shk75 Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 I was just thinking about this when watching Wimbledon and the lack of American success. The truth is when you think about all the sports we are exposed to growing up, all the sports you can play in high school (football, basketball, tennis, hockey, soccer, baseball. softball, field hockey, lacrosse, track and field, swimming, volleyball, etc.) it really is amazing. I played a lot of these sports in high school and in no other nation do you have such diversity. While we may not have the best soccer players, or tennis players, or rugby players, we have so many sports to chose that we are easily the best sports nation in the world. On top of this, you have channels like ESPN, which no other country has, and sports on pretty much all the time on channels like abc, fox, cbs, and nbc. If you love sports like I do there is no better country to live in than this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickalino Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 The US is the best sports nation in the But we have no football. You must be a big UFL fan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 I was just thinking about this when watching Wimbledon and the lack of American success. This year, yea. The Williams sisters have dominated that tournament in the past. The rest of your post is spot on, tons of choices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdigle Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 I somewhat agree with you, but I'd do a little bit more research before making such a claim about ESPN. I've never watched it, but Britain does have Sky Sports, and that group of channels is a pretty big deal from what I can gather. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebluefood Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 We are very fortunate in this county. Not only are we exposed to popular sports the world over (tennis, soccer, etc.) but we have a wide array of sports native to the United States. We get a lot of flack for our lack of enthusiasm over soccer, but when you get down to it, we have so many great homegrown sports, it's no wonder soccer gets lost in the mix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shk75 Posted June 30, 2011 Author Share Posted June 30, 2011 I somewhat agree with you, but I'd do a little bit more research before making such a claim about ESPN. I've never watched it, but Britain does have Sky Sports, and that group of channels is a pretty big deal from what I can gather. I've spent time in Britain, as well as France, and other European nations. Sky sports is OK, so is Eurosport and Intersport but really the type of sporting events they show just do not compare to having ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, and ESPN3.com plus local stations like CSN or foxsports and then on top of that direct ticket, NHL, MLB, and NBA, packages. There really is no comparison at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EersSkins05 Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 If you're talking about a VARIETY of sports, there's no doubt. Of the world's sports (hockey, soccer, baseball, basketball), 3 of the #1 professional leagues in the world for their particular sport are located in the United States. The flip side is that most countries don't CARE about these sports as much as we do. They only care about soccer. And the US, despite heavy involvement in leagues for youth around the country, isn't even close to the best country in the world for what is essentially the world's sport. (It's also worth noting that if there's a second-place world sport, it's probably cricket, and that's nonexistent in the States.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibbs Hog Heaven Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 ESPN, ESPN America and ESPN Classic (all normal or HD) are all available through Sky in the UK, along with all the Eurosport channels, certain individual soccer club channels, plus Sky's own plethora of channels that cover most everything. The varied viewing choice has multiplied tenfold the last 20 years in the UK to the point were you've now got 24 hour round the World all sport options. Hail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shk75 Posted June 30, 2011 Author Share Posted June 30, 2011 If you're talking about a VARIETY of sports, there's no doubt. Of the world's sports (hockey, soccer, baseball, basketball), 3 of the #1 professional leagues in the world for their particular sport are located in the United States.The flip side is that most countries don't CARE about these sports as much as we do. They only care about soccer. And the US, despite heavy involvement in leagues for youth around the country, isn't even close to the best country in the world for what is essentially the world's sport. (It's also worth noting that if there's a second-place world sport, it's probably cricket, and that's nonexistent in the States.) It's not only that it's about access to sports. Having lived in Europe and other nations as well I can't tell you how many times I have been frustrated because I have been unable to find a public basketball or tennis court. It seems like everything, except for maybe soccer, requires you to be a member of some club and if the court is public you won't find many people playing and those that are playing suck. In the US we are so lucky that if you want to play a sport, for the most part you just do it and you will find people at your level to play with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Predicto Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 312 million rich people - more than twice as many people as any other wealthy country. In some ways, it would be kind of sad if we didn't dominate leisure activities like sports. :whoknows: But yes, it is awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Botched Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 There are so many different types of people in this country. It's a huge athletic advantage over countries with little