Comments on: Americanizing Soccer for the U.S. Sports Fan pt. 3

By: Roger

Roger — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 04:03:47 +0000

The succes of soccer in a world scale,has a lot to do with the way leagues and tournaments in general are interconected.

Something substancial is allways at stake; promotion,relegation,continental club cups qualification;World Cup qualifiers.
Somehow a low division 3rd world country team is conected all the way to the World Club Cup!!
Promotion and relegation is a key issue,a tool that enforces the “spirit” of the game, wich is a very noble one.Integration.

Another reason for soccer huge succes is a standarized set of rules,wich habe been shaped throughout more than a century of experience.
The problem with american soccer is their lords ignore the deepness of this game.They manage it like a bussiness; they created team names,logos,colors,shirts. Made some marketing and advertizing and hoped to catch on the momentum of the 94 World Cup. Their product has no soul.

By: Roger

Roger — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 03:16:20 +0000

By the way Mr Howard.
Do you know that the rules of this game have been shaped as a result of more than a century????????????

By: Roger

Roger — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 03:13:15 +0000

Is this post a joke?
The top american soccer league is called Mayor League.It is managed by people without a soccer background. There are franchises more than soccer clubs. Eastern and Western divisions. Salary cap.NO promotion / relegation.Interleague play. play-offs made by more than 50% of teams.All starts games. You are talking about americanizing the game? more??!!
The problem with MLS is that it doesnt feel neither tastes like soccer.
With no pro/rel,this will never be a real soccer league.MLS is a private club.

By: lsmetana

lsmetana — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:16:34 +0000

Why stop at making rule changes to accommodate the fans? Perhaps we could go all the way and make it 'sports entertainment' and script the finishes as well?

By: Cavan

Cavan — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:12:08 +0000

The reason for having to play a man down after a red card is meant to be a deterrent to getting a red card. If you are allowed to remain eleven on eleven after a red card, couldn't you just start a weaker hack whose job it is to injure the other team's star player? Then, after the star is taken to the hospital with a broken leg or whatever, and the thug player goes off, just replace him(her) with your real star player. Now you have your star in the game, fresher than everyone else, and the other team's star is in the hospital.

Yes, there are times when a referee makes a mistake and the TV entertainment value of a game suffers. However, 99% of the time, the referee gets it right (at least within an acceptable shade of grey). Fans crow about the "bad calls" but first off, they are usually in an awful position to see what happened, plus they usually don't know all the rules of the game. Combine that with partisanship (that's what makes fans fans, right?) and fans are the last people who should be making any decision/judgement about rules infractions. If you want to see a mockery of an athletic competition based on skill and teamwork and athleticism and you want to see thuggery, go ahead and remove that rule. All it takes is one unethical coach and one hatchetman player (out of the vast majority who prefer to respect the game) and you'll see why the rule is the way it is.

Bending the rules of the game is not going to magically make soccer hating old men like the game. The key for the MLS is to long term attract the many soccer fans who just haven't gotten into their product yet. Changing the rules will make the Eurosnobs that much more snobby.

By: stickfigure

stickfigure — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:45:17 +0000

I hope this blog post was a joke – ridiculous argument

By: Pages tagged "soccer"

Pages tagged "soccer" — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 08:18:34 +0000

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By: Franco

Franco — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 07:28:36 +0000

Ok. Let's think about it. Champions League Final. I'm the coach and I ask to my worst player to kick very hard the other club's top player, who gets injured. My player is red carded and banned for 6 games. But, who cares? I won the final!

By: undrafted

undrafted — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 02:03:39 +0000

FIFA won't approve of a league that makes such changes. American fans will really enjoy when FIFA bans all players who play in the unapproved league.

By: sports » Blog Archive » Americanizing Soccer for the US Sports Fan pt. 4

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 21:52:46 +0000

[...] blakespot . Excerpt: US sports fans expect the player to be fined and suspended for more games. But, for the game being played at that moment, sports fans want to see another player take the suspended player’s place on the field. There is too much invested … [...]