Why do Americans hate football(soccer) so much?

[Kalfira]

It's actually strange. I'm only twenty but i've seen a cultural change in my lifetime. When I was younger most people I knew, child and adult, couldn't give a shit about the world cup. This year it gets tons of news coverage and is talked about almost everyday. It's actually amazing.

 

[TheSteeleStrap]

I don't think we Americans hate it, it's just that most of us don't care about it as much as the rest of the world. That's why we use a wrong name for it.

 

[Hashime]

I'm Canadian, and just don't care. Soccer is also a British term, so it baffles me when they rip on us for using it.

I live in England and I've never heard an english person say "soccer".

Look up the origins of the word, it is English slang, it is not current slang, but originated there.

 

[Deadlock Radium]

Well now, don't you think you're generalising just a little bit?

Why have you changed your avatar? I liked the old one

OT: Americans probably hates because of what Furburt said:

America hasn't had a great history with football, so I hear.

Plus, it's a very "european" sport, and America tends to dislike those.

Still, I'm pretty sure the only ones who hate football are the loud ones. Most people probably don't care.

And I've met Americans that liked soccer/football and detested that American Football thingy, needless to say, they were awesome.

 

[mathadawg]

I would say, like many others have already said, that we really don't hate the sport so much. I mean, I looked at my Facebook page after Landon Donovan scored that goal in stoppage time and I counted 12 or so posts that said either "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLL!!" or "USA!USA!USA!." And generally only about 10 people on my friends list are online at any time, so that means that almost everybody that was online was watching that game and cheering on the US team. I think that that means that we like football (soccer) a bit more than we are given credit for.

Also, this video explains it very well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbn3rOPmR9w&feature=related

 

[CK76]

A typical American football game will score 14-21. Where as a scoreless tie is very common in soccer. The fact that the game can end as a 'tie' probably is a little off-putting to some Americans who expect overtime and an eventual winner to be declared.

In leagues 0-0 is roughly 8-13% of score lines. In MLS 6 out of 100 matches ended in 0-0 draws thus far this season.

Again. Perception v. Reality.

 

[For.I.Am.Mad]

American's don't say 'it's just a game' except for Soccer. We're passionate about the sports we care about. Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey. Those are the big 4. When it comes to soccer we just don't care, it doesn't click. That's how we're raised. Football, Baseball, Basketball, and Hockey. We only pretend to care about soccer every 4 years. Beckham played for the Galaxy and NOBODY gave a shit not even Los Angeles cause they got the Lakers, we actually forgot about him till he said he was leaving or whatever.

Europeans once and for all, WE. DON'T. CARE. ABOUT. SOCCER. WE. ONLY. PRETEND. TO. CARE. You're lucky we're pretending to care this much, by the time football season starts we'll have forgotten that there was even a World Cup. If USA wins hey that's great now we can talk shit, if they don't oh well football seasons about to start. That's how we think, don't hate.

 

[Internet Kraken]

Apparently, most Americans need a sport where a team gets to score dozens of points per match, or where the players get to pretend to hit each other.

Their attention span doesn't allow room for anything that doesn't have something interesting happen every other minute.

So then why is Baseball considered the American pastime?

I'm really baffled by the number of Americans that are saying we don't like soccer for a variety of absurd reasons. I really have to wonder what they are basing this on, because my own personal experience suggests the opposite. There are tons of people talking about soccer that I've seen in the past few weeks. I haven't seen a single person who hates it (seen people who don't care about it, but that's different). Normally soccer doesn't get much publicity, but that doesn't mean we hate it.

 

[infinity_turtles]

I have to agree with the people that don't think Americans hate it. It's the second most popular sport in my area actually, right behind our football. Now, personally, I'm not a fan, but that's just me.

I have to say I've always found it odd when people accuse those who don't like soccer/football of having a short attention span. I find the very idea of watching sports pretty silly, but more so if there's a long period of time between exciting moments. With american football, pretty much the whole game is pretty tense and splattered with exciting moments to keep your adrenaline pumping up until' the game is decided. With soccer/football, you could gather up some people to play the game in the time between the excitement, and actually play it to get your adrenaline pumping. While it's fun to play, I have a difficult time imagining why people think it's good as a spectator sport.

 

[Falcon123]

Maybe it's because the United States has never had a real star or ever been very good. We get owned every year by countries that are so much smaller than us (Ghana! Really? We have 300 Million + in our country and we can't find 11 players who are good enough to beat Ghana?!?). If we spent the time actually training soccer players instead of turning anyone with natural athletic talent into a baseball, football, or basketball star, we might have enough talent on the team to inspire some fandom, but as long as we lose to countries the average American would deem inferior in most ways (again, GHANA?!?), no one will be able to sell the sport when we already dominate in most other sports about which we currently care.

 

[VanityGirl]

A typical American football game will score 14-21. Where as a scoreless tie is very common in soccer. The fact that the game can end as a 'tie' probably is a little off-putting to some Americans who expect overtime and an eventual winner to be declared.

In leagues 0-0 is roughly 8-13% of score lines. In MLS 6 out of 100 matches ended in 0-0 draws thus far this season.

Again. Perception v. Reality.

You know, this video you showed me earlier is perfect for this thread.



So no, Americans do not hate soccer and to say that is pretty crazy. I love soccer, it's my sport.

 

[pauloalbatross]

It's not that we hate it, it's just we have a lot of homegrown (at least according to our history books they are) sports that take president over soccer. And we don't HATE it, we're just disinterested, where the hate comes from is other countries or fans trying to push the sport on people that have no interest. If we came over to your house told you that soccer/futbol was a sport for pussies just like some people do with American football, you'd be pissed, right?

