Korean Job Discussion Forums

[JMO]

[benji]

At the end of the day, hitting a ball with your head ( a big part of soccer) is just silly and ridiculous.

[Pompeyinnit]

[cwflaneur]

I think it's a myth that the esl industry in Korea only recruits from grown adults.

Ha, ha, people arguing about which team sport is better, did I fall asleep and wake up to find myself back in junior highschool again?

Time to go find a knitting website so I'll be slightly less bored

[Epicurus]

AExile makes a great point.

the sports favores by Americans even when a team sport are full of individual mano a mano matchups.

in baseball, every pitch between pitcher and batter.
basketball, yes you can pass the ball, but like hockey it's on a much smaller field than soccer, so a lot of the time you have to accept the defensive challenge of the opponent, instead of constantly passing off.

in football, almost at every position starting with the trench confrontations between the linemen.

the most similar sport, hockey is played in a much smaller arena,is played at an infinitely faster pace because of the smaller space and skating and there is hard body checking and fighting involved.

the nature of soccer doesn't create enough opportunities for individual brilliance (which is why when it's seen in a soccer game, it's so admired because it's so rare and difficult to achieve)

it just doesn't create what Americans, at least, want most - the situation where one guy can basically humiliate his opponent in a specific situation in a variety of ways - almost all of them being physical.

other than the economic angle and it being in the fabric of European society, it's also now how they fight their wars. After ravaging their own continent with incessant warfare for over a thousand years and being responsible for two world wars... they now confine their "nationalism" to what they call "a pitch".. (strange name for an American who immediately think of a baseball)

p.s. another cultural barrier.

the concept of a "friendly".

Can you imagine a "friendly" in American sports? It does exist.. no one would play. Sure.. they have pre-season games.. but we can all see how popular those are and how players want to play them
And even within those there is usually a lot of competition for roster spots. etc.. so there is some spice and hard nosed play.

Even practices in American sports can get nasty. How many fights in basketball practices and football scrimmages.

Soccer is way way way too "gentle" and team oriented.

[pugwall]

[AmericanExile]

[Steelrails]

One day a bunch of people were playing soccer and someone kicked the ball at Chuck Norris, who smiled as it bounced of his chest, changing the shape of the ball into an oval. The sport of Football was born that moment. No players were left alive from that game to tell the tale, except Chuck Norris.

[AmericanExile]

[JMO]

[Epicurus]

A Exile golf is not a sport.

It's a leisure activity, particularly attractive and vexing to real athletes from other sports who find their natural athletic ability that makes them great in real sports does nothing for them in golf.

and my arguments on why soccer doesn't impact the American psyche I believe are true.

You can call it damning the American "consumer" or "culture" or whatever.

but it is what it is.

[AmericanExile]

[Steelrails]

I've posted this in another thread- real sports are ones you can play while consuming alcohol- Golf, Motorsports, Bowling, Firearm-based sports, Softball, Darts, Stone Skipping, Arcade Basketball, Demolition Derbies, Pool, Watercraft sports, Rock Chucking, Fishing, Hunting, Curling, Shuffleboard, and backyard wrestling.

Sports where you have to both practice and then work out for are lame. A good sport lets you drink, chat it up, use your mind a little, and make a business deal while playing it. That and you can play it with people of all ages and genders and ability levels.

[Epicurus]

pugwall, it's not a matter of understanding.

people have claimed for a long time that Americans would embrace soccer once they understood it.

This hasn't happened, despite repeated attempts to give the sport exposure and despite the fact that many people's kids now play soccer in school at young levels, especially girls.

I'd also have to giggle at your assertion that soccer players are some of the toughest guys around. Nonsense. There may be some, but an average rugby player can take on two soccer players at the same time, because his sport requires a degree of physical size and strength (and perhaps meanness) that soccer simply does not.

steelrails I would claim those are leisure activities. since consuming alcohol is a leisure activity.

I take my definition of sport from activities that depend on athletic qualities/abilities.

[Steelrails]

I'd like to add that as an American while World Cup Soccer is exciting and all... I think it's sad to see any American who was born and raised in America getting fanatically into Euro Soccer. Every person I met in America who was American-American that followed Euro Soccer has been a total d-bag. They don't really like soccer, they're just into it to be different and show how better they are.

It's one thing if following Euro Soccer is like your fifth sport, but if it's your #1...sorry but you're not a real Arsenal fan or Real Madrid fan. In order to be a real fan you need to grow up with that team and have lived around other fans of that team. Sports fandom at its core is local or nation-based. I don't see how someone born in Ohio could declare themselves to be a diehard Chelsea fan when they've never lived in England and didn't know about Chelsea until they were 14.

Now if your International-American then I understand loving soccer.

I respect soccer as a sport, even though I find it boring to watch and play. All it takes is some World Cup action and it is some of the best 90 minutes in sports you will ever witness. Love the intensity and how one goal means so much.