USA-Ghana group stage soccer TV ratings beat the NBA Finals

[olympicoscar]

The best post in this thread is that there is no strategy to soccer.

I don't know of a single sport that has no strategy. Billions of dollars at stake and no strategy, get real.

 

[olympicoscar]

I heard that if we do advance it wouldn't be that much of a surprise, which is definitely nice to hear. Especially being in the killer group that we are in.

We have an excellent chance to advance. Next game on Sunday against Portugal should tell.

 

[BigRedMoe]

We have an excellent chance to advance. Next game on Sunday against Portugal should tell.

The way Germany pimped slapped Portugal makes me think they will come out flat or completely pissed. Either way, I think we could take advantage.

 

[Irish7478]

I don't know of a single sport that has no strategy. Billions of dollars at stake and no strategy, get real.

The 100 meter dash has basically no strategy. You don't really have to pace yourself too much, you don't let someone set the pace, you pretty much just get a good start and run as fast as you can? Javelin too, not too much strategy there either.

 

[olympicoscar]

The 100 meter dash has basically no strategy. You don't really have to pace yourself too much, you don't let someone set the pace, you pretty much just get a good start and run as fast as you can? Javelin too, not too much strategy there either.

These are individual sports. There is strategy in the 100 meter. It's in your post. Javelin is an individual sport and you are not competing against someone at the exact moment you throw the javelin.

Any team sport has a strategy.

 

[olympicoscar]

Strategy in Soccer.

Controlling the middle of the field is very important. You need people that can pass the ball and dish out to players on the wings breaking for the goal.

If the center of the field is jammed up by your opponent, than a lead pass to a winger breaking down on the left or right hand side of the field will force the opposition to spread out the defense.

Another strategy is the cross. If you can't get directly in front of the goal, which can be quite difficult, you want to kick a ball that crosses over the box in the center of the field so someone can head it in to the goal.

If the goalkeeper seems shaky, then consistently take shots at him with the ball. He may just allow one to get in, or not clear the ball properly allowing you to score quickly. The latter happened today to Spain when the goalie failed to clear the ball allowing Chile to score it's second goal.

Corner kicks. This is a set piece where a lot of goals are scored. You would like the ball to land almost centered in front of the box, but just far enough away that the goalie can't catch it. That way you can head the ball into the net quickly so that the goalie can't make a save.

Those are just a few of the strategies that are employed in the game.

 

[ugafan6612]

Strategy in Soccer.

Controlling the middle of the field is very important. You need people that can pass the ball and dish out to players on the wings breaking for the goal.

If the center of the field is jammed up by your opponent, than a lead pass to a winger breaking down on the left or right hand side of the field will force the opposition to spread out the defense.

Another strategy is the cross. If you can't get directly in front of the goal, which can be quite difficult, you want to kick a ball that crosses over the box in the center of the field so someone can head it in to the goal.

If the goalkeeper seems shaky, then consistently take shots at him with the ball. He may just allow one to get in, or not clear the ball properly allowing you to score quickly. The latter happened today to Spain when the goalie failed to clear the ball allowing Chile to score it's second goal.

Corner kicks. This is a set piece where a lot of goals are scored. You would like the ball to land almost centered in front of the box, but just far enough away that the goalie can't catch it. That way you can head the ball into the net quickly so that the goalie can't make a save.

Those are just a few of the strategies that are employed in the game.

wtf are you explaining the game of soccer for here. These dumbass rednecks wont read this shit

 

[bamabear82]

Strategy in Soccer.

Controlling the middle of the field is very important. You need people that can pass the ball and dish out to players on the wings breaking for the goal.

If the center of the field is jammed up by your opponent, than a lead pass to a winger breaking down on the left or right hand side of the field will force the opposition to spread out the defense.

Another strategy is the cross. If you can't get directly in front of the goal, which can be quite difficult, you want to kick a ball that crosses over the box in the center of the field so someone can head it in to the goal.

If the goalkeeper seems shaky, then consistently take shots at him with the ball. He may just allow one to get in, or not clear the ball properly allowing you to score quickly. The latter happened today to Spain when the goalie failed to clear the ball allowing Chile to score it's second goal.

Corner kicks. This is a set piece where a lot of goals are scored. You would like the ball to land almost centered in front of the box, but just far enough away that the goalie can't catch it. That way you can head the ball into the net quickly so that the goalie can't make a save.

Those are just a few of the strategies that are employed in the game.

