OT: Colin Cowherd "Soccer will surpass baseball in a few years"..

[Caltex2]

FkLA

It's cheap to play and there are heroes for young kids. There's basically no baseball players outside the Americas and almost none south of the Amazon. You've got a hotspot in East Asia outside the People's Republic and that's pretty much every baseball playing country in the world.

[midnightpulp]

So there aren't any big fields within urban areas in other poor countries? All of them are set up like Brazilian favelas are?

If the urban sprawl in 3rd world countries works like it does in the US, then yeah, big fields are harder to come by. The point is a couple of kids can play a decent game of soccer on the narrow street right outside of their house before dinner. To play baseball and have any fun with it, you need an area where you can at least hit the ball hard, since the thing kids most enjoy about baseball is batting and seeing how far they can hit. In my neighborhood, there's one spot in about a 10 block radius that's simply decent for baseball, and not real baseball or even tennis ball baseball, but something like whiffle ball. There's multiple areas where you can play soccer. There's these grass dividers (about 60 feet wide) that run for about 2 miles. Baseball is a no go. Too narrow, cars and houses nearby. Perfect for soccer.

[midnightpulp]

FkLA

It's cheap to play and there are heroes for young kids. There's basically no baseball players outside the Americas and almost none south of the Amazon. You've got a hotspot in East Asia outside the People's Republic and that's pretty much every baseball playing country in the world.

Soccer also has the advantage of the busy work factor. Even if a kid totally sucks, he can still have a degree of "fun" running around and chasing the ball and kicking it around. A ty kid will not have any fun playing baseball. He will most likely not even get a foul tip over the course of the Little League season and up every ball hit to him. Seen it myself. I remember this kid who struck out EVERY time up, and the one time he fouled a ball, it was like a in' miracle. There was another kid who did the same and then in his last at bat of the season laced a double. We all cheered him on and coach gave him the game ball. On that point, I will admit that sports like soccer have more of an inherent fun factor than bat-and-ball sports, since bat-and-ball sports (cricket, baseball) punish skill deficiency a lot more than goal sports. I just don't think soccer is that much different conceptually than sports like basketball, handball, Gaelic, Aussie rules, etc, so the reason it ascended over the sports has to do with other factors than soccer just being "more fun to play."

[pookenstein]

Why does the world love it?

I don't think Americans hate soccer generally speaking. I bought the very first FIFA back in '94. I continued to buy soccer video games up until about '99. I've watched every World Cup to some degree since '94 (wont' be watching this year). I simply don't think the sport is worth investing time in over US sports (which I find better designed, and which is an opinion I can write a in' dissertation on vs. soccer, so me turning my nose up at soccer isn't out of Murrican pride). If I'm going to invest time into a soccer-like sport, it would be something like Gaelic or Aussie Rules (more of a Rugby-like sport), which I find better designed. My opinion is that soccer is one sport of many and unlike soccer nuts, I don't think the sport is some proverbial gift from God that is intrinsically superior to other sports.

And no, appeal to popularity is a fallacy. It grew through British imperialism, not because the peoples of the world "saw the light." And if you don't think that was a factor, the Brits managed to make a sport you would find more boring than baseball the 2nd most popular in the world.

rest of the world embracing the NFL? On what planet? They hate it. I get it's popular in Mexico and Canada, but most other countries find it slow, plodding, unskillful, and absolutely despise the fact we call it "football," (even though American football has more of a right to be called football than soccer does).

LMFAO. The time you invest to "educate"/debate/troll the guys around here alone, everytime a Football vs American Football/Baseball thread opens up, says otherwise.

[Silver&Black]

[midnightpulp]

LMFAO. The time you invest to "educate"/debate/troll the guys around here alone, everytime a Football vs American Football/Baseball thread opens up, says otherwise.

Lol. I don't even bring up soccer in those debates. And it's not usually soccer vs baseball anyway, but posters saying dumb about baseball, etc that bring me in.

[tholdren]

Lol. I don't even bring up soccer in those debates. And it's not usually soccer vs baseball anyway, but posters saying dumb about baseball, etc that bring me in.

Baseball is what you do if you cant play football soccer basketball track or hockey.

[midnightpulp]

Baseball is what you do if you cant play football soccer basketball track or hockey.

That's why there's many more instances of athletes washing out of pro baseball and doing better in another sport than the other way around.

[pookenstein]

Lol. I don't even bring up soccer in those debates. And it's not usually soccer vs baseball anyway, but posters saying dumb about baseball, etc that bring me in.

Doesn't matter who brings Football up. You can't resist replying, often in good length. For that you have to invest time in the sport because you want to make a point. By the way, I don't have a problem with you/your takes although I'm a big Football Fan (even work for the German FA) and think that Baseball is boring as ...

[midnightpulp]

Doesn't matter who brings Football up. You can't resist replying, often in good length. For that you have to invest time in the sport because you want to make a point. By the way, I don't have a problem with you/your takes although I'm a big Football Fan (even work for the German FA) and think that Baseball is boring as ...

