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Soccer VS. American Football. The ultimate breakdown.
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Original Message
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So football and soccer seasons are just beginning all around the world. And the haters of each are waking from their summer slumber to trash what they dont like. So I would like to clear the air about the arguments I hear of each and hopefully, allow the 2 different breeds of football fans to respect each other's sport.
First let me say that I love both football and soccer, have played both, still play soccer and am a Fantasy Football nut.
With that said, lets begin.
Game time/Injury time.
One of the biggest complaints I hear from the soccer haters is that the games are too long and injury time is stupid. So lets compare both games. Soccer is a 90 minute game split into 2 45 minute halves w no time outs. Football is played in 4 15 minute quarters. Since there are no time outs and the clock never stops in soccer, you can estimate when the game will be over to within about 10 minutes. Injury time is kept to ensure that the each half has a full 45 minutes of actual game time. So when there is an injury, foul, time wasted on free kicks and substitutions, someone keeps track of the time the time that is taken up by all of that and adds it at the end of each half.
In football, an hour long game routinely takes at least 3 hours to play. with 3 timeouts outs per team per half and tv timeouts for commercial breaks a 15 minute quarter lasts close to half an hour. Even more, if you add up just the time that goes by once the ball is snapped and when the play is whistled dead, the average NFL game has only about 12-13 minutes of actual game time.
"World Champions"
Once a year, the NFL crowns a world champion in the SuperBowl. Every 4 years a world champion is crowned in soccer during the World Cup. What makes more sense, a team who plays the world and is named world champions or a team that plays teams from 1 country?
Origins
Soccer has been played in 1 form or another for over 2,000 years in China whos military would kick a ball around for exercise. Fast forward to midevil Europe when behaedings were the norm. Sometimes the head would not land in the basket and people would kick the head around until they got it back in the basket.
Football is basically just rugby that has been gradually changed over the years. The forward pass isnt even 100 years old. Rules in football change almost every year where as rules in soccer have barely changed in over 100 years.
Too many coaches
Soccer is played and controlled by the 11 players on the field. Coaches and managers will change line ups and tactics during the game, but the game itself is controlled by the players.
Football is controlled by head coaches, assistant coaches, linebacker coaches, line coaches, special teams coaches, numerous Nascar style spotters up in the booths and wireless headsets. We are always told how smart Brady and Manning are but the guys wear cheat sheets on their wrists.
Why soccer will NEVER be a top sport in the U.S.
We are always told that soccer is the world's most popular game and the fastest growing sport in the states. But it will never be a top sport here for several reasons. For one, its not our sport. As Americans, we take pride in what is ours. Basketball, Baseball and Football are all our sports that we usually dominate on the world stage. Soccer for a very long time was seen as a game that European and South American immigrants played that we laughed at. Another reason is that soccer just isnt a made for tv and sponsor game. With no timeouts, sponsors wont pay up and tv would rather play a sport that will get them the most cash.
Last, is that we are a highlight loving, ESPN top 10 craving nation. We want to see dunks, home runs, diving catches and fights, even if the teams lost.
So what do you think?
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