Apparently the biggest soccer game in the world took place a couple days ago in Moscow.
From what I can tell, AIG beat Samsung in a shootout. I still stand by my assertion that the better match-up would have been Fidelity versus Wal-Mart or Rice-a-Roni versus Dominos Pizza.
Seriously, what’s the deal with the jerseys? Do the Euros model their soccer leagues after NASCAR? The WNBA doesn’t even resort to this kind of money-grubbing and they haven’t turned a profit in 12 years of existence.
June 15, 2008 at 2:11 pm
At least in football we don’t top the game every 5 minutes for an advert.
Football has integrity unlike the made for TV steroid sports yanks and only yanks play.
Yanks are only good at sports only they play, yellow.
Yanks suck at football, football is great we love it.
June 15, 2008 at 4:45 pm
If you refer to soccer as football one more time, I’m gonna sail to England and punch you square in your mouth full of rotted teeth.
June 18, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Hey steve boy,
“Sawker” is BY FAR superior to whatever less significant sport you follow. Its no wonder that its more watched, more richer and more developed than any other sport.
And if you want to talk about something sucking, why not write about your mom’s weekly 5-dollar-blowjobs behind the local bathroom furnishings store?
June 19, 2008 at 3:22 pm
You sit for 4 hours and cheer rigorously for nothing. Literally nothing happens. Watching soccer has no more action that sitting alone in a dark room and staring blankly at a wall. Is it your fine European sophistication that refines your tastes to enjoy nothing? Because to Americans, it just makes you look retarded.
June 22, 2008 at 11:38 pm
The fact that you think that a soccer game lasts “4 hours” shows that you know nothing about the sport, yet you still mindlessly bash it. And soccer has NON STOP action, in sharp contrast to baseball and gridiron. The average NFL game lasts 3 hours, and only 12 minutes of that time is ball-in-play action. That means that literally 95% of the game is nothing. Ditto for baseball. In soccer the ball and players are ALWAYS moving. Things are ALWAYS changing. That’s why its has several billion fans watching.
What I really don’t understand is why american fans of traditional american sports have such a vocal hatred of the sport? Does soccer somehow threaten you that you must try to tell others how it “sucks”? Its a sport, if you dont have a attachment to it, don’t watch it. But why bash it?
* Off to bar to watch euro 2008 *
June 22, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Let me sum up what you call none stop action:
“Spain has the ball. Italy has the ball. Spain has the ball. Italy has the ball. Spain has the ball. Italy has the ball. Spain has the ball. Italy has the ball. Spain has the ball. Italy has the ball. Spain has the ball. Italy has the ball. Spain has the ball. Italy has the ball. Spain has the ball. Italy has the ball. Spain has the ball. Italy has the ball. Spain has the ball. Italy has the ball. Spain has the ball. Italy has the ball.”
And at the end, you’re lucky if one team managed to score. What’s there to cheer for in soccer since no one ever scores? Do you cheer for turnovers? That would seem stupid since one happens on every single play? Do you cheer for passes when you know there’s a 99.99999999% chance that it’s gonna result in nothing?
Soccer is a third world game. It’s watched by billions because it’s popular in poverty stricken countries through South America and Africa. And it’s only popular in Europe because it’s an excuse to get drunk and riot.
Why don’t you Euro trash go back to what you’re good at: surrendering, non-working and labeling those who are more successful than you as “un-cultured.”
July 6, 2008 at 2:10 pm
I’m an American, and frankly I find this post to be extremely pointless.
You want to come to my home and punch me now?
FOOTBALL. FOOTBALL. FOOTBALL. What part of it don’t you get? You use your foot to kick the ball. Or is that too logical.
And at the end, you’re lucky if one team managed to score. What’s there to cheer for in soccer since no one ever scores? Do you cheer for turnovers? That would seem stupid since one happens on every single play? Do you cheer for passes when you know there’s a 99.99999999% chance that it’s gonna result in nothing?
What are you watching? That’s right, you’ve never watched a game fully.
