It’s finally happened, I’m looking forward more to futbol than to football. And I’m American.

Elynn · Aug 10, 2018

This thread reminded me americans play their anthem before each shitty league match lol
Imagining God Save the Queen playing before Huddersfield-Bournemouth and the likes on a rainy Saturday. Truly the height of "futbol".

Deleted member 984 · Aug 10, 2018

coconut milk said:
Pre season friendlies don't count

No hazard, Kante or a half decent keeper

And we just got Kovacic to play the Hamsik role too since Barkley and drinkwater are wank

If you think three additions are going to bring one-touch football to an entire team you are mistaken, it's going to take time and squad additions. Hazard will easily be able to play the system but it needs to be fast and the entire team able to do it for sarriball to work. Going to take at least 4 months for the team to even look slightly comfortable with what's required. Going from what Conte brought to what Sarri does couldn't be a bigger change in systems.

nature boy · Aug 10, 2018

OrdinaryPrime said:
Liverpool are trash? Wut. Didn't they finish 4th in the league? Or do you mean in some other way?

They're bottlers, only behind Spurs

SK4TE · Aug 10, 2018

He came home.

SoundCheck · Aug 10, 2018

OrdinaryPrime said:
Liverpool are trash? Wut. Didn't they finish 4th in the league? Or do you mean in some other way?

They made a great last season, reaching the champions league final, but before that the reds (like Milan, inter and united) was in decline ( with the exception of that season with Suarez), with poor national results, international irrelevance and a terrible team overall ( with exception of Coutinho)

Drifters_ · Aug 10, 2018

America football is garbage compared to Futbol--- Yes I'm American.

Markitron · Aug 10, 2018

nature boy said:
They're bottlers, only behind Spurs

Yes were exactly like spurs, except with 18 leagues and 5 European cups.

SoundCheck said:
They made a great last season, reaching the champions league final, but before that the reds (like Milan, inter and united) was in decline ( with the exception of that season with Suarez), with poor national results, international irrelevance and a terrible team overall ( with exception of Coutinho)

All teams have their ups and downs over time. Liverpool obviously have an illustrious past and a promising future so I don't think it's fair to call them trash.

steejee · Aug 10, 2018

So personal anecdotes about that -

I grew up playing soccer (and still do at 35) and have always enjoyed watching it, but have typically watched american football as well. In the last few years, as it's been easier to catch international soccer *and* MLS on TV I've definitely been watching more soccer than american football. I live in New England so it's not like I don't have a good team to watch either. Anyways one of the natural drivers of that has just been flow of play - american football is best watched on a DVR with a 30s skip button, and just bogs down endlessly (the irony being is that I'll put baseball on TV regularly, but more as background entertainment). Soccer you know will only last so long and aside from random injuries/fake injuries never stops. So growing up with soccer, all that about play, TV coverage expanding, going live actually being fun, and the CTE thing (sadly Soccer does have a CTE issue as well, just tiny in comparison) has shifted my attentions.

Annnnyways again, point of all that is that for me the shift isn't surprising. What is surprising is my brother in law - he grew up in and still lives in NYC and is/was a hardcore Yankees/Giants fan. Never played or watched soccer growing up. Before he had kids he'd watch almost every Yankees game, and still watches almost every Giants game. As NYC gained the Red Bulls, and later NYCFC, he started sorta migrating over and would start watching Premier League too. The kids he teaches are far more interested in Soccer than other sports. Nowadays he follows NYCFC pretty closely (he sorta grew to hate the Red Bulls), only occasionally watches baseball, and still follows the Giants but nothing like he used to.

So while we are on the opposite ends of where you'd start to get into soccer as an american, we both sorta migrated over to following it more than other sports for similar reasons. It definitely feels like between international league coverage on US TV and MLS' very steady growth and refinement soccer is really on the upward path now here. I thought maybe Lacrosse would take focus as american football started falling off, but it seems like people are shifting over to soccer instead.

Simon21 · Aug 10, 2018

People acting like the start of the PL is the beginning of the football season when the EFL's already got going smh.

