Put me in coach

[cyrano]

I am confused. I'm sitting here, surrounded by people I have heard call soccer 'boring' and 'too slow' (the same sort of people apparently have similar arguments for not liking hockey).
And they are spending hours enraptured by a baseball game. Which is only slightly less exciting and fast moving than american football, where they spend eight seconds running about in all directions and then take a thirty second break.
I have not yet seen them in the thrall of a blazing adrenaline filled golf tournament, at least.

Comments

[kirbyk.livejournal.com]

With most sports, how 'interesting' they are has a lot to do with how much you understand the strategies and personel involved.

I used to find American Football rather boring. Then, I played a fair amount of Playstation football, and learned about play calling, and it's a lot more interesting now. I'm thinking if I'd call for a run or a pass, if it's a good time to go for a big play, or if the misdirection plays are fooling them, or if they're going to expect our team to do something so we can mix it up. Football has a lot of rock-paper-scissors in the strategies, so that if you figure out what's coming, it's easy to beat. But without that, it's dull.

I find soccer to be dull mostly because I don't understand the subtleties. I don't see anything other than people kicking the ball from one side to another. Other than shots on goal, I can't tell if a team is about to score or not, it's all meaningless running around.

People who play golf can articulate what they're enjoying about watching it that is totally invisible to me. I've got coworkers who are big racing fans, and when I see cars going in circles, they see wind currents and fuel conservation and picking the moment to make a dramatic move, risk and reward.

Of course, some people just love physical spectacle, too.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Aaaaah.
And thus the student is enlightened. I was figuring that if anybody on my flist could help, it would be you. (:
(So. Coming to OryCon? (: You know you wanna.)

[kirbyk.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's just a week and a few days away.

I'm sort of planning on coming down as a day-trip on Saturday, hanging out with glorious CA people, and then going home. There's not much about the con that I'm all that interested in, but I do like to see my friends!

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

That'd be all I'd ask for. (: And it's more or less the reason I'm going to be there.

[esmerel.livejournal.com]

I just love football because it's football. :) It's been indoctrinated into me since I was a small child.

My husband, however, is in the same position you are - he didn't get into it until someone introduced him to one of the Madden games... and he's been hooked ever since. He's very into the strategy of the game and all that.

Me, I just like to watch guys run really fast and hit each other. :)

[tersa.livejournal.com]

have heard call soccer 'boring' and 'too slow' (the same sort of people apparently have similar arguments for not liking hockey).

The arguement usually leveled against hockey is that it's 'complicated' and 'too fast'.

Baseball is about those people's speeds. :)

[lilithsaintcrow.livejournal.com]

I like hockey and I watch boxing, and I was raised on rugby so football (real football, not American football) is like the stepbrother to something really exciting.

But I can't see anything interesting in golf, curling, Nascar, or the massive gorillafest that is American football. I mean, in AF, the guys wear pads. And helmets. What's up with that? Any decent rugby player scoffs at the notion.

But the thing I find most awful about American sports is the commentators, who make a living out of saying lots of nothing at all. They speak in passive verbs and spout meaningless statistics like a politico before the election. Sigh.

I guess I just don't have enough testosterone to really enjoy sports. Except for hockey. And boxing. And rugby.

Mmmmh, rugby. *wanders away grinning and muttering*

[miss-friday.livejournal.com]

The other thing about baseball is it appeals to mathemeticians, or more correctly, statisticians. From what I've observed keeping score at a baseball game takes up most of the time the players are spitting, scratching and generally doing nothing.