 

[bamabear82]

wtf are you explaining the game of soccer for here. These dumbass rednecks wont read this shit

 

[olympicoscar]

wtf are you explaining the game of soccer for here. These dumbass rednecks wont read this shit

Just giving some examples of strategy for those that actually believe there is no strategy.

 

[Smart]

I'm confused. I see 9.7 million viewers and a 4.1 rating for the US World Cup game. I see 14.96 million viewers and a 6.0 rating for Game 4 of the NBA finals and 18 million viewers and a 6.8 rating for the clincher. What am I missing here?

 

[bconngemini]

American sports culture exist in a different temporal universe to soccer. Because soccer is something fundamentally different to what Americans are used to, it creates a comletely different paradigm in watching the sport. American sports are all very structured and procedural, with standardized plays that can quantified into statistics, and the narrative of the sport is largely told through statistics. We cheer when a quantifiable number is achieved, we find excitement in that which results in a number indicating success. Soccer is completely unlike this, it doesn't provide the standardized plays but complete free-form gameplay with only one giant milestone that is difficult to achieve (scoring a goal). To create a gaming analogy, American sports are like turn based games (Civilizations) while soccer is like a RTS (Age of Empires).

If an American watches say 5 minutes of soccer and 5 minutes of football, in the 5 minutes of football he will see on average 21 seconds of gameplay and lots of downtime and commercials (which European frequently cite as one of the reasons American football is boring to them), but critically to Americans that 21 seconds will result in quantifiable achievement, the team will gain or lose an X number of yards, and every player will be granted a plethora of statistics on exactly what he did in every second of gameplay. Football, like all American sports regiments and segments the game into a series of small statistical gains, which are tabulated and compared to previous standardized segments. Soccer is completely the opposite. In soccer, a 5 minute stretch may include the ball moving for several kilometers with players performing a many passes, feints, dribbles...etc yet none of that will be quantified to create a sense of linear progression. Soccer players cover by far the most ground in team sports compared to American sports and perform the most physical action, but none of that action follows a procedure with clear results except the goal. While the rest of the world gets excited by plays like this that don't result in quantifiable achievement because of the skill and creativity , to your average American its "just kicking a ball around".

That's why you hear Americans say things like "soccer is boring because only 1 or 2 goals are scored". To most of them, the only exciting part of soccer is when a team scores, because its the only time soccer stops and a number on the screen increments and tells us something has been achieved.

Even the more freeflowing American sport of basketball is still segmented by design into 24 second parts (with a shot clock), and provides a plenty of statistics because of how repeatable the actions. Its guaranteed that every 24 seconds, you'll get a shot, a rebound by one team or the other and likely an assist. These can be tabulated and a narrative formed around these numbers. Its largely why rugby and hockey have had a very hard time in America, hockey is largely regional and depends heavily on the North where there is cross border influence from Canada, and rugby has largely been absent from American TV.

But even if soccer was somehow to be segmented and quantified into a standardized set of actions with clear linear progression, there is also the question of identity. In many ways, sports are like religion, we tend to follow those that are dominant in the local culture and tend to view others coming from foreign cultures with a sense of rejection. So while the changing demographics and a more globalized culture in America will continue to drive soccer upwards in popularity, it will never truly be embraced since it will always be an outsider sport.

 

[bksballer89]

Just giving some examples of strategy for those that actually believe there is no strategy.

Stop trying to convince the idiots

 

[Mr. Tacoma]

American sports culture exist in a different temporal universe to soccer. Because soccer is something fundamentally different to what Americans are used to, it creates a comletely different paradigm in watching the sport. American sports are all very structured and procedural, with standardized plays that can quantified into statistics, and the narrative of the sport is largely told through statistics. We cheer when a quantifiable number is achieved, we find excitement in that which results in a number indicating success. Soccer is completely unlike this, it doesn't provide the standardized plays but complete free-form gameplay with only one giant milestone that is difficult to achieve (scoring a goal). To create a gaming analogy, American sports are like turn based games (Civilizations) while soccer is like a RTS (Age of Empires).

