Poll of the Day > Which of these teams do you think will win the World Cup

(+) Yeah! (+)

???

those are just countries

the team with viktor krum

BUmp

Nobody excited for WC?

Allenalien321 posted...

Nobody excited for WC?

You might have to try a European board. In the US, no, I'm not aware that anyone is interested.

https://youtu.be/GQMlWwIXg3M

soccer is boring

comon ingerland

wpot posted...

You might have to try a European board. In the US, no, I'm not aware that anyone is interested.

This.

We're something like 78% North American (of which 67% is US). We're contractually obligated to not give a shit.

If we did they might revoke our citizenship.

lol Soccer.

wpot posted...

In the US, no, I'm not aware that anyone is interested.

Yet you are (jointly) hosting the next one.

Nichtcrawler-X posted...

Yet you are (jointly) hosting the next one.

we still don't give a shit about soccer

Krazy_Kirby posted...

we still don't give a shit about soccer

Clearly enough to spend a lot of money on it.

Nichtcrawler-X posted...

Yet you are (jointly) hosting the next one.

We're a big enough country that we'll dig up some fans somewhere, but be that as it may I've still never heard anyone talking about soccer. And "football" is a different game that we like much better. :)

I heard that my city is hosting the World's Fair in a couple years, but I'm not very interested in that either...although it's possible the Fair in particular could win me over. :)

Soccer may be boring, but its video games are immensely fun, International Superstar Soccer Deluxa, FIFA, PES, WE

^ We tend to get turned off by the first part of that sentence.

I don't blame Americans for disliking soccer, I started like soccer when I was 15 yo in WC 2002, a user on ICQ said I was gay for not liking it.

Allenalien321 posted...

Nobody excited for WC?

Excited?

No

I'm nevertheless interested in it, as I always am. I have no designs on Team USA actually winning but hell, even a surprise run to the quarters would be awesome for them.

Outside of them, I don't really care what happens but I will probably always have a soft spot for the Dutch because of one of my favorite friends so I wouldn't mind seeing them pull a shocker.

That said, I'd be all for an Asian or ESPECIALLY an African team to make a run because by and large, nobody respects those teams and the thought of one of them knocking off someone of "renown" is tantalizing.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qjp1Zrvn8VQ

Nichtcrawler-X posted...

Yet you are (jointly) hosting the next one.

We hosted the one in 1994 and didn't give a shit about it then either.

People keep trying to find ways to make us care, and it never works.



Nichtcrawler-X posted...

Clearly enough to spend a lot of money on it.

"Money" is the key word there.

The main reason why the US bothers trying to host the Cup is the same reason why cities try to host the Olympics - and why we do pretty much everything else. It's seen as an investment, and an attempt to recoup the money spent by earning even more money via tourism, merch rights, advertising, and so on.

It may not work (it rarely does for Olympic host cities these days), but that's the motivation. Not a deep and abiding love of the game.



wpot posted...

We're a big enough country that we'll dig up some fans somewhere

It's mostly first or second generation immigrants, honestly. 99% of the time, if you come across someone who's seriously into soccer, it's someone who either moved to the US from a futbol-obsessed country or the kids of that sort of person who grew up watching it. The longer you live in the US, the more you lose interest in "The Beautiful Game".

Americans tend to see soccer as something their kids play at school, but it's not a "real" sport worth caring about. Fuck, we care more about golf than we do soccer, and we barely care about that either.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

It may not work (it rarely does for Olympic host cities these days), but that's the motivation. Not a deep and abiding love of the game.

It is still tax-payer money being spend on something visual and public.

Nichtcrawler-X posted...

It is still tax-payer money being spend on something visual and public.

It is tax payer money being justified as an investment that will have an economic benefit.

People already grumble about money being spent on things like that. About the only thing that keeps it from becoming a major issue is that it almost always sold with arguments like "This will bring in more money as tourists come to see the games, the facilities will be of public benefit later long after the event is over, it will add prestige to the city/country that will make us more prosperous in the long run, etc."

Again, like with the Olympics, those arguments aren't always true. But they're the justifications used.

If any official in the US pushed for hosting the World Cup because "soccer is awesome", they'd probably start facing impeachment or pressure to resign.

So no, hosting the World Cup in no way correlates to anyone actually giving a fuck about soccer.

I get that your gimmick is "I am belligerently European and my mind cannot comprehend anything outside of my own experience", but yes, sadly, there are people in the world who don't care about footie.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

I get that your gimmick is "I am belligerently European and my mind cannot comprehend anything outside of my own experience", but yes, sadly, there are people in the world who don't care about footie.

For the record, I heavily despise both Football and American Football. Especially in heavily economized professional form.

This is more me expecting more of an outrage from people not wanting government money being spend on things they do not like. Which to me translates as no outrage -> actually neutral or people even like.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

It's mostly first or second generation immigrants, honestly.

I would largely agree, except that we recently built a soccer stadium in town and, upon attending, I found it was full and hopping with people who not did appear to be first generation immigrants (if accents/etc have anything to do with it). Soccer does seem to be gaining some ground in some urban areas among the far left given that they seem to associate it with European values (the pregame felt a little like a political rally).

But, regardless, I stick by my "I have not otherwise not heard people talking about it" statement.

My favorite political stance; feelings on soccer

Portugal.