Markitron · Aug 10, 2018

steejee said:
So personal anecdotes about that -

I grew up playing soccer (and still do at 35) and have always enjoyed watching it, but have typically watched american football as well. In the last few years, as it's been easier to catch international soccer *and* MLS on TV I've definitely been watching more soccer than american football. I live in New England so it's not like I don't have a good team to watch either. Anyways one of the natural drivers of that has just been flow of play - american football is best watched on a DVR with a 30s skip button, and just bogs down endlessly (the irony being is that I'll put baseball on TV regularly, but more as background entertainment). Soccer you know will only last so long and aside from random injuries/fake injuries never stops. So growing up with soccer, all that about play, TV coverage expanding, going live actually being fun, and the CTE thing (sadly Soccer does have a CTE issue as well, just tiny in comparison) has shifted my attentions.

Annnnyways again, point of all that is that for me the shift isn't surprising. What is surprising is my brother in law - he grew up in and still lives in NYC and is/was a hardcore Yankees/Giants fan. Never played or watched soccer growing up. Before he had kids he'd watch almost every Yankees game, and still watches almost every Giants game. As NYC gained the Red Bulls, and later NYCFC, he started sorta migrating over and would start watching Premier League too. The kids he teaches are far more interested in Soccer than other sports. Nowadays he follows NYCFC pretty closely (he sorta grew to hate the Red Bulls), only occasionally watches baseball, and still follows the Giants but nothing like he used to.

So while we are on the opposite ends of where you'd start to get into soccer as an american, we both sorta migrated over to following it more than other sports for similar reasons. It definitely feels like between international league coverage on US TV and MLS' very steady growth and refinement soccer is really on the upward path now here. I thought maybe Lacrosse would take focus as american football started falling off, but it seems like people are shifting over to soccer instead.

If football actually ever takes off seriously over there, I shudder to think of the impact it will have on the world. You could own the sport if you really wanted.

It's funny you mentioned the stopping/starting of the NFL. It is by far the biggest complaint football fans have about that sport. I went to see the Texans play The Broncos and it bored me to tears. I was drunk when I arrived and slowly sobered up. And it went on FOREVER. Recently people over here have started casually watching the Super Bowl for a laugh, I can't even partake in that because the game I went to left such a bad taste in my mouth.

nature boy · Aug 10, 2018

Markitron said:
Yes were exactly like spurs, except with 18 leagues and 5 European cups.

All teams have their ups and downs over time. Liverpool obviously have an illustrious past and a promising future so I don't think it's fair to call them trash.

Last league was almost 30 years ago. What have Liverpool won in the last 10 years? For all the banter the Arse gets it's won a lot more silverware.

American Eskimo · Aug 10, 2018

Lashley said:
It's weird for an American to call it Futbol tbf, when soccer is the more used term in the US.

Fun fact: Not all Americans speak English as their primary language

Of course, this is incredibly disingenuous coming from you, since you shitted up the World Cup thread by bashing the word soccer every time it came up

Deleted member 984 · Aug 10, 2018

American Eskimo said:
Fun fact: Not all Americans speak English as their primary language

Of course, this is incredibly disingenuous coming from you, since you shitted up the World Cup thread by bashing the word soccer every time it came up

Eskimo starting shit again.

Drax · Aug 10, 2018

Markitron said:
If football actually ever takes off seriously over there, I shudder to think of the impact it will have on the world. You could own the sport if you really wanted.

It's funny you mentioned the stopping/starting of the NFL. It is by far the biggest complaint football fans have about that sport. I went to see the Texans play The Broncos and it bored me to tears. I was drunk when I arrived and slowly sobered up. And it went on FOREVER. Recently people over here have started casually watching the Super Bowl for a laugh, I can't even partake in that because the game I went to left such a bad taste in my mouth.

See its weird, alot of Americans view Soccer as a bunch of nothing going on.

He actually highlighted why Americans won't do well in Soccer/Football/Fussbol or w/e compared to the other nations. The American academy system is no where near as developed as other nations, high school/collegiate sports completely interfere with it.

Soccer is probably the best youth sport as there's alot of running (unlike say baseball where these is a lot of standing around); or football as its inherently dangerous. But its also a very casual sport for youth leagues, compared to the rest of the world. There are some serious academy teams but they're really in their infancy.

ScoutDave · Aug 10, 2018

Markitron said:
If football actually ever takes off seriously over there, I shudder to think of the impact it will have on the world. You could own the sport if you really wanted.

