Soccer and US Top Athletes

#51
#51
I think the amount of serious soccer fans is growing. Nowhere near any of the major US sports but it has a much larger fan base than a couple of years ago. Too bad they are fans of teams from across the pond.
 
#52
#52
Hayezb said:
No one cares? This is just stupid, plain and simple.

Soccer is huge in Tennessee, especially east Tennessee. Every year there are nationally ranked high school teams from the east. Especially the girls side, I think 5 teams were in the top 20 last year.
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Big in Tennessee?!?! Because that represents the US as a whole. Poll Americans to rank in order the sports they like/follow and I bet you soccer isn't in the top 5
 
#54
#54
volball625 said:
I think the amount of serious soccer fans is growing. Nowhere near any of the major US sports but it has a much larger fan base than a couple of years ago. Too bad they are fans of teams from across the pond.
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And it will only continue to grow as it becomes more and more accessible to the average American on TV. 5 years ago it was almost impossible to see club soccer, even from the top European leagues outside of having an actual subscription to European TV networks on your satellite. Now all you have to do is pay a few extra dollars a month for FSC, and between that and the weekly ESPN game, you can see basically every match that matters from the EPL all season long. Same goes for Serie A.

Volball, I know you follow La Liga religiously, so how good is the access to that league and what subscriptions are required to follow it weekly? Aside from CL games, I don't really follow La Liga at all.
 
#55
#55
Don't forget liga do brasil and top south american matches with boca juniors and such on deportes. The occasional match called in spanish is great.
 
#56
#56
bleedorange0037 said:
And it will only continue to grow as it becomes more and more accessible to the average American on TV. 5 years ago it was almost impossible to see club soccer, even from the top European leagues outside of having an actual subscription to European TV networks on your satellite. Now all you have to do is pay a few extra dollars a month for FSC, and between that and the weekly ESPN game, you can see basically every match that matters from the EPL all season long. Same goes for Serie A.

Volball, I know you follow La Liga religiously, so how good is the access to that league and what subscriptions are required to follow it weekly? Aside from CL games, I don't really follow La Liga at all.
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Espn3 will have either Barcelona or Real Madrid each match day and the other will be on GolTv which I get in my sports package along with Fox Soccer. Like you said, you can get all the games that matter pretty easily. But....

Al jazeera bought the United States rights to La Liga and I have no idea how that's going to work, especially for cable customers like me.
 
#57
#57
Yankee_Vol said:
Big in Tennessee?!?! Because that represents the US as a whole. Poll Americans to rank in order the sports they like/follow and I bet you soccer isn't in the top 5
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I'm referring to your comment "no one cares". If no one cares then why is ESPN wasting their time playing 2 games a day of Euro 2012? Or why are MLS teams finally building their own stadiums if no one cares enough to spend money on tickets?
 
#58
#58
Hayezb said:
I'm referring to your comment "no one cares". If no one cares then why is ESPN wasting their time playing 2 games a day of Euro 2012? Or why are MLS teams finally building their own stadiums if no one cares enough to spend money on tickets?
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Easy answer, because they bought the rights for the tournament.
 
#60
#60
I am going to go ahead and throw this out there and probably get flamed but oh well.

Best soccer players in the world = best athletes in the world.
 
#61
#61
slh1089 said:
I am going to go ahead and throw this out there and probably get flamed but oh well.

Best soccer players in the world = best athletes in the world.
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Can't get behind that idea. Lionel Messi is a great athlete but I wouldn't say tops in the world because his abilities may not translate to other sports. Of course it all depends on your definition of athlete.
 
#62
#62
I just feel like if you throw in coordination then it's hard to top the best soccer players; however, I do see the other side of the argument.
 
#63
#63
Maybe most well-conditioned athletes, but there are much better raw athletes in football and basketball.
 
