david beckham???

The "divers" should have their asses kicked big time.

Anyway, soccer is 2x45 mins with hardly no breaks. In football there's 40 seconds to catch your breath again.

 

They do a lot of walking when the ball is not near them.

 

^that's phasing out. Thank god. The younger guys run far more, and the game is speeding up. Back 5 years ago it killed me to see a defender just stand 10 yards away from the ball. Now the younger guys run right up and engage.
Anyway- we could argue all day about soccer being tough or not. It doesn't really matter. The Fact is, Soccer's just better. And that's a fact. No debating. No opinions. Fact.
I did laugh at the note that American football is 100% speed. Yeah. With about 10 400lb fat guys, a usually slow unathletic qb, and 1 minute breathing time for every 20 seconds of play.
I love both. I just hate how Americans constantly try to spit on soccer. Probably because it's by far the most popular sport in the world while the NFL will never expand beyond our own country. (and yes, I know we'll have a few games overseas. We even had an NFL Europe while most europeans hate football. It's dead now though.)

 

better at what?

Most hate it because it is a pansy sport, it's the same over here.

 

I hate how people compare Football to Futbol and choose which one is better.
I like both for what they are separately.
I can like hockey without comparing it to lacrosse.

 

They are entirely different sports with the same name.

Appreciate each for their different skills.

 

Honestly, i've never been able to get into soccer, except for during the World Cup. I think maybe i've just got such a short attention span that watching 90 minutes of a game that's deadlocked at 1-1 isn't really all that appealing. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that America doesn't exactly have the best soccer on earth. But i'll definitely watch the World Cup. Pretty hypocritical too, considering i'm a rugby fan.

 

Rugby world cup starts next month, that's gonna be fun, the U.S face England first which should be interesting, I think Americans would love rugby if it was given air time...

 

Most "hate" it because they're not good at it. It's the same all over the world, if you're not good at it, you won't like it. Take swimming as an example, I'm sure it's very popular out there in the bushes, even if it's a pansy sport or look at cycling, the American's could care less for it until Armstrong showed up, and now they'll probably care less once more unless Slipstream can overtake Tailwind's (team behind Motorola/USPostal/Discovery) position, now that they're out of the game.

 

1 of the main reasons soccer is/was big for girls in america has nothing to do w/ the sport really. it has more to do w/ who became good and got the attention. it was mia hamm and that grp of women that got soccer recognition in the us. that's why its really big w/ young women but guys are into it too and its getting bigger. there's occassionally a pretty good show about it that comes on hbo.

btw i'm pretty sure at least that 2nd vid of "diving pracitice" was fake. seemed like a joke. the 1st was gone when i checked but the 2nd looked fake.

and a big part of the reason why soccer isn't big imo is that its kind of a sport for "pretty boys." football and most sports have the gritty players like the d-linemen and o-linemen and linebackers but soccer doesn't have room for that. its a sport for the WRs and corner type of athletes. imo that's why a lot of people can't get into it. i've played soccer all my life and just recently realized that.