This is the case for football. The Super Bowl even for the two years before this year were boring with the exception of the very ending, hence the guidelines I made for myself. I don't watch regular games because they just aren't worth the time. With all the commercials going on YouTube before the Super Bowl now, people really don't even have that excuse to pretend to watch it.

It is so (comparatively) easy to score in football, the only real surprise is really when a team doesn't score at least something when they have the ball. That and the extremely slow pace of the game make it dull.

It's pace that makes a game exciting in my opinion. In basketball, the fast pace of the game compensates for the fact that It's easy to score and makes for pretty exciting games.

Soccer has this pace and really, a good game isn't defined by who wins or even if there is a winner, but the play that occurs during the match. If there can be a tie or a scoreless game, so what?

1) No, "un-american" has not the same value as "not american". It implies an opposition, an antagonism, and that is the reason why it is so recurrent in nationalist propaganda. Tell me how many times you see the word "un-american" not being used in a derogative manner, implying a higher value for the national counterpart. In what contexts, and by whom, this term is chosen.

2) There are a lot of informal scoring in football (numbers of attacks, numbers of goals recieved in the long run, time spent in each half of the field, number of sucessful passes, etc), some of which are used for ranking or in case of tie-ins. In that sense, they matter more than pieces values in chess, which are solely used to roughly evaluate a board situation at a given point, and aren't recorded whatsoever. And even then, the presence or absence of numerical figures, seemingly so central to your sense of enjoyment, are not what make a game thrilling or not. As for football, "progress is made" each time a team gets closer to the opposing goal, from an undefended angle, and lost when the attack is pushed back. That is, many times a play. You can mentally count +1 and -1 each time, if it eases your mind. But the point is, your whole "numerical" rationalisation of your disinterest for that specific sport is utterly retarded. Stoy trying, just stick with your nationalist argument (it's not traditionally american therefore it sucks), and go back to licking your tasty flag.

God I can't stand nationalists. Neither people who try to frame their arbitrary ethnocentric tastes in some sort of pseudo-rational, universalist, quantification.

(As if flag-weaving football fans weren't creepy enough, here comes the meta-sportive flag-weaving. Joy.)

huh. learn something new everyday.

Yeah, I knew the sport from the Nikopol graphic novels by Enki Bilal, but I thought it was purely fictional.

(Actually, looking up, I realise that this sport was actually invented by Bilal.)

Anyone who bitches about Ann Coutler should look at themselves first. They only bitch about her because she refuses suck Democrat Party dick unlike those whores who voted to re-elect Obama just to get tax-funded and insurance-covered contraceptive pills.

I'm not saying that I agree with every little thing Coutler says but her words were taken out-of-context. Most issues people have with sporting events in a general sense has to do with how some people are more focused on sports than on their country's futures or their own personal well-being. Case and point example: those asshole college students who rioted over a basketball game as suppose to, oh let's say, the growing national debt; the price per ounce of food rising due to inflation; the cover-up of inflation; inflated energy and fuel costs; or the various scandals of the Obama administration like when he swapped out 5 proven Taliban terrorists in exchange for one deserter.

http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2014/3/30/5563072/arizona-riot-elite-eight-ncaa-tournament-wisconsin-tucson
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/24507219/arizona-fans-riot-confront-law-enforcement-on-campus-after-loss

Also, I couldn't care less what they call American football and I doubt they will change the name.. A lot of it is just bread-and-circuses and I'm more interested in Superbowl commercials than the actual final game. I did compliment the Eagles for recruiting a former US Army Ranger though.

By the way, using the term "'murica" in place of America or United States is simply dumb. Knock it off.

Well, at least you have a family tree. I know some persons where that is more like a circle! :-)

The woman is nuts I'll grant that, but atleast she's not the head of state, we got a madman down here elected by ignorant, more numerous people believing in "La Revolucion" while they can't find food or toilet paper anywhere, and for that they blame USA or anyone who's not with them.

Therefore I'm called by my head of state a fascist and an slave to american imperialism and so on.

I'd exchange that woman with Nicolas Maduro any day guys.

Yes and yes.

You need a bit of knowledge to appreciate (neutral meaning) football. The "*article*" is clearly written in a clueless point of view : why would anyone write something about football when their knowledge stops to "pass the ball between those bars and you score a point".

I really don't watch much football (some matches during World cup and European cup), and I even consider the rules to be 'flawed' or incomplete (I mean : full of loopholes allowing many games to be boring), but watching a match with long uninterrupted game phases can be really enjoyable.

The Land of the Free ;)
actually its her column, the words are written by her no one was quoting her besides the little id did in OP.

Good point, which reminds me that I actually find e.g. basketball, and possibly also volleyball, even more boring to watch than soccerball (that's what I'm going to call it from now on, I never know whether I should call it soccer or football, I fear Americans will get confused if I use the latter, and Brits will get annoyed if I use the former).

Not to mention that basketball players seem pretty inactive most of the time, just walking around, and little spurts here and there. Maybe it is their size which make them look a bit clumsy.

I must also say that the few American football matches I've seen were quite boring overall. It seemed most of the game was two lines pushing against each other with their shoulders (kind of tug of war in reverse), and constant breaks every 5-10 seconds or so. (EDIT: And I see someone had commented about this a few hours ago.)

Anyway, the reason why soccerball is the most popular sport in the world is because it is so easy for kids all around the world to play it. After all, you just need some kind of ball you can kick, and two teams. I recall as kid we were sometimes playing soccerball with a mere old tennis ball, as we didn't have a proper football. Even the rules are pretty easy and straighforward, especially if you don't care about offside rules.

Then you tell them that the term "soccer" is originally a British idea to shorten "association football".

Given a choice between basketball and soccer, I'd probably watch soccer. There's something about the ridiculous amount of scoring in basketball that makes it tedious to watch.

I have a hard time imagining anything more boring than professional men's basketball. Especially that last period which takes up approximately 2/3 of the game as they try to get as many penalties in as possible.
I kind of liked Chavez at first, but then I started to learn about all his nutzo policies. From what I understand the current head of state isn't any better.
Yeah well, people are free to like soccer, we're not going to throw anybody in prison. Nowhere in the constitution does it say that we have to like people for such idiotic tastes.

Then again, I'm one for actually respecting the nation that you're choosing to immigrate to. When I was in China I did as much as possible the Chinese way, I don't see how it's unreasonable to expect foreigners coming here to at least stick to the handful of things that we care about.

Plus, if you do that and we'll let you have all the firearms and liquor you want.
Yeah, I'm still trying to figure out where they got the "er" from, but considering that they invented that word for it, I'm curious as to why we're the bad guys for using it.

fair point.

British word formation. Shortened words sometimes get an "-er" ending. Brekkers, rugger, "asSOCiation" -> "SOCcer". The word is attributed to early star Charles Wreford-Brown, but this is likely false, due both to a lack of evidence and to his known contempt for the Football Association.

I do wish you would stop calling your sport "football" though, as if it were the only sport called such. Please either use the full "American football" (or rather "gridiron football", to include the Canadian variation as well) - or a shortening of it - to distinguish from other football types. How about "riccer" or "griddie"?