Different countries have different tastes, and the only reason we gave a shit at all this year is because we actually had a presence in it.

Baseball was invented in England in the 1400s, but it's never really caught on here (we have a version which lacks padding or a hard ball played at schools, which is called rounders - similar rules) - we have a similar image of baseball to the generalised American view of football (soccer), with even less participation

 

[Mcface]

This has probably been done to death, but I couldn't find it.

So what is with all the hate for the World Cup?

I honestly can't understand it. I certainly prefer other sports over it, but I don't get the rabid rage over it that I see a lot of Americans have.

We don't, we just don't care about it.
It will never be as popular as Football or Baseball here, and I would mainly blame the lack of scoring and the terrible pussy ass dives for it. Americans wont get behind a sport where it's a common tactic for a grown man to flop around on the ground pretending he's in pain, pretending to cry.

also, Soccer is a European word. It was used to describe the lesser popular sport at the time in certain areas. If your town was huge on rugby, football would be called Soccer. If your town liked "football" more, then soccer would be called..soccer. Hard to describe, but thats what it is.

 

[soren7550]

I think it's for three reasons:

1.) It's not American
2.) No contact of any kind is allowed
3.) You can't use your hands (not counting the goalie)

 

[Burningsok]

America hasn't had a great history with football, so I hear.

Plus, it's a very "european" sport, and America tends to dislike those.

Still, I'm pretty sure the only ones who hate football are the loud ones. Most people probably don't care.

I don't like it because of it's slow pace. Plus I absolutely hate how soccer players constantly try to fake an injury to draw a yellow card or even a red card on the opposing team. I can't count how many times I've seen it happen in the World Cup this year. I can see how some people really like watching it. Hell I'll even admit I sorta got into it when the USA won against Algeria.

 

[ThePerfectionist]

I agree that the general sense I get isn't so much that Americans (I'm Canadian, but have a lot of American friends) hate soccer, but that most of them are just indifferent towards it. Like with any sport, you'll get people who are wildly passionate about it one way or the other, but I think most of America just doesn't care.

Now, I love to stereotype Americans, but I don't think their apathy towards soccer has as much to do with their hatred for ties or their need for violence as it does the simple lack of exposure. Fucking NASCAR gets more airtime on US networks than soccer does, and that's just a bunch of guys driving in circles for hours. Sure, the World Cup is one thing, but that's the grand-poobah of soccer events. Being enthused by that or watching that doesn't count.

Canada has this problem too, but to a lesser degree. For example, I don't watch TV (I spend far too much time on the internet for TV) or read the paper, but off the top of my head, I could probably name every team in the NHL, half the teams in MLB, at least a quarter of the teams in the NBA, and a handful of teams in the NFL. That's just from what I catch in day-to-day life (and that's even despite the fact I HATE American football and basketball). If you asked me to name a soccer team, I'd probably stare at you and start guessing cities in England, like Liverpool.

The fact is on this side of the Atlantic, you really have to be looking for soccer to find it, which is not true of any of the other four sports I've talked about above.

 

[crypt-creature]

Most Americans don't hate football(soccer), most of them just don't care about it one way or another and get tired of the massive overabundance of advertisements for it and any other major sport venue (unless they have a slight interest in it).

It's hard to begin to like something if it's being shoved your face all the time (the types of fans any sport can carry can also be a quick turn-off), indifference can quickly turn to annoyance and then to false hate.

 

[tautologico]

I think soccer has been gaining ground on the US for some years now. And their national team has gotten better with time, and probably will improve more in the future.

Despite being brazilian I'm not a big fan of soccer. But I like the World Cup, because it's the largest sports event in the world, and millions upon millions of people all over the world are watching. It's really one great global event, where most of the world is paying attention. Whereas most of the world doesn't care about basketball or baseball or american football.

(Some years ago I read an article in a brazilian magazine, written by an american living in Brazil, saying that we shouldn't like a sport as boring as soccer, and should like baseball. Baseball? Really? A soccer match can be boring, but it can also be very exciting.)

 

[Lost In The Void]

I'm indifferent to soccer. I can't explain why I don't find it enthralling to watch, probably because neither of my parents watched it when I was growing up. My preferances for sports are hockey, lacross, and basketball, with the former two the only sports I watch on a regular basis. Come to think about it, maybe the fact my country [Canada] doesn't have a team contributes as well. Anyway, I don't know where the stereotyping of hatred of football came from, because by the sounds of it most people either enjoy it, or like me are indifferent to it.

 

[The Diabolical Biz]

Maybe it's because the United States has never had a real star or ever been very good. We get owned every year by countries that are so much smaller than us (Ghana! Really? We have 300 Million + in our country and we can't find 11 players who are good enough to beat Ghana?!?). If we spent the time actually training soccer players instead of turning anyone with natural athletic talent into a baseball, football, or basketball star, we might have enough talent on the team to inspire some fandom, but as long as we lose to countries the average American would deem inferior in most ways (again, GHANA?!?), no one will be able to sell the sport when we already dominate in most other sports about which we currently care.

But then again Ghana are a nation that is passionate about football. It would have been depressing to see a nation that cares so much go out as opposed to a nation that treats football so casually. Also, it would have been depressing for the final African team in the first African world cup to go out to a nation that, overall doesn't care. Overall, the team that deserved it won. I understand that that wasn't your original point but I needed to say it somewhere.

Also basically no one is willing to watch a game that is tactical enough that there is the possibility of a draw