If an American watches say 5 minutes of soccer and 5 minutes of football, in the 5 minutes of football he will see on average 21 seconds of gameplay and lots of downtime and commercials (which European frequently cite as one of the reasons American football is boring to them), but critically to Americans that 21 seconds will result in quantifiable achievement, the team will gain or lose an X number of yards, and every player will be granted a plethora of statistics on exactly what he did in every second of gameplay. Football, like all American sports regiments and segments the game into a series of small statistical gains, which are tabulated and compared to previous standardized segments. Soccer is completely the opposite. In soccer, a 5 minute stretch may include the ball moving for several kilometers with players performing a many passes, feints, dribbles...etc yet none of that will be quantified to create a sense of linear progression. Soccer players cover by far the most ground in team sports compared to American sports and perform the most physical action, but none of that action follows a procedure with clear results except the goal. While the rest of the world gets excited by plays like this that don't result in quantifiable achievement because of the skill and creativity , to your average American its "just kicking a ball around".

That's why you hear Americans say things like "soccer is boring because only 1 or 2 goals are scored". To most of them, the only exciting part of soccer is when a team scores, because its the only time soccer stops and a number on the screen increments and tells us something has been achieved.

Even the more freeflowing American sport of basketball is still segmented by design into 24 second parts (with a shot clock), and provides a plenty of statistics because of how repeatable the actions. Its guaranteed that every 24 seconds, you'll get a shot, a rebound by one team or the other and likely an assist. These can be tabulated and a narrative formed around these numbers. Its largely why rugby and hockey have had a very hard time in America, hockey is largely regional and depends heavily on the North where there is cross border influence from Canada, and rugby has largely been absent from American TV.

But even if soccer was somehow to be segmented and quantified into a standardized set of actions with clear linear progression, there is also the question of identity. In many ways, sports are like religion, we tend to follow those that are dominant in the local culture and tend to view others coming from foreign cultures with a sense of rejection. So while the changing demographics and a more globalized culture in America will continue to drive soccer upwards in popularity, it will never truly be embraced since it will always be an outsider sport.

Americans reject views from foreign cultures?

Our entire culture is made up of influences from around the globe. We just take the good parts like tacos and pizza and reject the crap like soccer.

 

[Smart]

Since nobody actually bothered to check ratings in 12 pages of this thread, here are the ratings for the NBA Finals vs. the US World Cup game:

NBA Finals Game 5: 6.8 Rating, 18 Million Viewers
NBA Finals Game 4: 6.0 Rating, 14.96 Million Viewers
NBA Finals Game 3: 5.9 Rating, 14.77 Million Viewers
NBA Finals Game 2: 6.0 Rating, 15.13 Million Viewers
NBA Finals Game 1: 6.0 Rating, 14.84 Million Viewers
US-Ghana World Cup: 4.1 Rating, 9.72 Million Viewers

If soccer is so growing so quickly and it's rise is so incredible, how come people need to lie? Or maybe it isn't a lie...maybe if we add up Univision viewers, it tops the NBA Finals. Because nothing says assimilation like "relying on foreign language broadcast figures."

 

[bamabear82]

Since nobody actually bothered to check ratings in 12 pages of this thread, here are the ratings for the NBA Finals vs. the US World Cup game:

NBA Finals Game 5: 6.8 Rating, 18 Million Viewers
NBA Finals Game 4: 6.0 Rating, 14.96 Million Viewers
NBA Finals Game 3: 5.9 Rating, 14.77 Million Viewers
NBA Finals Game 2: 6.0 Rating, 15.13 Million Viewers
NBA Finals Game 1: 6.0 Rating, 14.84 Million Viewers
US-Ghana World Cup: 4.1 Rating, 9.72 Million Viewers

If soccer is so growing so quickly and it's rise is so incredible, how come people need to lie? Or maybe it isn't a lie...maybe if we add up Univision viewers, it tops the NBA Finals. Because nothing says assimilation like "relying on foreign language broadcast figures."

I've been too busy looking up derogatory soccer gifs to do anything productive like that.

 

[ckhokie]

I don't even know what the ratings were for the US game, we're also comparing games that started at 9pm ET on a network to a 6pm ET game on cable.

 

[Camfantasy]

Lol @ soccer fans thinking that they were actually relevant and having their teeny pedestal kicked out from under them

 

[ckhokie]

Lol @ soccer fans thinking that they were actually relevant and having their teeny pedestal kicked out from under them

Where's this going down?

 

[bconngemini]

Americans reject views from foreign cultures?

Our entire culture is made up of influences from around the globe. We just take the good parts like tacos and pizza and reject the crap like soccer.

Holy shit, its incredible just how far you managed to missed the entire point. It boggles the mind that what you got from that is "we take the good parts like tacos and pizza and reject crap like soccer".

Why does the idea of this foreign sports culture being established in America threaten you so much?