What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

The FIFA World Cup Thread (Spoilers Welcome)

Status
Not open for further replies.
Kepler said:
MLS is hard to watch without a rooting interest; it just isn't good enough yet. There are five or six EPL teams who when they play each other I will watch just for the sake of the game, with no preference for the winner. There are no MLS teams that are that interesting.

MLS is somewhere between Ligue1 and, I dunno, whatever the Turkish first division is.
Click to expand...
I absolutely hate talk like this. This is the talk that literally destroys soccer in the country.

MLS is not a bad league. It is not bad soccer. People just do not want to give it a try because "it's not in Europe! It's not the best so it's terrible!" Quit talking * about something you've never seen. Seattle, Portland, Toronto, New England, Red Bulls, Vancouver, Salt Lake, all teams worth watching. But the Eurosnob vision is blind to that.

MLS is important for soccer in this country. You want the National Team to succeed then you need MLS to succeed. Case in point, all four players involved in the second US goal? All MLS players.
 
Re: The FIFA World Cup Thread (Spoilers Welcome)

Seems to me TV ratings are hard to interpret in soccer. Sophisticated fans know that the MLS doesn't compare with other national leagues, and therefore many of them watch soccer on obscure cable channels that aren't even available to wide numbers of people and therefore won't get ratings. I know my son doesn't watch any MLS on TV or live, but watches a lot of the English Premier League.

Priceless said:
...

Reina gets the start for Spain.
Click to expand...

Backward, IMO. I thought someone other than Casillas should have started the second game. It's a little sad for his international career to end (I assume) on the bench.
 
Re: The FIFA World Cup Thread (Spoilers Welcome)

The only highlights of this NED-CHI game so far have been the Dutch blondes they've showed in the crowd.

Edit: 30 seconds after I post this a great set up followed by a header by Fer to put the Netherlands on the board.
 
Re: The FIFA World Cup Thread (Spoilers Welcome)

2-0 Netherlands. They are group winners and will likely destroy Mexico in the round of 16.
Chile will lose a close one to Brazil in the knockout round for the 3rd time in a row.
 
Re: The FIFA World Cup Thread (Spoilers Welcome)

Priceless said:
2-0 Netherlands. They are group winners and will likely destroy Mexico in the round of 16.
Chile will lose a close one to Brazil in the knockout round for the 3rd time in a row.
Click to expand...

UEFA vs. CONCACAF?

I thought UEFA blew?!? ;) ;)
 
Re: The FIFA World Cup Thread (Spoilers Welcome)

CLS said:
Seems to me TV ratings are hard to interpret in soccer. Sophisticated fans know that the MLS doesn't compare with other national leagues, and therefore many of them watch soccer on obscure cable channels that aren't even available to wide numbers of people and therefore won't get ratings. I know my son doesn't watch any MLS on TV or live, but watches a lot of the English Premier League.



Backward, IMO. I thought someone other than Casillas should have started the second game. It's a little sad for his international career to end (I assume) on the bench.
Click to expand...

the Barcalays Primere Leauge has kind of an interesting "advantage" if you want to call it that. It's on during a time that I'm at the gym working out, and Sportcenter is so bad that BPL is more fun. This is after US Football is over.

FWIW- BPL is on NBCSN, and another Euro leage is on FSN. Being at a time that no other live sports are going on helps.
 
Re: The FIFA World Cup Thread (Spoilers Welcome)

I want to see how Mexico does against Croatia, but they seem to be better than the team that struggled in qualifying.
 
Last edited:
Re: The FIFA World Cup Thread (Spoilers Welcome)

Final TV numbers will be out later, but a few details:
Top 10 metered markets: Washington, DC (13.3), Columbus, Ohio (12.6), New York (12.5), Boston (11.5), Hartford & New Haven (11.3), Providence (11.2), Atlanta (11.1), Baltimore (11.0), Norfolk (10.5), Orlando (10.5)
Prime time for the Big Four TV networks combined was 12.74 million. ESPN viewership should be about 14 million, plus Univision and online streaming will be around 20 million. And this was for a 6PM game.
This was the 3rd highest ranked soccer telecast in the US, tied with the USA-GHA R16 game from 2010 and behind ABC's 1994 coverage of USA-BRA R16 (10.4) and the BRA-ITA final (12.8).
 
Re: The FIFA World Cup Thread (Spoilers Welcome)

Jimjamesak said:
I absolutely hate talk like this. This is the talk that literally destroys soccer in the country.
Click to expand...

Bullshit. MLS is far less interesting than watching the usual suspects in the EPL, or watching the WC. The quality of play isn't comparable. I say this having watched the Timbers since their pre-MLS incarnation. I love watching Portland play MLS matches, but that's because I care who is winning.

The Charlie Stillitano "never ever say anything that could tarnish the brand" attitude is so 1990s. Soccer is big enough now, particularly among people under 30 who have been playing it since they were 6, that it no longer needs the crush of constant PC-talk when evaluating US players and teams. MLS needed to take the path it did to take root and it did a pretty good job of it, but now we deserve better and are getting it by watching other leagues. If this were not the case our best players wouldn't need to go to Europe, but they still do. In 20 years they won't have to (well, in 20 years they'll probably all be playing in China but you know what I mean).

Protectionism is important in the early years of an industry but the mark of maturation is letting it go. We are just about there. We are now good enough not to be afraid to admit that our national league isn't good enough yet. MLS is MUCH better than it was 10 years ago, but it still has a ways to go. We get nowhere by pretending that's not true.
 
