Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Bingo]

Last night I watched awesome footage of all the goals so far in the World Cup. And a thought came to me. Americans are reluctant to engage in soccer at the adult level because of...homophobia.

Soccer is unique in that, when someone scores, it is mandatory for his buddies to jump all over him on the ground. A few backside slaps also help the celebration. I'm not anti-American in any way. But, in my experience, a high percentage of American men do seem to be rather homophobic. Maybe it's the military thing. I don't know. But many are uncomfortable with even a friend putting their hand on their shoulder.

So I'm not surprised that they shy away from the sport where sweaty friends jump all over you every time you score. And you are obligated to climb all over your sweaty buddy when he scores a goal. (Maybe that's why they score so rarely.)

Also notice that the sports in which Americans have to come into bodily contact with other guys (hockey, American football) they cover themselves from head to toe in protective gear? No, can't play rugby Must add padding and hi-five my buddy when he scores.

Am I crazy? Or is there something to what I'm saying? Just a thought that came to me while watching the coverage last night.

B

[endofthewor1d]

that's probably the worst theory i've ever heard. half of baseball is slapping each other on the ass. and in football, the quarterback just about has his hand up the center's ass while he's waiting to be given the ball.
also, there's a lot of hugging and jumping all over one another in american sports. they just usually wait until after the game is over.
i'll stick to my theory. in a survey of one american (me) i've found that americans don't like soccer because it's boring.
i realise that my data might be skewed a bit, as the same survey has shown that americans also don't like baseball, pick-up trucks, or 'sex and the city'.

[laogaiguk]

[seoulsucker]

Dude, that's the worst "theory" I've ever heard.

You're talking about a country that spawned the WWE, arguably the most homoerotic mainstream programming in television history.

[laogaiguk]

Look, get over it. Do you need North America's approval or something? Do you have a "sports" inferiority complex OP? Yes, many North Americans find soccer boring? So what, you guys find baseball boring (which it is).

[Wangja]

The two 45 minute halves don't fit the commercial breaks on TV.

[Bingo]

First of all, let me restate that I am not being anti-American. Most Americans that I have met are decent and interesting individuals. But the men seem to be somewhat uncomfortable with physical contact with other men. Now, that's an observation I've made in Korea. Admittedly, most of these guys are military. So maybe my analysis is skewed by the unrepresentative sample.

Yes, my theory is seriously challenged by the US football hand between my buddy's legs thing.

[indytrucks]

I think a good portion of football's unpopularity can be attributed to America's sport fixation on statistics. Baseball, basketball, gridiron ... you're constantly being inundated with statistics in order to give innocuous looking 'play' some meaning. Football doesn't have that. The only way to judge who is playing better and who the better players are is to simply sit and watch and come to your own judgements. Sadly, Americans don't watch enough football to understand the subtle nuances of what makes, say, a class defender or a midfield string-puller. They look to statistics to tell them who the "best" players are, and in football what happens on the pitch cannot be boiled down to percentages and numbers.

Example: today I saw a critique of the US side by a US sport writer who blamed their exit because "they only managed 4 shots on goal and went 0-1-1 for the tournament". True, but look at the critique ... boiled down to numbers and records and points totals. No mention of how the players themselves performed on the pitch, because your average American sport pundit has no idea how to assess them without the aid of reams of statistics to back them up.

Only a theory, but I'm sticking to it.

[seoulsucker]

Good point on the stats thing. I would have to agree with you there.

American sports tend to be whittled down into nice bite-size tidbits that are easy for us to consume, where as futbol is the equivalent of a 30 oz. porterhouse steak.

It looks great at the beginning, but about 5 bites into it I think to myself, "There's no way in hell that I'll be able to make it through this."

[RACETRAITOR]

From what I've seen, soccer is not popular because of its reputation among Americans (and a lot of Canadians too). They see it as a game that is less competitive than more popular games, in which both sides often can win, and players rarely fight, and shake hands afterward.

Also, it's an international sport and probably a lot of Americans get the impression the rest of the world is laughing/sneering at them. Which, let's be honest, is true.

[jinju]

[laogaiguk]

[Yaya]

Soccer isn't just egged on by Americans. I was talking to this Canadian guy who said he couldn't believe the fouls called in the World Cup for sissy contact. A guy gets nudged and then falls to the ground grabbing his leg or knee while play goes on. In American sports, you'd better get the hell up -- pain or no pain -- before your opponent takes advantage.

I'd say the biggest problem with soccer is low scoring, and that FIFA apparently tries to stifle advances in the game all in the name of tradition. Many sports now use instant replay -- cricket and rugby included -- while FIFA has banned even the EXPERIMENTATION of instant replay. That stupid federation keeps saying "Refs are human, too, bla bla bla." Yes, humans are human but at least in the United States, they TRY to fix things instead of just saying "oh well, too bad."

[laogaiguk]

[indytrucks]