Look, I am a huge NFL and NBA and college sports fan, but if you think all games end 0-0 you have to turn off ESPN and watch a match live.
Do big numbers turn you on? Because if a goal counted for 6 points this country would be football crazy. A 3-2 game would turn into 18-12 and that’s just great.
Soccer is a third world game. It’s watched by billions because it’s popular in poverty stricken countries through South America and Africa. And it’s only popular in Europe because it’s an excuse to get drunk and riot.
Wow, every country in the world plays football, even the USA, so what does that say to you? That’s just a xenophobic and ignorant post. Look, Cricket, a game invented in England in which there is NO rioting, is more popular than supposed “American sports” in most countries.
Go on, I’d love to hear your incredibly stupid rebuttal. Go on.
July 10, 2008 at 12:48 am
If you don’t enjoy watching soccer, don’t watch it. Many people don’t enjoy many different sports, and they solve that problem by not watching. You should try the same. I think your knee-jerk bashing comes from a place of dislike for “euro trash”…
Also I doubt that Manchester united is short on money. They are the most valuable sport team in the world at 1.8 billion USD, and that was their valuation before the US dollar started tanking. AIG is just one of their many sponsors, I think that getting barclays or mercedes benz on their jersey would look better than AIG.
July 11, 2008 at 11:01 am
Why don’t all you soccer fucks just die?
July 11, 2008 at 4:22 pm
We won’t die because it’s more fun to annoy baseball hacks like you.
July 11, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Who said anything about baseball? I love football. Real football.
July 13, 2008 at 12:05 pm
You mean the game where you use your foot to kick the ball into a net? INCONCEIVABLE!
July 13, 2008 at 3:54 pm
No, I mean the full contact game played by real men and shunned by the uneducated masses of Europe.
July 13, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Really?
You see, in baseball, you have bases.
In basketball, you have baskets.
In volleyball, you volley the ball back and forth.
In American football, only the kicker and punter use their feet to kick the ball, you know…..football?
In real football, it’s 22 guys using their heads and more importantly their feet to kick the ball into a net.
Simple logic seems to evade you….and that’s coming from an American.
July 13, 2008 at 11:49 pm
In real football, feet are responsible for far more points than they are in soccer. Soccer isn’t 22 guys using their heads and feet to kick a ball into a net. It’s 22 guys running around doing nothing. If the ball happens to find the net once a game, you’ve got a high-scoring affair on your hands. Whoopeee!!!!
But I’m guessing that your anger comes more from the fact that your game is shunned in the most athletically-focused country on Earth. Americans hate your game. Period. And since we’re better than everyone at everything, that speaks volumes about your worthless game. But take solice in the fact that it’s hugely popular in Iran, Mexico, Peru, Ethopia and Bosnia. Those are some real bragging points for ya!
July 14, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I guarantee you haven’t watched one soccer game.
Every country, including the US, plays soccer.
You’re right, we’re better than everyone at everything, just ask the US Olympic Basketball Team of 2004, and the Baseball team in 2006, and the Soccer teams in any given year, and the Olympic hockey team.
I think you say unbearably stupid and ignorant things to get an angry reaction so I won’t go down that path.
July 14, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Just because a few kids who aren’t athletic enough to play football resort to soccer doesn’t mean that Americans have embraced it. When I lived in Kansas City, they would give away free tickets to the KC Wizards (MLS) games everytime you checked out at the grocery store. They were practically begging people to take those fuckin’ tickets. Let me know when you find a place where that’s happening with NFL tickets.
July 14, 2008 at 7:47 pm
American soccer….how do I put this?
SUCKS!
You see soccer played in America, not the masters in Europe.
Watch this, it has a lot of goals.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM112DNTFQQ
July 14, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Well, I live in America and couldn’t give a shit less what matters in Europe. What I do care about is that American high-profile, billion-dollar sports leagues don’t make their athletes cover their jerseys in generic corporate logos. Imagine the Cowboys with the McDonald’s arches on the front of their jerseys instead of numbers. Or the Yankees with the words “Wal-Mart” scrawled across the pinstripes. That what your so-called premier leagues of Europe do. To me, their teams and their fans are nothing more than European Nascar.