It's funny you mentioned the stopping/starting of the NFL. It is by far the biggest complaint football fans have about that sport.I went to see the Texans play The Broncos and it bored me to tears. I was drunk when I arrived and slowly sobered up. And it went on FOREVER. Recently people over here have started casually watching the Super Bowl for a laugh, I can't even partake in that because the game I went to left such a bad taste in my mouth.

In Canada the same complaints are starting to be made about hockey. Too much stop/start, plus time for tv timeouts and commercials, constant rule changes and a 3+ hour runtime etc etc...Although i dont think hockey will be dethroned here as our number 1 sport, less people are watching it and it helps having MLS on during the summer months.

Deleted member 984 · Aug 10, 2018

Drax said:
See its weird, alot of Americans view Soccer as a bunch of nothing going on.

He actually highlighted why Americans won't do well in Soccer/Football/Fussbol or w/e compared to the other nations. The American academy system is no where near as developed as other nations, high school/collegiate sports completely interfere with it.

Soccer is probably the best youth sport as there's alot of running (unlike say baseball where these is a lot of standing around); or football as its inherently dangerous. But its also a very casual sport for youth leagues, compared to the rest of the world. There are some serious academy teams but they're really in their infancy.

European clubs are already mining that region and hoping to find something. If the physically gifted were more inclined to go to football rather than the traditional American sports they'd get snapped up immediately.

Ukraine · Aug 10, 2018

I'll never understand the appeal of NFL. It feels like something that people just watch because they don't know any better. I mean it feels like I'm watching more ads than an actual sport being played. I have a conspiracy theory that the only reason why world football isn't more popular in the US is because you can't stick a commercial break into the game every 2 minutes.

Elynn · Aug 10, 2018

Ukraine said:
I'll never understand the appeal of NFL. It feels like something that people just watch because they don't know any better. I mean it feels like I'm watching more ads than an actual sport being played.

actual playtime : 60 minutes
average runtime of a NFL game : 192 minutes

MCN · Aug 10, 2018

UF_C said:
Also, Juergen Klopp is a sweetheart. I'd pay $1,000,000 just to give him a hug.

I'm not even a Liverpool fan, but I agree that Klopp is just an awesome kind of guy.

Deleted member 18347 · Aug 10, 2018

How long do you guys think it will take football to be on equal footing with american rugby and basketball?

Shadybiz · Aug 10, 2018

Ukraine said:
I'll never understand the appeal of NFL. It feels like something that people just watch because they don't know any better. I mean it feels like I'm watching more ads than an actual sport being played. I have a conspiracy theory that the only reason why world football isn't more popular in the US is because you can't stick a commercial break into the game every 2 minutes.

Yeah, seems to be getting worse every year with the commercials. If you don't have either NFL Red Zone or a DVR, watching the games is murder. I don't follow soccer much at all, but I love the format. 45 minutes nonstop, break, another 45 minutes nonstop, and done (not including stoppage time).

Kodros · Aug 10, 2018

Call it soccer and also watch the MLS in addition to the EPL. Drives me nuts when we have a good league that's getting better yet some people ignore it so that they can watch the same 3 teams in some other league dominate every year. The MLS is probably one of the most competitive sports leagues. One year you could be on the bottom then the next you could be on the top. If you have a team close by, going to the games is usually a good time and aren't that expensive.

Continuum said:
How long do you guys think it will take football to be on equal footing with american rugby and basketball?

Soccer is the most played sport for youths. The average attendance of an MLS game is 3rd behind NFL and MLB.

sven · Aug 10, 2018

My interest in the NFL has certainly faded but I still love college football. I can't ever see myself getting into soccer. I'd just quit watching sports first.

steejee · Aug 10, 2018

HackTheSlash said:
In Canada the same complaints are starting to be made about hockey. Too much stop/start, plus time for tv timeouts and commercials, constant rule changes and a 3+ hour runtime etc etc...Although i dont think hockey will be dethroned here as our number 1 sport, less people are watching it and it helps having MLS on during the summer months.

Hockey is still awesome live, though, and flows better than any other big sport besides Soccer IMO. Lacrosse and Rugby both move wonderfully but aren't nearly as big and Lacrosse doesn't ever get the 'best' athletes as a Pro player pretty much makes arena football money.