Last edited:
Re: The FIFA World Cup Thread (Spoilers Welcome)

French Rage said:
I've started following the Quakes a little, but the team being nearby and easy to get tickets to definitely helps. I'd be lying if I said I gave two craps about the league before I started following them, and to be fair I only really started because we have friends in Seattle who were Sounders fans and it was fun to have a back and forth going with them. But once I got in it was fun to have a summer sport that had a little more build-up between every game than baseball; I'm more or less agreeing with you though that you have to get in to a local team before you really start caring somewhat about the league.
Click to expand...

The other side of the coin is if you live someplace where people are into it, it's a total blast. I've been lucky enough to live in 3 different places where soccer was big (Chapel Hill, Portland, and NoVa) and the soccer social scene has improved so much over the last 25 years it's amazing. Even here in knuckledragger "oh noes illegalls!!!11!" land the half of the population not permanently fellating their pistols have been completely won over, and game days are as much fun as a fall Saturday.
 
Re: The FIFA World Cup Thread (Spoilers Welcome)

I only watch soccer every 4 years and when I have to cover it for work. However, I've heard of the incredible atmosphere at Colorado Rapids games so I've been thinking of heading up to Denver to check out a game. At the very least, it should be a fun party with some other fans.
 
Re: The FIFA World Cup Thread (Spoilers Welcome)

Kepler said:
Bullshit. MLS is far less interesting than watching the usual suspects in the EPL, or watching the WC. The quality of play isn't comparable. I say this having watched the Timbers since their pre-MLS incarnation. I love watching Portland play MLS matches, but that's because I care who is winning.

The Charlie Stillitano "never ever say anything that could tarnish the brand" attitude is so 1990s. Soccer is big enough now, particularly among people under 30 who have been playing it since they were 6, that it no longer needs the crush of constant PC-talk when evaluating US players and teams. MLS needed to take the path it did to take root and it did a pretty good job of it, but now we deserve better and are getting it by watching other leagues. If this were not the case our best players wouldn't need to go to Europe, but they still do. In 20 years they won't have to (well, in 20 years they'll probably all be playing in China but you know what I mean).

Protectionism is important in the early years of an industry but the mark of maturation is letting it go. We are just about there. We are now good enough not to be afraid to admit that our national league isn't good enough yet. MLS is MUCH better than it was 10 years ago, but it still has a ways to go. We get nowhere by pretending that's not true.
Click to expand...

I've got to agree with Kepler here. I'm a self-described huge soccer fan. But without a rooting interest in a team (college attended, geographic proximity, national team, etc.) it's tough to follow. We had this debate on GPL this weekend.

Minnesota has the Minnesota United team in the NASL, but they aren't on TV and driving up to Blaine with any sort of regularity to watch a league that is a step to step and a half below the MLS isn't reasonable.
 
Kepler said:
Bullshit. MLS is far less interesting than watching the usual suspects in the EPL, or watching the WC. The quality of play isn't comparable. I say this having watched the Timbers since their pre-MLS incarnation. I love watching Portland play MLS matches, but that's because I care who is winning.

The Charlie Stillitano "never ever say anything that could tarnish the brand" attitude is so 1990s. Soccer is big enough now, particularly among people under 30 who have been playing it since they were 6, that it no longer needs the crush of constant PC-talk when evaluating US players and teams. MLS needed to take the path it did to take root and it did a pretty good job of it, but now we deserve better and are getting it by watching other leagues. If this were not the case our best players wouldn't need to go to Europe, but they still do. In 20 years they won't have to (well, in 20 years they'll probably all be playing in China but you know what I mean).

Protectionism is important in the early years of an industry but the mark of maturation is letting it go. We are just about there. We are now good enough not to be afraid to admit that our national league isn't good enough yet. MLS is MUCH better than it was 10 years ago, but it still has a ways to go. We get nowhere by pretending that's not true.
Click to expand...
* that. I'm tired of pretentious hipsters who can be a hardcore Arsenal, Manchester United, or *ing Aston Villa "supporter" when the only tangible connection to England they have is reading Dickens in High School! And all the media that jump on this bandwagon with them, Bill Simmons easily the worst offender along with Deadspin.

This isn't protectionism. I will readily admit MLS isn't the highest level, but these people who hold their noses up at it and constantly complain about MLS being "not like in Europe!" can go die in a fire. It's not terrible, it is entertaining, there is skill, there is action. But to hear it from people it's the equivalent of three grandmas kicking a ball in a park! Yeah MLS does things I don't like, but that's any league.

This is the equivalent of a student at RIT who follows Minnesota instead because "Big Ten is so much better than Atlantic Hockey!" :rolleyes:
 
Re: The FIFA World Cup Thread (Spoilers Welcome)

dxmnkd316 said:
I've got to agree with Kepler here. I'm a self-described huge soccer fan. But without a rooting interest in a team (college attended, geographic proximity, national team, etc.) it's tough to follow. We had this debate on GPL this weekend.

Minnesota has the Minnesota United team in the NASL, but they aren't on TV and driving up to Blaine with any sort of regularity to watch a league that is a step to step and a half below the MLS isn't reasonable.
Click to expand...
I'm with you, I might start watching more MLS when its Dempsey vs Bradley or something similar but the day Minnesota gets a team, I will start to care about MLS...of note, I don't get up early and follow EPL for the same reason, I don't have a rooting interest.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top