Colin Cowherd: "Soccer is a Big Four sport."

[YNWA14]

Not really, average hockey players scores on what, 15-20% of their shots? While in skates being buffeted by defenders? I'd say scoring in the NHL is harder than a base hit in MLB.

How is scoring a goal in hockey comparable to getting a hit in baseball?

 

[Panteras]

It's easy

Standing around, spitting and chewing.

do you know how hard that is?

 

[YNWA14]

Baseball is not a sport tbh

In b4 "try to hit a ball at X mph!"

Not as hard as beating a grandmaster at chess...and no more a real sport than that either...

Ignorance is bliss, I guess.

 

[Chloraflora]

Okay so the best baseball team averages 10 hits per game, and even the worst averages 7. Not even closest to the hardest thing to do in sports.

 

[Burner Account]

Baseball is a sport.

A sport that takes between 2-4 hours to finish 10-15 minutes of actual play.

 

[YNWA14]

Baseball is a sport.

A sport that takes between 2-4 hours to finish 10-15 minutes of actual play.

I've never really understood why people try to put down other sports just because they enjoy a different one. Like is it hard to just enjoy soccer without putting down some kind of oversimplified, ignorant blanket statement over a different sport?

Man, soccer is so boring...90+ minutes of guys jogging back and forth on a field only for the score to be 0 - 0, on a giant net no less!

 

[Power Man]

Well baseball fathletes do need steroids to move once in a while

Otherwise those fat bodies will get super rusty and the "muscles" will be put in a state of severe atrophy

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

How the hell does a discussion on soccer become a discussion on baseball? Let's face it baseball is miles ahead of soccer and hockey and hockey has basically zero chance of ever catching it whereas soccer may do so or may not. When the professional leagues all collapse after the 2033-2035 Great Famine it's a moot point anyway.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

To each their own, but to say soccer is more exciting than football or basketball is just unfathomable to me. Forget about the fact that there's no scoring (because that's a problem in hockey as well), there's no legitimate action (like scoring chances) for probably 90% of the game. Not to mention you have a sport where you can't use your hands and guys flop like they're getting shot. I know people worldwide are raised with it and naturally like it, but it doesn't have the most scoring, the most action, take the most skill nor athleticism, and the players flop around like pansies and essentially can't use half their body.

As opposed to a sport that has 10 minutes of action in a 3 hour game(american football)? "scoring" in basketball is water downed, so much so that when someone scorers there's no celebration. Only way you see celebrations is a dunk in which case it happens an insane amount of times too right after they act the same all hard and badass. There's ton TONs not to like about basketball. How anyone can say its more exciting than soccer is unfathomable to me.

 

[WeWantTacos]

Okay so the best baseball team averages 10 hits per game, and even the worst averages 7. Not even closest to the hardest thing to do in sports.

There's an average of 146 pitches thrown per game, so the best team in MLB only averages 10 hits of those 146 pitches which equates to <7% chance of a pitch thrown being converted to a hit, which of course ranges anywhere from a 400ft HR to a broken bat bloop single. And simply getting a hit isn't even the ultimate objective of the game.

 

[Chloraflora]

How many of those pitches are strikes, i.e. have a legitimate chance of being hit? Not very fair counting balls in the dirt or over the batter's head.

Anyway, I've diverted this off topic far enough.

 

[WeWantTacos]

How many of those pitches are strikes, i.e. have a legitimate chance of being hit? Not very fair counting balls in the dirt or over the batter's head.

Anyway, I've diverted this off topic far enough.

You do realize that's part of the strategy of the game? That pitches appear to be out of the strike zone, only to break into it, and conversely pitches that appear to be in the strike zone that drop out? Even if you disregard 46 of those pitches you're still saying the best team in the best league averages only 10% on "legitimate" pitches.

You're not hitting that pitch.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

What makes baseball less of a sport than, say, cricket?

Nothing. And I say this as someone who couldn't give two craps about baseball. It's just some pretentious crap people like the guy who posted it say to a be a dick.

