Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mack4289]

The commercials, the endless f*cking commercials. Anyone used to watching soccer/rubgy, where the action is so fluid, is already turned off by the stoppage in the game itself. Throw in the fact that it's rare to see 5 minutes of game time pass without a round of commercials ("This is ouuuuuuuuuur country"), and I don't see it getting big anywhere else. Still love it, but hearing Mellencamp sing about ouuuuuuuuur country 50 times over three hours doesn't enhance the experience.

[tomwaits]

I agree but still love the payoffs (esp with a wager on it.)

Think is with N American sports---they demand booze.

You MUST drink... (True of footy allso though)

[Ya-ta Boy]

The commercials are truly annoying. Watching a live game in person at a stadium is an entirely different experience.

[applesandshanana]

[Don Gately]

[MANDRL]

OP, American football will never catch on to the rest of the world, but not for your reasons. I believe it will never catch on for the following reasons:

1. American football is actually very complex. There are so many different offensive and defensive schemes, kids in America grow up living, breathing, and learning football. For the world to catch up they would have to take away kids' soccer balls and start teaching them football. The US would always be light years ahead of its competition.

2. America's wealth is another reason football would not catch on. Soccer is the world's sport because all you need is a ball. Poor countries around the world can all play this because all they need is a ball. Football, on the other hand, takes a little bit of cash to play. Not that there are not poor kids playing football, but for the poor kids are being paid for by another parent, a coach, fund raising, etc. A lot of places in the world are just too poor to play football, especially at the competitive level Americans play.

3. Soccer is already ingrained in much of the worlds cultures. Why would they want to throw that aside and take up a sport that is from America?

I do get annoyed with all the commercials, but they are necessary for bathroom breaks. The breaks are needed though, those players beat the living crap out of each other, it is really a brutal sport. Besides, is there really that big of deal that there are breaks. In soccer, which I played from the age of 5 through high school, there is one break - half time. However, during the action, the action isn't all that happening. This is a reason that soccer will never capture American hearts for the long haul, American sports fans want more scoring than a possible 1-0, 1-1, or even 2-2 game. That's the way I see it.

[Pligganease]

[ajgeddes]

Who cares if it catches on anywhere. It's the most popular American sport and top 3 in Canada, possibly number 2. It's damn popular in northern Mexico, too.

[endofthewor1d]

nobody mentioned that commercials aren't vital to the game. if other countries were to play the game, they wouldn't be required to show as many commercials as are shown in the u.s.

[seoulsucker]

The pauses in American football are akin to those in a top-tier chess game. There are bits of furious exchange, followed by long bits of regrouping, adjusting, strategizing, etc. In no other sport is clock control as important.

Anyway, I like the fact that there's something that's just so unequivocally American. We're a blend and mix of so many other cultures' contributions, and have had so much of our own modern popular culture exported to the rest of the world it's nice to have something all to ourselves.

[ajgeddes]

[SPINOZA]

I find it difficult to accept the 'stoppages' argument from critics of American Football, even though I too utterly dislike that sport. My favorite sports are soccer, tennis and rugby - all of which full of annoying stoppages. Okay, not those kind of stoppages, but stoppages nonetheless. I don't think it's at all unreasonable to predict that in soccer, the really big games especially, we'll see a commercial every time there's an offside or other disruption in the play in the not too distant future.

[genezorm]

i think also it might have something to do with the fact that its a lame sport that takes 4 hours to finish a game...with about 10 minutes of actual playing time...and its boring as hell

[MANDRL]

[JMO]

Im not american but a big fan of american football. I would love to see the commercials replaced with x and os and would pay alot to get that kind of coverage. probably not enough demand though.

I think the money issue is a bigger problem. The equipment and facilities needed is too much. Also you need numbers. Part of the appeal of soccer is that pretty much any number of people can play it anywhere.

Im seetting the overunder for the first idiot to claim that american football is soft because they wear pads at 4 posts and taking the under.