Suck it.
July 14, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Because for the most part American sports leagues advertise up the yin-yang compared to soccer which seems to attract quite the global audience.
You’ve made a string of xenophobic comments based on a stupid logo, are you John Rocker?
July 23, 2008 at 9:27 pm
atleast football isnt a stupid sport where we stop every three seconds because someone hit the ground and then everyone stands around with their hands in their pants
footballs a mans sport and is also the must watched in the entire world, and you still ruin it by calling your stupid wussy rugby game football even though you only use your foot 20% of the time, and if you disagree that football isnt a mans sport than i how about i come to your house and jamp my foot into your leg
im sick of this bollocks! piss off everyone
July 23, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Your inferiority complex couldn’t be any more apparent. Same for your lack of education.
July 24, 2008 at 11:06 pm
“Why don’t all you soccer fucks just die?”
95% of the planet’s population would die if we “soccer fucks” died.
Also I love how mad soccer makes you…why are you so threatened by a sport? Does soccer in some way devalue or lessen whatever american sport you grew up with? Why the hate?
July 30, 2008 at 11:25 pm
@ James, that is what he wants.
August 2, 2008 at 3:28 pm
And it’d be a better world for it.
August 3, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Steve, did a soccer ball just smash you in the face and scar you for life? Did it wreck your world?
BTW, even the countries that don’t play soccer that much (Australia, New Zealand, etc.) don’t play American football, they play something called rugby, the game that spawned American football…..only there are no pads, and you get smashed a lot.
You should look into it..
August 13, 2008 at 6:32 am
From what I can tell, the main argument in favor of soccer-football over “American sports” is that more people in the world play and watch soccer-football. While true, (a) the reason more people watch it is not because of the sport’s quality, it is due to historical and socio-economic factors, and (b) soccer being the most popular sport is ending very soon… 20 years tops.
Soccer has been around at least 30 years longer than any “American sports” and it was developed and popularized in the 19th century by the imperialist British empire. They spread the game to all the countries that had been part of ther empire. Only in the last 25 years have most of the countries in the world even been exposed to American sports.
Basketball is now a fully global game. It is already the most popular sport in China (1.3 billion people) with over 300 million playing the game. There are well funded international leagues in Europe and North American as well as developing leagues in South America. There are also star players from every continent except antarctica in the sport. What will be the argument when soccer is no longer more popular than basketball?
August 13, 2008 at 9:25 am
Lance, you are a Godsend. A voice of reason amongst all the crazies that have been commenting on this post. Keep the comments coming, buddy.
August 14, 2008 at 10:50 am
“soccer being the most popular sport is ending very soon… 20 years tops.”
you can’t possibly be serious…but keep wishing one day all american sports combined might be half as big as soccer
Keep in mind that the 10 most watched TV telecasts of all time are all soccer. The top 20 most watched? Also soccer. The grouping draw for the World Cup (ie. pulling balls out of a spinning drum to determine world cup groupings) gets three times the viewers that the Superbowl does. Soccer’s pregame show is 3 times bigger than the biggest american sport GAME.
“Only in last 25 years have most of the countries in the world even been exposed to American sports.”
lmfao!
Basketball has been in the olympics for over 75 years and is nowhere near the level of soccer. Ask David Stern. Better yet ask Kobe and his fanboyism of Ronaldinho.
NFL has been pushing the sport in Europe for 50 years NFL Europe just folded. No one cares, and they never will. Too boring.
Baseball has been played in Asia and South America for many decades is getting kicked out of the olympics. Too boring.
August 14, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I can’t believe my eyes. Someone is using the phrase “too boring” in regards to basketball, football and baseball while at the same time defending soccer. Soccer is the definition of boring. And I’m not sure if you’ve noticed this, but Europe sucks. Africa sucks. Third-world Asia sucks. Who the fuck cares what’s popular there? So people who live in mud huts and kill wildlife with spears like soccer. I guess I must really be missing out.