diversity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pointyfootball Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 I would agree US has greatest variety of sports to choose from. Other issue is TV is so important for most US sports (especially NFL) as the game experience is losing ground to watching it on the big screen. Personally, I love watching foreign sports more than most American sports (rugby, Aussie rules football, soccer). Non-stop action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 If you're talking about a VARIETY of sports, there's no doubt. Of the world's sports (hockey, soccer, baseball, basketball), 3 of the #1 professional leagues in the world for their particular sport are located in the United States.The flip side is that most countries don't CARE about these sports as much as we do. They only care about soccer. And the US, despite heavy involvement in leagues for youth around the country, isn't even close to the best country in the world for what is essentially the world's sport. (It's also worth noting that if there's a second-place world sport, it's probably cricket, and that's nonexistent in the States.) And the US predominately cares about Football (real football). An argument could be made that if the US funnelled its best athletes towards soccer, we could probably dominate that too. As it stands, the US is so far and away better at football than every other country, they pretend that it isnt awesome so they have an excuse as to why they suck so hard at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deejaydana Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 It's because we're a very affluent country (or were!) that we have this diversity. For that we can all be thankful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibbs Hog Heaven Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 I would agree US has greatest variety of sports to choose from. Other issue is TV is so important for most US sports (especially NFL) as the game experience is losing ground to watching it on the big screen.Personally, I love watching foreign sports more than most American sports (rugby, Aussie rules football, soccer). Non-stop action. Interesting you should say that pf. Particularly when it comes to the World game, soccer; which is usually credited as being too low scoring to capture the average American's interest. All of which is made even more bizarre with soccer being the biggest participation sport in the Country. A real, real shame many don't share your views. North America is the last great continent left for soccer to conquer. And if you could, you'd have a cash cow on your hands on an epic scale. Nobody's quite come up with the answer though sadly to market and sell the game to the general US populous. Hail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skins_Fan82 Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 The US is the best sports nation in the world because the Washington Redskins play here. Fixed that for you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pointyfootball Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 A real, real shame many don't share your views. North America is the last great continent left for soccer to conquer. And if you could, you'd have a cash cow on your hands on an epic scale. Nobody's quite come up with the answer though sadly to market and sell the game to the general US populous. Hail. It already is a huge cash cow, but not in the way of raising money for professional leagues. The amount of money spent on camps, coaches, leagues, etc. just in this area with travel leagues in staggering. Especially considering 95% will never play beyond HS. With European games being played on TV here, I actually think it will be Europe who will tap the market here more than MLS. Note the upcoming friendly between ManU & Barcelona @ FedEx. The players won't even be trying and it's sold out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KDawg Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 GHH, I'd venture that's due to football. Football is a collision sport where powerful, strong and fast athletes always prevail. It's a game of strategy and elegance, power and pain. Soccer doesn't have half the action that football has, and the actual time played is vastly higher in soccer versus football. That's a huge reason why it doesn't catch on in the US. Other countries don't have football like we do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pointyfootball Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Sporting events I'd love to see: 1) Running with the bulls (see, not participate!) 2) Mountain stage of Tour de France (Spain) 3) Shrove Tuesday Football match (www.shrovetide.net) "Ashbourne Royal Shrovetide Football is a game played in the Derbyshire town of Ashbourne every Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. Unlike a conventional football match this game is played over two eight hour periods, the goals are 3miles apart and there are very few rules. As you may have already guessed, the game is infact nothing like a standard football match." Imagine the beer consumed in that! 4) Iditarod 5)24 Hrs of Lemans 6 Cheese Rolling! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibbs Hog Heaven Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 GHH,I'd venture that's due to football. Football is a collision sport where powerful, strong and fast athletes always prevail. It's a game of strategy and elegance, power and pain. Soccer doesn't have half the action that football has, and the actual time played is vastly higher in soccer versus football. That's a huge reason why it doesn't catch on in the US. Other countries don't have football like we do. Another pertinent factor KD man. Just a real shame that the global game has never captured the American soul as I have little doubt if it ever did and the investment and infrastructure was put in from the ground on up the US would become a major World player. 6 Cheese Rolling! Cheese rolling is one of those uniquely weird English thangs that is just about as dangerous as they come. Every year the list of serious injury to the crazy fools that chase the cheese down the hill side is unreal. Brutal pastime. Hail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
China Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Sporting events I'd love to see:1) Running with the bulls (see, not participate!) 2) Mountain stage of Tour de France (Spain) 3) Shrove Tuesday Football match (www.shrovetide.net) "Ashbourne Royal Shrovetide Football is a game played in the Derbyshire town of Ashbourne every Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. Unlike a conventional football match this game is played over two eight hour periods, the goals are 3miles apart and there are very few rules. As you may have already guessed, the game is infact nothing like a standard football match." Imagine the beer consumed in that! 4) Iditarod 5)24 Hrs of Lemans 6 Cheese Rolling! Do you mean see in person? Because some of those don't seem like they'd be great spectator sports. A mountain stage of the Tour de France? Stand in one place for hours until some bicyclists ride by and then in a few minutes it's over. You don't get to see any of the strategy or jockeying. Doesn't seem like it would be worthwhile. Iditarod? Sounds similar. Stand in the freezing cold waiting for some dogs dragging a sled to go by. Whoo hoo! Some of the others would definitely be fun/cool to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehogs Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 hmmm, pretty much most of the sports listed by the OP I had at least some kind of experience of at school apart from lacrosse I suppose. I even played football (US style) in the 80's when a TV channel, Channel4, started showing the NFL as a major sport for coverage in the UK. A UK wide league started up that I played in (CB/Safety) but its died off a lot since then, a bit like soccer in the US. Same with baseball leagues in the UK. Coverage? well I have BBC, ITV, Sky Sports 1/2/3/4, Eurosport, ESPN and ESPN America (just watched Phillies and Red Sox live)....could do with a few more sports channels though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hkHog Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 Sorry but you guys are way off. Many countries in the world are way better sports nations than we are in many ways. American sports fans are just so self absorbed and don't care about sports that aren't American. Many countries in the world offer and follow a far wider variety of sports than we do here and many countries are way better at sports than we are. Australia is easily a better sports country than we are. Honestly, the US should be way better when it comes to sports but part of the problem is that we are so closed minded to foreign sports or sports we suck at (case in point this thread). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinC Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 GHH,I'd venture that's due to football. Football is a collision sport where powerful, strong and fast athletes always prevail. It's a game of strategy and elegance, power and pain. Soccer doesn't have half the action that football has, and the actual time played is vastly higher in soccer versus football. That's a huge reason why it doesn't catch on in the US. Other countries don't have football like we do. No but we have Rugby which fills the same sort of collision sport niche here in soccer land. Rugby is not close to the draw soccer is though. My guess on the lack of success of MLS in the States is one the relative lack of scoring versus just about all successful US sports, two the 'not invented here' syndrome and three the fact it's not as TV friendly as most US sports with no convenient places to drop those critical advert breaks. Given your population and resources no doubt if soccer ever did become say even as big as hockey and started getting it's share of the best athletes the US would be a major contender on the world stage. Can't see it happening though. ---------- Post added July-1st-2011 at 12:17 AM ---------- Honestly, the US should be way better when it comes to sports but part of the problem is that we are so closed minded to foreign sports or sports we suck at (case in point this thread). I think there is some truth here, about the only 'world sports' the US really competes in are Golf, Tennis and the Olympic sports. Other than that your major sports are all US centric. Even take say motor sports - F1 is the pinnacle of worlds motor sports, it's takes place on circuits all over the world, with drivers from a variety of nations and gets global TV audiences but it's almost unheard of in the US. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ixcuincle Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 Sorry but you guys are way off. Many countries in the world are way better sports nations than we are in many ways. American sports fans are just so self absorbed and don't care about sports that aren't American. Many countries in the world offer and follow a far wider variety of sports than we do here and many countries are way better at sports than we are. Australia is easily a better sports country than we are. Honestly, the US should be way better when it comes to sports but part of the problem is that we are so closed minded to foreign sports or sports we suck at (case in point this thread). The US performances in international competition have been sub-par. Other than basketball, there really isn't anything to gloat about. The USA's WBC team is not that good compared to Japan's team, or a South American team...the soccer team loses to Mexico and was laughed off the pitch, smh Other than basketball, US sports on the international stage have been a big flop. But gotta give the US credit, other countries have some bad fanbases. Have you ever seen racist fan chants in US sports? Not in a long time. Meanwhile, over in England and Spain and Europe, during those soccer games, they get MAD Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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