection without your help. The people who wear shorts and call the game football are from the same places as the sissies who can't calculate without using their fingers and powers of 10!

RL&D!

Disclaimer: The comments above do not reflect the views of PF, their pets, or any fictional characters - living or otherwise. All comments are intended purely for entertainment purposes and to potentially inspire further exchange of humor and wit.

 

[AlephZero]

Nobody seems to have mentioned the obvious reason why the USA doesn't "get" soccer. Play doesn't stop every few seconds for the next TV advertising break.

 

[gfd43tg]

Well our games aren't structured such like soccer where you play for 45 minutes straight. In baseball, every inning is the perfect opportunity for advertising.

 

[davenn]

Micromass...

you can add New Zealand and Australia to the list that term it soccer

I have grown up in those 2 countries that is it was said "I'm going to the footy tonight " Soccer is definitely not on the mind

Its Rugby Union, Rugby League, or Aussie Rules
Aussie Rules footy is "out there", fast moving, high scoring and rough play
None of the 3 games have players all trussed up in "body armour" as with American Football

But ohhhh well ... 1/2 the can't even find either of those 2 countries on a world map...
They have enough trouble locating their own country cheers
Dave

 

[1MileCrash]

I think as long as the US is winning more games than you, it's soccer.

 

[micromass]

I think as long as the US is winning more games than you, it's soccer.

Except that we just beat the US last game.

 

[Tobias Funke]

Nobody seems to have mentioned the obvious reason why the USA doesn't "get" soccer. Play doesn't stop every few seconds for the next TV advertising break.

That may be a big reason that it hasn't caught on here. I do think Americans have a point about the flopping being out of control though. It's now a huge issue in the NBA too, but it's ten times worse in soccer. Oh, and the racist guy that repeatedly goes around biting people...that too (although Zidane's headbutt years ago was fantastic; now that's a manly way to shut up a loudmouth). And the fact that soccer is more about nationalism and long-standing grudges than people kicking a ball around. Maybe if there was a USA v. Taliban match Americans would care more. Losing a soccer match to Columbia or whatever doesn't really hurt our national pride.

 

[Nick O]

Maybe if there was a USA v. Taliban match Americans would care more.

I would watch this, and I might even take it seriously.

 

[nsaspook]

That may be a big reason that it hasn't caught on here. I do think Americans have a point about the flopping being out of control though.

The few times I've watched soccer before falling asleep the flopping was the best part of the show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-KPVorsM8g

 

[AlephZero]

Maybe if there was a USA v. Taliban match Americans would care more.

Hm... Afghanistan seems to prefer cricket to soccer. They qualified for the 2012 World Twenty20 competition, and have qualified for the 2015 Cricket World Cup. No chance of the USA ever beating them at that.

 

[lisab]

Except that we just beat the US last game.

oh you remember that?

 

[gfd43tg]

I wouldn't be surprised if more people played soccer in Belgium than the USA

 

[WannabeNewton]

Losing a soccer match to Columbia or whatever doesn't really hurt our national pride.

It's hard to have national pride for a sport that the country absolutely sucks at.

I'm sure many more Americans would watch if Kate Upton was one of the members playing in the US's team. I know I would.

 

[WWGD]

Losing a soccer match to Columbia or whatever doesn't really hurt our national pride.

Or to Colombia, the country. I remember a campaign by Colombians to "disambiguate" the two: Columbia the university or city(es) in the U.S, vs. Colombia the country.

 

[gfd43tg]

It's hard to have national pride for a sport that the country absolutely sucks at.

I'm sure many more Americans would watch if Kate Upton was one of the members playing in the US's team. I know I would.

We don't really suck. We made it a lot further than most other countries. I think our team is quite good considering how little appreciated the sport is here.

 

[WWGD]

There is also too much competition for the people's attention with hockey, basketball, baseball, football , etc. Maybe this is countered by having a larger potential audience given a population of around 320 million.

 

[WannabeNewton]

We don't really suck.

Looks like you had a typo there. There's a "don't" that doesn't belong.

 

[davenn]

Looks like you had a typo there. There's a "don't" that doesn't belong.

hahaha that's a bit mean WBN


maybe the word "bit" could be removed as well


Dave

 

[Tobias Funke]

Or to Colombia, the country. I remember a campaign by Colombians to "disambiguate" the two: Columbia the university or city(es) in the U.S, vs. Colombia the country.

A small typo, just like when I mistyped "football/fútbol/¿fóüdbáílle" as "soccer" and "French fries" as "freedom fries."

 

[AnTiFreeze3]

... I'm sure many more Americans would watch if Kate Upton was one of the members playing in the US's team. I know I would.

You would obediently sit down and watch a day-long debate on the obscurest field of philosophy if Kate Upton were the moderator

Fun fact: I was trying to find a specific, obscure field of philosophy, but gave up. In the process, I found a wikipedia page blasphemously refer to Liebniz as a "philosopher," and nothing more. That's akin to psychologists trying to appellate Pavlov as nothing more than a psychologist.

 

[atyy]

This could make for an interesting thread, much more interesting than whether soccer is boring and stupid.

American football,
Kidnapping an adult,
Multi-valued function,
Dirac delta function,
Metric tensor (in general relativity),
Cartesian tensor,
Dwarf planet,

and

Red herring.


And that's what this latest sidetrack of this thread is, a red herring.

"American football" is like "soccer", ie. "soccer" is the more technically correct and less ambiguous term, but everyone knows what football is. So if we accept futbol as correct, metric tensor is also correct. Actually, what is the alternative - "metric tensor field"?

 

[micromass]

"American football" is like "soccer", ie. "soccer" is the more technically correct and less ambiguous term, but everyone knows what football is. So if we accept futbol as correct, metric tensor is also correct. Actually, what is the alternative - "metric tensor field"?

Pseudometric tensor

 

[atyy]

Wow, that is so proper!

 

[DennisN]

Tensor (soccer):
If one player in a team gets a red card, there will be ten sore players in that team left on the field.