Those lengthy replies are talking about baseball not soccer. Read the replies instead of assuming it's something about soccer vs. baseball.

[pookenstein]

Those lengthy replies are talking about baseball not soccer. Read the replies instead of assuming it's something about soccer vs. baseball.

I've read quite a few. And they're not all talking about Baseball. Some have been about Football, in some you compared Football (& players) with Baseball/American Footall (players), which takes an investment of time...

[Pavlov]

Soccer's in a weird spot in the US. It's definitely got grass root growth because having your kid getting multiple concussions playing football. But the USMNT is an absolute embarrassment right now, so no World Cup bump until the women play. The way to make real money is still through TV, and soccer is the absolute worst sport for TV outside of cricket. Also, TV is just going away as something people watch in general, so now what? PPV/subscription is the best way to view but free ad-supported streaming looks to be the future for most. Again, it's a question of monetizing the game for American viewers as is or changing the game to accommodate the way people want to view it. Some indoor leagues tried the latter IIRC, but where are they now?

Good luck.

[Spurtacular]

Soccer is more interesting on the whole; but MLS has to stop being a retirement league. There's definitely gradual improvement if you watch MLS today vs. MLS 90's; but it's still pretty bad.

[midnightpulp]

Soccer is more interesting on the whole; but MLS has to stop being a retirement league. There's definitely gradual improvement if you watch MLS today vs. MLS 90's; but it's still pretty bad.

The only factor that could possibly turn soccer into a major sport are "changing demographics." As it is, the American sports and entertainment landscape is too crowded for really any sport to penetrate the Big 4 right now, especially with how entertainment tastes are more fractured than ever. Sports basically only competed with sitcoms on television back in the day. Now sports have to compete with countless streaming options, video games, social media, etc, etc. I think the percentage of US citizens who have no interest in sports is at an all-time high.

[Spurtacular]

The only factor that could possibly turn soccer into a major sport are "changing demographics." As it is, the American sports and entertainment landscape is too crowded for really any sport to penetrate the Big 4 right now, especially with how entertainment tastes are more fractured than ever. Sports basically only competed with sitcoms on television back in the day. Now sports have to compete with countless streaming options, video games, social media, etc, etc. I think the percentage of US citizens who have no interest in sports is at an all-time high.

I shouldn't say soccer is better than baseball; that's just my current bias because I appreciate sports that require high fitness the most (of the Big Five). Yea, baseball is entrenched in American society and most Americans find it more fun to watch, definitely. I don't see that dynamic changing for a while yet regardless of demographics. The average US fan of anything wants stars. That's not what the MLS is bringing. At some point when that maybe changes, then I think we'll see soccer in America rise. TBH, this is why international factions played havoc on the US in the previous four World Cups. If we had won one, too many millions would've flowed out of Europe.

[midnightpulp]

I shouldn't say soccer is better than baseball; that's just my current bias because I appreciate sports that require high fitness the most (of the Big Five). Yea, baseball is entrenched in American society and most Americans find it more fun to watch, definitely. I don't see that dynamic changing for a while yet regardless of demographics. The average US fan of anything wants stars. That's not what the MLS is bringing. At some point when that maybe changes, then I think we'll see soccer in America rise. TBH, this is why international factions played havoc on the US in the previous four World Cups. If we had won one, too many millions would've flowed out of Europe.

The thing the baseball haters don't get on here (not you, as I know you're a baseball fan) is that they think soccer's rise will somehow claim baseball as its first victim or something. What they don't understand is that baseball fans (who are also hockey, basketball, NFL fans, etc) don't watch baseball for an "action packed" experience in terms of watching players constantly move around. Baseball is very much the dramatic thriller to those other sports action movies. Baseball's comparative uniqueness will always ensure it a place as a "big" sport here. It'll likely be basketball and hockey lowered on the pecking order if soccer were to "rise," since soccer is closest in design to those sports.

[spursistan]

wrong thread..

[Caltex2]

What'll guarantee it a place is that people grew up playing and watching it. Generations of kids have been taken to baseball games in the US, going back 100 if not over 125 years. It's the same with soccer overseas, people grew up playing and watching it, because it's cheap/easy to play and because they wanted to emulate their heroes.

Both are boring games to watch regularly, something soccer has over baseball. At least soccer is usually no more than two matches per team per week, baseball runs thin because they play almost EVERY SINGLE DAY for six months.

[StylisticS]

I seen a poll that baseball is still way more popular with people over the age 55 and over and still the 2nd most popular sport behind football. Under 55, and soccer not only is more popular than baseball, it's up there with basketball. In fact, with people ages 18-34, soccer and basketball are tied. It's hard to say if the sport is growing because of the MLS. It's improved but it still isn't any better than maybe England's League one, let alone the Championship and Premier League.

[Caltex2]

MLS is non-starter. Immigration has played a huge role as has greater global mass communication.

[HarlemHeat37]

I'm loving the WC, watching a ton, but gotta post this one for my man mid