Even if hockey stops a bit too much right now they've at least made big changes to keep pace up (eg the icing rule changes years back).. I love playing basketball, rarely watch it aside from when Celtics are in playoffs just because of how arbitrary fouls are and how it's basically the go to strategy to foul like crazy if you're losing in the final two minutes. Baseball is...baseball. It's slow as hell and they've done a poor job trying to keep the games under three hours, but somehow it's still enjoyable live (basically a picnic) and is nice for listening to on the radio or leaving on the tv while doing something else.

My expectation is that American Football is going to drop off steadily as Football/Soccer grow. Lacrosse will get more popular but not break into the top big sports. Basketball won't grow that much more, but is doing far better than any other american sport at growing internationally (Basketball was invented in Springfield, MA). Ice Hockey I feel like will grow steadily but never grow beyond #4 in the USA. So my best guess is that in 20 years in the USA it'll be -

1. Soccer
2. Basketball
3. Baseball - though not behind Basketball by much, but has done a poor job appealing to American youth players
4. Zombified corpse of American Football, on steady decline with plummeting popularity outside of the deep south
4. Ice Hockey, eventually moving above American Football, but never breaking into Top 3
5. Lacrosse - Forever alone. It has grown over the years, but I don't feel like it will ever break through
6. Rugby - Hey, people do watch it, but while it's more fun to watch than American Football, it has its own major injury problems

One Eyed Willy · Aug 10, 2018

I've been following Premiere league for about 10 years and also am a big MLS supporter too. I was a season ticket holder for the LA Galaxy for about 5 years before my kids got older and more involved with their own sports. I also love NFL as well, so they are not mutually exclusive in my books. Soccer season starts in the spring and is over half way over, NFL is just getting started :)

Squirrel Killer · Aug 10, 2018

UF_C said:
It's just such a better game. Between relegation, games being only 2 hours, no commercials, ball is always moving around the pitch, level of skills, and the genius on the field, it's breathtaking to watch.

I'll give you the no commercials and ball (almost) always moving, but I'm anti-pro/rel and don't mind longer games.

UF_C said:
I also feel futbol is becoming more inclusive and doesn't hang on to old stereotypes and machismo like American sports do.

I think you might be projecting here a bit, or taking the American soccer experience as a given worldwide. there's plenty of machismo, racism, homophobia, sectarianism, etc... in world soccer, MLS and the US national teams have been refreshingly progressive (due to, IMHO, the success and visibility of the WNT and the need to reach new a audience.)

UF_C said:
I'm sure I'll get a lot of, "cool story bro" reactions from this, but I'm curious if my reaction and slow indoctrination is becoming common in the US or did I just finally see the light that so many of my fellow county men and woman are too scared to seek out?

I'm pretty similar, although I transitioned a few years earlier (following EPL since ~2004, overtaking my American football interest about when NBC got the EPL TV rights.) Really, my alma mater's football success (relatively speaking) has been the only thing propping up my interest, and seeing how rigged the system is (with the CFP blocking UCF last year) kinda killed my remaining interest. That said, if they can figure out how to address CTE, I could be brought back in to the fold (I think the political bullshit will die down once American politics normalizes.)

TheLostBigBoss said:
call it toeball you fucking normie

Judging by the amount of bitching I receive in my rec league, it's definitely not toeball.

BAW said:
Oh you mean now you like football more than handegg. Good for you.

Look who's never seen an egg.

Zombine · Aug 10, 2018

Futbol is just football in Spanish for Spanish speaking countries.

Markitron · Aug 10, 2018

HackTheSlash said:
In Canada the same complaints are starting to be made about hockey. Too much stop/start, plus time for tv timeouts and commercials, constant rule changes and a 3+ hour runtime etc etc...Although i dont think hockey will be dethroned here as our number 1 sport, less people are watching it and it helps having MLS on during the summer months.

The big difference in American sports is that they seem to be designed around ad breaks. Whereas football goes 45 mins at a time with no cutaways. I don't know which came first with the ads/sports. Maybe it's a chicken egg situation.

Boogs31 · Aug 10, 2018

I had the same experience OP, it just happened to me a few years ago when NBC Sports Network ramped up their coverage of the EPL. Every year my love for soccer has grown and my love for football has dissipated. I now watch 3 or 4 soccer matches a week and usually just 1 NFL game.