 

[Panteras]

How the hell does a discussion on soccer become a discussion on baseball? Let's face it baseball is miles ahead of soccer and hockey and hockey has basically zero chance of ever catching it whereas soccer may do so or may not. When the professional leagues all collapse after the 2033-2035 Great Famine it's a moot point anyway.

god I hope I'm ready. I'm saving cupons just to stack up on supplies.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

You need to be able to advertise for a sport to make it big in the US (I am guessing same in the case of Canada). Sports like cricket and soccer are huge in India (where I grew up) but they offer little in terms of advertising during the game. That is one reason soccer will never really be a true big 4 sport in North America.

 

[Panteras]

You need to be able to advertise for a sport to make it big in the US (I am guessing same in the case of Canada). Sports like cricket and soccer are huge in India (where I grew up) but they offer little in terms of advertising during the game. That is one reason soccer will never really be a true big 4 sport in North America.

I would never say never, this world is an ever changing demographic roller coaster. So who knows, I don't think in our lifetimes, but even in the past 50 years the demographic change in this country alone is incredible. Who knows 100 years from now. For Latin Americans soccer is #1.

 

[cgf]

What makes baseball less of a sport than, say, cricket?

Nothing

Most posters saying baseball isn't a sport would probably opt out a quarter way through the 162 game season from all the nicks and bruises nevermind any potential serious injury.

Not even I'm sadistic enough to make even my worst enemies sit through 162 games of baseball. Those baseball players not dying of boredom is certainly impressive.

Or is there another reason you're watching curling?

Because I understand how to live life.

 

[John Price]

Not in America sorry

 

[cgf]

Not in America sorry

True, can't get americans to hop on a bandwagon without winning something first, and the US will never win anything that matters in Football.

You do realize that's part of the strategy of the game? That pitches appear to be out of the strike zone, only to break into it, and conversely pitches that appear to be in the strike zone that drop out? Even if you disregard 46 of those pitches you're still saying the best team in the best league averages only 10% on "legitimate" pitches.

You're not hitting that pitch.

Fair enough, I think we can all agree that baseball is a difficult leisure-activity, certainly trickier than lawn darts or beer-pong.

 

[MarkStone]

True, can't get americans to hop on a bandwagon without winning something first, and the US will never win anything that matters in Football.



Fair enough, I think we can all agree that baseball is a difficult leisure-activity, certainly trickier than lawn darts or beer-pong.

Being a catcher is more difficult than any single position in soccer, and this is coming from someone who vastly prefers soccer to baseball.

 

[cgf]

Being a catcher is more difficult than any single position in soccer, and this is coming from someone who vastly prefers soccer to baseball.

Only til artificial knee technology catches up.

 

[Panteras]

True, can't get americans to hop on a bandwagon without winning something first, and the US will never win anything that matters in Football.



Fair enough, I think we can all agree that baseball is a difficult leisure-activity, certainly trickier than lawn darts or beer-pong.

you have to just be taking the piss at this point right.....please tell me you are

 

[Vamos Rafa]

Wouldnt expect anything different from you. Hitting that ball is the hardest thing to do in all of sports.

I love baseball but if hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in sports, then pitching must be the easiest thing to do in sports...

 

[cgf]

you have to just be taking the piss at this point right.....please tell me you are

I guess you're right. It really isn't that hard; but I wanted to cut the americans some slack, as it is still trickier than lawn-darts...

 

[BGDDYKWL]

I think the main difference with soccer is it has the added value of watching a sport you also play, and soccer is one of the easiest sports to play anywhere and the one that most people in the world play. For me it's basically the only sport that's possible to play regularly.

Very true. Same can be said for basketball and football. Courts and fields are everywhere, so ten guys can get together and play with simply one ball. So much more equipment/money you need to invest in baseball/hockey, not to mention pickup games aren't nearly as easy to find.

I can understand the position of it being not as exciting as hockey. But for me american football is a sport where nothing is ever happening. For someone who didn't grow up with it it looks like everyone just standing around all the time - ten minutes go by then they play for like 30 seconds and then you have to wait again before anything happens. Basketball has lots of scoring, yes, but it's like the opposite extreme. The teams just go back and forth scoring and occasionally someone misses or gets blocked or the ball gets stolen but for the most part there doesn't seem to be much complexity to it.

I think ultimately this just comes down to what you mention above. Typically you're gonna like what you grew up with, particularly if you played it. You're going to understand it better, you're gonna relate to it, and you're gonna have a greater appreciation for what you're watching because of that.