Based upon some of my buddies stories from the UK it is considered OK just to urinate where you are standing.
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Any Opinions on World Cup Viewership?
- Thread starter landtuna
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Based upon some of my buddies stories from the UK it is considered OK just to urinate where you are standing.
You obviously do not watch hockey.
Not really a "major" US sport (Baseball, Football, Basketball are the big 3 in revenue and viewership).
And hockey is just soccer with a weapon...
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Except it isn't the "Big 3". It is the "Big 4" domestically and the "Big 5" if you include the English Premier League - the highest revenue sports in the world. Hockey is and has been a major USA sport for many decades now and has its origins long before basketball.
Actually, hockey would be most associated with basketball as to the position formation (sans goalie of course) and scoring but much less talent is required of basketball players and their playing surface is much smaller. And, unlike soccer and basketbrawl, they will hand out penalties for faking injuries (it is called "embellishment" - something soccer players are very adept at doing). There is also nothing like "dunking" in hockey - something that seems very amateurish when done by a player well over six feet tall.
And, you don't find any drama queens playing hockey as are common in soccer.
I specifically said "major US Sport" and "big 3 in revenue and viewership". Hockey is far behind in this standard.
That's because soccer stars are front-page personalities and newsmakers in most of the world. For drama, look at US rules football.
And I gave you both USA-only and International rankings.
No, it's because when two soccer players brush past each other one of them flails his arms and legs than grabs one knee and falls to the ground as if he had been shot. Hockey players infrequently faint fouls but they never faint injury. It isn't manly.....or professional.
I think you'll find that in several large US TV markets, the NHL is almost as big as the NBA. NYC, Chicago, Philly, Boston, Washington DC, Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, St. Louis, & Pittsburgh come to mind immediately.
But on a national level, the difference in revenue and audience is striking!
As someone who has been at perhaps a thousand games (including World Cup) and broadcast hundreds of them, I would not say that this is all that common.
As a player well into my 20's, I can say that two players who hit each other at nearly 15 mph each just nearly need to graze each other for one or both of them to be painfully injured; there is no need to feint injury. Try driving your car into a wall at 30 MPH and see how it does!
It's a bigger problem in some leagues and countries than it is in others. England's Premier League is full of diving, largely by players from the Continent. It is a big problem and has been acknowledged as such. Italy's Serie A is notorious for diving. On the other hand, when you get to the second tier of English soccer, play is more honest and direct. In fact, matches from the EFL Championship are one of the big reasons I sprung for ESPN+. From what I've seen of Mexican football -- which I assume you've seen a ton of -- diving isn't a major thing there.
Did you see the penalty won by Portugal in yesterday's game? Heel barely clipped and player goes to the turf as if shot, rolls around in "agony" until he's sure he's drawn the penalty, then makes a miracle recovery and is none the worse for wear. Indefensible and a disgrace to your "beautiful game." When I see stuff like that in a marquee match-up, I start thinking I'd rather be watching Wolverhampton vs. Millwall.
Here's a novel idea-put an NHL Hockey Game up against a Mexican soccer match. Guess what'll bring in more ratings-the soccer match! When those two sports went head to head on a Sunday night, the soccer match outdrew the hockey game. Soccer rules the Hispanic market, and that's where advertisers will go to hawk their wares. In 1985, I watched SIN's coverage of their World Cup previews. And guess who was advertising on them? Yep, Budweiser and Buick cars.
With the changing demographics in the USA (specifically, the massive influx of "Hispanic" people) and the relative costs of both sports (to parents) there will never be a time when hockey overtakes soccer as the most popular game in the USA or elsewhere.
One of the WC players said it just the other day (I am paraphrasing) "In other sports you need expensive equipment or facilities. For soccer you need a ball."
That pretty much says why soccer is the more popular sport and will always remain so.
I will only say this.....virtually every kid I knew played soccer at some time in their youth (from the early 80's on) yet NONE of them play (or are interested) today as young adults in their 30's/40's. All three of my sons played, the oldest and youngest in elite programs. My youngest son switched to hockey "because soccer was too boring" (his words). He turned 32 a few days ago and still plays every week. 3/4's of his high school team still play as adults.
When my kids were growing up I refereed, administrated, coached and played soccer. I loved watching the kids play. It is, for them, a wonderful game. Once reaching the high school level it becomes a defensive exhibition of boom ball. I saw many kids drop out. One of my son's elite teams even had a coach who played with Pele and even he could not keep the kid's interest.
And WWE outdraws both yet it isn't even a sport.
As for advertising.....Budweiser advertises on virtually every sporting program. No surprise there. Buick might do better sticking to the Chinese market.
You haven't played. It is not easy.
And if you have an talented, agile and experienced goal keeper, harder still.
(If you can't guess, I played that position in primary and secondary school and on the local radio station league where I lived. And I have the capped tooth to prove it!)
The goal keeper also needs to be an intuitive student of trigonometry; it is all about angles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKaT3J_ejD4 is an absolutely perfect example of how hard a goal is. It's Gareth Bale's bicycle kick against Liverpool last month and is being reported as one of the best goals ever! I saw it live and was speechless, which in me is rare.
https://deadline.com/2018/06/mexico-germany-telemundo-ratings-record-world-cup-1202412925/
Update on World Cup ratings for Telemundo
Update on World Cup ratings for Telemundo
None of this is surprising to me. In my (mostly) older Caucasian neighborhood I saw at least three homes with cars parked all over the place and noise at least equal to the Super Bowl parties when the game was on. Of course, Germany was the defending champion so that may have been a big part of it. Not sure how Mexico will draw against the Peoples Democratic Republic of Antarctica but I suspect there are a ton of Mexico fans here and they will all be out for the games.
Fox's decision to give a bigger role to American commentators has had predictable results. Over-the-top emotion on ordinary plays and mangling of names, even of some of the game's more prominent players. One of them referred to Mesut Ozil of Germany, a top talent in the Premier League, as "oh-ZEEL." The name is Turkish and the correct pronunciation is something like "URR-zil," minus the "r" sound. (The Turkish pronunciation of that "o" has no English equivalent.) Earlier, during Egypt's first game, the commentators were going over Egypt's brief, undistinguished World Cup resume. One of them mentioned a 2-0 loss to England, with one of the goals being scored by "Paul gas-COH-nee." That would be Paul Gascoigne, one of England's top players of his era. His name is pronounced "gas-COIN." Today, Kamil Grosicki of Poland (groh-ZITS-kee) was "gro-ZICK-ee."
The Brits get these names right. Why can't our commentators be bothered to do the necessary homework to do the same?
The Brits get these names right. Why can't our commentators be bothered to do the necessary homework to do the same?
I am going to guess it is just familiarity with the names (and perhaps the American announcers don't want to invest the time prior to each game). Soccer is such a simple and slow game announcers really are not necessary.
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