Deleted member 11626 · Aug 10, 2018

Shit not me. Andrew Luck is back. New head coach. Gonna see how Ballard's vision for the Colts pans out. I'm as excited as I've been for this team in a while and my dumbass was up last night watching preseason football. Regular season football ramping up along with the MLB playoffs in full swing is my favorite sports time of the year aside from NFL playoffs and March Madness.

All that said, I've been wanting to get into some soccer but I don't really know where to watch it. As far as fandom goes we have the Indy Eleven here and that's it. They've been pretty transparent about wanting into MLS so they might be on their way up. But I'd still like to watch the European product. I'm in an eastern time zone. What are the streaming options and times that I'd be looking at?

Zackat · Aug 10, 2018

Me too. Love watching soccer. The MLS is also good fun to watch and is getting better every year.

Deleted member 21 · Aug 10, 2018

Drax said:
Eh, as some one as gotten into these debates on the past forum, I really have zero issue with calling it futbol.

Liga MX is either the third or fourth biggest peofessional league in NA and there is alot of loan words with Spanish/English.

I can see your point. I have no strong feelings about the word either and probably should have reconsidered that lame joke attempt in my initial post

Ukraine said:
I'll never understand the appeal of NFL. It feels like something that people just watch because they don't know any better. I mean it feels like I'm watching more ads than an actual sport being played. I have a conspiracy theory that the only reason why world football isn't more popular in the US is because you can't stick a commercial break into the game every 2 minutes.

Not sure if I would co-sign your theory but man, as a casual viewer the amount of ads during NBA/NFL games is pretty wild, especially compared to soccer

Drax · Aug 10, 2018

Zombine said:
Futbol is just football in Spanish for Spanish speaking countries.

Liga MX is the most popular socbol league in the U.S. so op is okay.

ScoutDave · Aug 10, 2018

steejee said:
Hockey is still awesome live, though, and flows better than any other big sport besides Soccer IMO. Lacrosse and Rugby both move wonderfully but aren't nearly as big and Lacrosse doesn't ever get the 'best' athletes as a Pro player pretty much makes arena football money.

Even if hockey stops a bit too much right now they've at least made big changes to keep pace up (eg the icing rule changes years back).. I love playing basketball, rarely watch it aside from when Celtics are in playoffs just because of how arbitrary fouls are and how it's basically the go to strategy to foul like crazy if you're losing in the final two minutes. Baseball is...baseball. It's slow as hell and they've done a poor job trying to keep the games under three hours, but somehow it's still enjoyable live (basically a picnic) and is nice for listening to on the radio or leaving on the tv while doing something else.

My expectation is that American Football is going to drop off steadily as Football/Soccer grow. Lacrosse will get more popular but not break into the top big sports. Basketball won't grow that much more, but is doing far better than any other american sport at growing internationally (Basketball was invented in Springfield, MA). Ice Hockey I feel like will grow steadily but never grow beyond #4 in the USA. So my best guess is that in 20 years in the USA it'll be -

1. Soccer
2. Basketball
3. Baseball - though not behind Basketball by much, but has done a poor job appealing to American youth players
4. Zombified corpse of American Football, on steady decline with plummeting popularity outside of the deep south
4. Ice Hockey, eventually moving above American Football, but never breaking into Top 3
5. Lacrosse - Forever alone. It has grown over the years, but I don't feel like it will ever break through
6. Rugby - Hey, people do watch it, but while it's more fun to watch than American Football, it has its own major injury problems

Cant say i disagree. Hockey can be a phenomenal sport. When you get yourself a good game going there is nothing like the speed and energy it has. Been a season ticket holder for our local team since day one. But there is still some issues they got to work on as i am starting to hear more an more complaints.

DoggosPuppersWoofers · Aug 10, 2018

Futbol
Baseball
Hockey
Tennis

No other sports needed.

SieteBlanco · Aug 10, 2018

There is only one football, the other one is called handegg.

Complicated · Aug 10, 2018

America's most popular sports have gone to absolute shit over the last few years. I watch more esports than regular sports now. I need to give soccer and hockey an honest shot.

