F1 vs Soccer in America--a comparison

We didn't have soccer when I was a kid but my son has played since he was 3. Year round for the last 6 years. School ball in the fall. Indoors in the winter. And traveling select teams in the spring. As a junior in high school he hooked 2 corner kicks into the top right of the goal to win the game last Saturday. Last winter the football coach had kicking clinics indoors. He's now the starting kicker for the high school football team. Says kicking that football is easier. Good first outing last week with 6 kickoffs in the end zone. He's going to have a good year playing both. I took him to race events when he was little, now he's just too busy. He has 2 classmates who run high level go karts and motocross and it just does not create the same self esteem and recognition as stick and ball sports. Just the way it is.


Soccer grew and F1 didn't. Parents and kids like soccer and they don't have racing in school. American racing is rooted in ovals because of those damn dirt horse tracks. Look at F1 this year. I like it, but you would never have people like Bernie and Max turning the NFL upside down. And that's what F1 has been over the years. A roller coaster of management and players.

 

Yes anything where you can stand a chance of getting up close and feeling the atmosphere is much better.

I remember back in 1979 when Paul McCartney decided to stop doing big arenas with his band Wings just so he could get up close to his fans...I had to sleep on the street in Liverpool city centre for 3 nights to get tickets because it was a small venue, but so worth it..I remember getting approached on the day of the gig from some american guy offering me 40 times the value of the ticket..I said no though! more fool me I suppose..

I prefer Lennon anyway.

 

There it is. Though truth be told I've noticed this mentality cropping up in some of the elite youth soccer clubs as well. One parent I know pulled her son out and put him in with the immigrant dominated groups because she noticed they were more free flowing and fun loving with practice and the skills weren't suffering for it either.

 

Youth soccer is BIG business now.
Here's the Dallas Texan group; a member of a statewide "franchise".
http://www.dallastexans.com/teams.php
There are literally Millions of dollars flowing through this club every year.

One of about 6 or 7 top clubs in DFW.

Even in a dead economy the last thing a parent wants to tell their kid is "your cut".

 

In reality only a very few Boys/men get a full scholarship offer for college. 6 I know of in the thousands I know of here in Dallas/ Fort Worth.
Girls/women much more but still only a percent or two.
If the kid is not a "superstar" and is in it for fun, this route makes a lot of sense.

 

If the MLS is going to be a major sport (no pun intended) in America, then they need to improve their league. It's fine having the talent from the youth squads but if the league isn't up to scratch then players that make it big are going to want to play there.

 

We have some school districts here that have football coaches and boosters who have enough influence to keep any soccer programs from starting. "You're not taking my football players". Texas is big on HS football. Any of that there.

 

Not just the league getting better but the salaries as well. Kind of a catch 22. A lot of mid level Premiership players I know would love to play here but the money just isn't quite there. They'd make more sitting on the bench in the Championship Coca Cola level than they would in MLS and on top of that, the travel times between cities is unlike anything they have to deal with in the U.K.

 

For the most part that is true, but Beckham is proof that there is alot of money in the US. He wouldn't of go that kinda money ANYWHERE in Europe never mind the UK.

WHAT?!?! Who do you know ?

 

There is something absolutely and fundamentally different about F1 racing than any other form of motor racing (that I know of). The race in F1 takes place back at the factories. Then every couple of weeks the teams get together and run a few laps together to see who is making forward progress faster than the others.

That is; what we call the race is just the tallying of the progress made back home.

The only other form of racing that also had this property was CanAm back in the days where the rules were essentially 1: if it fits in the box, you can run it. 2: there is no rule 2.

 

soccer is derived from "association football" as it was called back when the rules were made in the 1800s.

In england, it is popular to put an -er at the end of names for short hand. Like, rugby player are ruggers, etc...

So in america we already had different types of football sports. So soccer football came about.

Football is popular here because of the high school and college interest. I don't know if in europe college athletics is as big as it is here.
Once college soccer gets big here, then we might see more soccer fans. I personally think soccer needs some rule changes for the american taste. Like a blue line in hockey rule, so we can have more scoring. Offsides is stupid for the most part. Just have a crease that the opposing players can't go into, like lacrosse too.

F1 needs an american winning driver, and maybe some big 3 participation. Like if Ford or GM got a team. Then people would care about F1 here.

 

In Europe, colleges/universities are for learning.

College soccer is one of the bigger sports here.

I've seen many hockey games with very little scoring.

Ford did have a team. And who were Phil Hill, Dan Gurney, Mario Andretti?

English? Oh, like 'bugger', wanker etc.?

 

Yeah Beckham is a special case, but also the exception to the rule.


I'd like to remain discreet so I'll tell you what teams. QPR, Birmingham, Sheffield U. Manchester City, Wigan and Bristol Rovers. You can probably deduce from the teams listed one specific player. lol

 

That would be too simple for English as used in the UK. We have footballers but not ruggers; rugger is the slang word for rugby, the game.

 

Or rum buggers!..

 

Wow!! Thats cool theres some pretty big clubs there.

 

Ah, you've heard the stories about what goes on in those scrums.

 

Yes. Its not all fun and games though. I once had to put my head between the legs of a african prince (he was at the local private school and played with us with some matches). The bit that didn't make it nice was that he was 5'1'' and he weighed as much as me (I'm 6'9'', 20 st). Scrums where never a favourite of mine but I became to hate it so much more during the course of that particular game!

 

I think the problem was you weren't doing it properly, you're not supposed to put your head between anyone's legs!