August 14, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Actually, the most watched sporting event of all time is likely to be the US versus China basketball game at this year’s Olympics now. The most watched events are soccer because soccer HAS BEEN the most popular sport and has a legit world championship competition to televise (world cup). I’m just telling you, in 20 years basketball will be the most popular sport in the world rivaling soccer in South America and Europe and MUCH more popular in Asia and North America.
Basketball is just a better game by every standard and eventually the market will show that. I honestly doubt American Football and baseball catch on like basketball. Baseball/cricket is even slower than soccer and violent sports like football/rugby have a tough time getting young people into them in societies they aren’t endemic to.
August 14, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Here you go, soccer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lZDSud6HIs
International players have been bringing this faking injuries, ref pandering, soccer mentality into basketball but the NBA is already taking steps to combat it before it takes root.
August 14, 2008 at 6:40 pm
You know what? You’re right.
Let’s blow up the rest of the Earth and just rename the world the United States!
I agree with Lance however, basketball is up next.
Baseball is the definition of boring…….talk about standing around and doing nothing a good chunk of the time.
August 15, 2008 at 10:30 am
You know what else is popular in the rest of the world, SSReporters? Socialism. Communism. Genocide. Maybe we should give those things a chance too because the rest of world likes them.
Now go fuck yourself.
August 15, 2008 at 5:00 pm
What world?
WE ARE THE WORLD!!! USA! USA! USA!
August 24, 2008 at 2:38 pm
basketball is NOT the most popular sport in china, the most popular spectator sport in china is soccer/football and the most participated sport is Ping-pong, but basketball can become the most popular sport in china.
And the viewer for china vs basketball, the last thing i heard was that they predicted that i would be over 1billion, but the nfl also predicted that the viewer for the superbowl would be over 1billion and after the game the viewer were only 97 million so.. :/ , and if it really is over 1billion viewer that saw the match between china vs usa, the final of world cup between france vs italy was aslo watched over 1billion so it’s not the most watched sporting event .
ps… the only time china really care’s about basketball is when yao ming plays or the national team, beside’s that the majority of the population of china don’t give a fuck about the sport
August 24, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Soccer = “Socialism. Communism. Genocide”.
Real sports are: Football, Nascar and Baseball. Our sports, not their pseudo euro sissy fake homo feminized non-sports. Soccer sucks.
August 24, 2008 at 7:07 pm
@Lance: You must have a very lose definition of the word “likely”. The official combined US-China viewership for the US-China olympic basketball game was 100 million. According to AGB Nielsen Media Research, a television-tracking company, about 89 million people in China watched at least part of the game, the average audience was 37 million. I highly doubt that 900 million people outside china and the US cared enough to watch the game. If you have some proof to show me otherwise, please do so.
Read about it: http://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/about-that-basketball-audience-of-a-billion-393/
Like I have said, it is a fact that soccer is BY FAR the most watched. Basketball doesn’t come even remotely close. That’s not a slight to basketball, in the unlikely event that another sport takes over soccer as the worlds obsession, I hope its either basketball or rugby.
September 11, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Steve, you have got it all wrong.
You see, we didn’t choose football over american sports because it is according to you our like for something boring. It’s because we simply don’t give a shit about your sports.
September 28, 2008 at 5:02 am
Soccer is the best game in the world. Everyone and even you knoe that .You just want to gain popularity by abusing something great and nothing else. and what are u trying to prove your english language skills by teaching the correct name of ’soccer’. I think your life is loads of problem and u have become a nerd .When the whole world agrees that soccer is the best game u try to yap around with your cheap theory .Just have a good sleep visit a psychologist then i think everything will be fine .
November 3, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Any proof of Soccer causing socialism and communism and what not?
November 3, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Jesus Christ, will you let this thread die already?
Soccer fucking sucks. Always has. Always will.
November 7, 2008 at 1:17 am
Soccer sucks so much that it dominates all other sports in viewership. Owww, doesn’t that get you even more threatened? You should tell us soccer fucking sucks again. That will remove soccer of its current place as the most respected sport of all time. Owww…doesn’t that get you even more against soccer?