Mimosa97 · Aug 10, 2018

Nibel said:
Calling soccer 'futbol' is like calling Apple 'Cupertino' tbh

And yes, Jürgen Klopp is a good chap

I don't understand the comparison? Futbol means football in spanish. It's just a way to avoid saying soccer without confusing americans.

ScoutDave · Aug 10, 2018

Markitron said:
The big difference in American sports is that they seem to be designed around ad breaks. Whereas football goes 45 mins at a time with no cutaways. I don't know which came first with the ads/sports. Maybe it's a chicken egg situation.

I remember several years ago there was talk in Canada about eliminating commercials or at least cut them back, but to do so they would have to open the possibility of putting ads on jerseys. And that did not go over well. A lot of Canadians see their teams jersey as some sort of religious icon not to be defiled by ads.

Haloid1177 · Aug 10, 2018

Man I'm just waiting for the Red Sox to win the World Series and for the Celtics to kick some ass. Pats passed the torch for Boston teams this season.

Boogs31 · Aug 10, 2018

One Eyed Willy said:
Soccer season starts in the spring and is over half way over, NFL is just getting started :)

You're basing the soccer season on the MLS schedule. The EPL starts today and ends in May. Given the EPL is the best soccer league in the world, and the NFL is the best football league in the world, I think it's fair to say they compete. The European soccer schedule is pretty much exactly in line with the NFL schedule. In the same way the NHL and NBA have almost the exact schedule. I watch less NFL because I'm watching more EPL. I watch less NHL because I'm watching more NBA.

Rivenblade · Aug 10, 2018

The NFL sucks. Too many commercials. Too many breaks. Only interesting thing about it is the protests, which I support.

EPL is way more interesting from a pure sports entertainment perspective.

I'm psyched for Sunday. Arsenal vs. Man City, let's goooooooo.

Squirrel Killer · Aug 10, 2018

Mimosa97 said:
I don't understand the comparison? Futbol means football in spanish. It's just a way to avoid saying soccer without confusing americans.

Soccer is pretty non-confusing too.

What's interesting about the disdain over "soccer" as a word is that not only is it originally British, but that it was used (if perhaps not as widely as "football") until American interest in soccer grew.

HulkMansfield · Aug 10, 2018

I started to only recently get into it. Now I root for FC Kölle, even though they suck something awful. But I'll be damned if I'll ever pull my allegiance from my Stillers to root for a soccer team.

Hippopuncher12 · Aug 10, 2018

I have a lot of friends that are starting to get this way, living in Cincinnati since the F.C. Cincinnati team has come around most of them have become far more attached to that than regular football. Thankfully I haven't joined them lol.

artemis · Aug 10, 2018

Xharos said:
So you prefer football to "~~football"~~ eggball, nice

That's more like it.

Josh378 · Aug 10, 2018

I want to protest but damn, football is the only sport I watch. Every other sport is boring to me.

Deleted member 984 · Aug 10, 2018

Squirrel Killer said:
Soccer is pretty non-confusing too.

What's interesting about the disdain over "soccer" as a word is that not only is it originally British, but that it was used (if perhaps not as widely as "football") until American interest in soccer grew.

Nah this is nonsense. It was a word that was used for a bit, never in official use and its the equivalent of people calling American football gridiron (even then it still isn't similar as soccer is a slang word for association). It was trendy wth some but dropped out of favor ages ago, way before my grandparent's lifetime.

His Majesty · Aug 10, 2018

GC- said:
If you think three additions are going to bring one-touch football to an entire team you are mistaken, it's going to take time and squad additions. Hazard will easily be able to play the system but it needs to be fast and the entire team able to do it for sarriball to work. Going to take at least 4 months for the team to even look slightly comfortable with what's required. Going from what Conte brought to what Sarri does couldn't be a bigger change in systems.

It will take a long time to implement what Sarri wants, true. But we won't be entirely clueless in the transition period either. Just pass the ball to Hazard is an equally valid strategy we have been using for a long time.

Stardestroyer · Aug 10, 2018

Squirrel Killer said:
I'll give you the no commercials and ball (almost) always moving, but I'm anti-pro/rel and don't mind longer games.

I can respect not having respect for your time.

I like games in which I don't spend most of it watching commercials. There is a reason why red zone is popular because it removes all that garbage.

It’s finally happened, I’m looking forward more to futbol than to football. And I’m American.

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