#65
#65
slh1089 said:
Eh, maybe true, but we will never know because of just how different the sports are.
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I beg to differ. Soccer players MAY be able to compete in terms of running, jumping, reflexes, and definitely coordination, but they aren't even close when it comes to size and strength.
 
#66
#66
n_huffhines said:
I beg to differ. Soccer players MAY be able to compete in terms of running, jumping, reflexes, and definitely coordination, but they aren't even close when it comes to size and strength.
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Because they don't train/desire to be 250 pounds. Pretty counter effective for the shape they desire to be in. That is what I was going for when I said it is almost just too hard to compare because the training is on complete different ends of the spectrum.
 
#67
#67
I think you can say most skilled athletes in the world and I would agree with that. Otherwise, it completely depends on a persons definition. There are still people who say NASCAR drivers are athletes ffs.
 
#68
#68
I really think by just about any way you slice it, on the whole, nba has the best all round athletes. Need to be well conditioned, strong, quick, coordinated and intelligent all at a very high leve to be successful.
 
#69
#69
milohimself said:
I really think by just about any way you slice it, on the whole, nba has the best all round athletes. Need to be well conditioned, strong, quick, coordinated and intelligent all at a very high leve to be successful.
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Well, the games are only 48 minutes compared to 90 in soccer. Then you throw in time outs and 3 breaks between quarters. I have to disagree.

Now, there is no soccer player that can compete with a DL or OL in size or strength but look at players like Onyewu, Ronaldo, Nigel De Jong, Vidic, etc... And you have some big dudes.
 
#70
#70
Soccer players do run more and obviously spend more time on the pitch, but basketball conditioning is no joke.

Just saying that any way you want to define athleticism, basketball requires it at a high level and I'm not so sure that can be said of any other team sport.
 
#71
#71
slh1089 said:
Because they don't train/desire to be 250 pounds. Pretty counter effective for the shape they desire to be in. That is what I was going for when I said it is almost just too hard to compare because the training is on complete different ends of the spectrum.
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That's a good point, but what I'm impressed with is that the average height of soccer players is probably around 5' 10" while NFL and NBA players that are 6' 5" can outrun and outjump them.
 
#72
#72
n_huffhines said:
That's a good point, but what I'm impressed with is that the average height of soccer players is probably around 5' 10" while NFL and NBA players that are 6' 5" can outrun and outjump them.
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They can outrun and out jump only for so long. Also, I feel the body type of a soccer player calls for a shorter frame (Messi) as opposed to a giant (Crouch) because it being a foot-eye coordination sport as opposed to hands. Lower center of gravity is a perk. But I definitely see NBA players as close (if not more) athletic athletes.
 
#73
#73
Hayezb said:
Well, the games are only 48 minutes compared to 90 in soccer. Then you throw in time outs and 3 breaks between quarters. I have to disagree.

Now, there is no soccer player that can compete with a DL or OL in size or strength but look at players like Onyewu, Ronaldo, Nigel De Jong, Vidic, etc... And you have some big dudes.
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Also don't forget that basketball players can actually rest for a few game minutes and then return to the game. In order to continue playing in a soccer match, you literally can't ever take a break. Still, i'll agree with milo that the best all around athletes in all the sports are probably basketball players. If it weren't for the fact that hockey players usually only play in 1-2 minutes spurts, they would deserve to be a part of the conversation as well.
 
#74
#74
bleedorange0037 said:
Also don't forget that basketball players can actually rest for a few game minutes and then return to the game. In order to continue playing in a soccer match, you literally can't ever take a break. Still, i'll agree with milo that the best all around athletes in all the sports are probably basketball players. If it weren't for the fact that hockey players usually only play in 1-2 minutes spurts, they would deserve to be a part of the conversation as well.
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Not really true. In soccer defenders and strikers get tons of breaks. It's not like they're running all the time. They are frequently standing around, or taking light jogs. Hopefully your centerbacks are only sprinting a few times per game. Everybody on the court needs to be pretty active at all times, both offensively and defensively. That's not true on the pitch.
 
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