Expos de Montréal

[francely57]

Honestly MTLskyline, you could have stopped posting after this:

How can you talk about soccer being boring when you're actually defending baseball?

 

 

 

 

 

What is more interesting about a 0-0 draw than a 6-5 win in 10 innings?

1. You posted the same thing on SSP, and people already pointed out how silly this post is, since you pick the worst scenario for one and the best for the other.

 

2. You act like 0-0 means nothing happened. Cataclaw has described how much anticipation there is even when there is no goal scored yet.

 

3. Apparently most of the fun in baseball games is the "ambiance", and for most people it's hard to care if we don't attend.

 

4. Baseball on TV? I can't find words to describe how incredibly boring this is.

 

5. This is not coming from a huge soccer fan; I personnally prefer basketball, but I don't care about trying to convince the world that basketball > soccer.

 

 

 

 

Baseball is widely played in: US, Japan (most popular sport), Cuba (most popular sport), Dominican Republic (most popular sport), Taiwan (most popular sport), Puerto Rico (most popular sport), Korea, Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, Canada and is growing in places like Mexico, Australia and the Netherlands.

 

Baseball is native to North America. Soccer on the other hand is a boring European import. We have our own sports here. Not too many people care about soccer in the US or Canada anyway (aside from 1st and 2nd generation immigrants)

 

Interesting, I didn't know baseball was popular in 10 countries.

 

1st and 2nd generation immigrants = a lot of people (1st generation alone is like 20% of Canada)

[Habsfan]

What is more interesting about a 0-0 draw than a 6-5 win in 10 innings?

 

Dude, you don't make any sense. If soccer was as boring as you say it is, would it be (by far) the most popular sport in the world?? I doubt it. Baseball is a sport that is slowly but surely losing interest.

 

I'm not the biggest fan of soccer, but I've watched enough games to know without a doubt that soccer is definately more interesting then Baseball!

[MTLskyline]

I support "local sports". I actually watch curling on RDS sometimes (shh, don't tell anyone). It's a fascinating sport. (I know curling was invented in Scotland, but it's still very popular here in Canada, so i consider it a somewhat local sport) Lacrosse is a blast as well. And then... hockey... obviously is king supreme in these parts.

 

And that's fine. I support our local sports.

 

Soccer is kind of like the English language. Everybody in the world speaks it, though often as a second language. Most people speak their native country's language as their mother tongue and then English as a secondary tongue.

I didn't know anyone in Quebec actually watched curling when it was on. To be frank, I don't really understand it. I like Lacrosse a lot, really fun to play and interesting to watch, its too bad our NLL team left. Can't argue with hockey either. Hockey is almost like a much improved version of soccer. Give them skates and sticks, allow (and encourage) contact, surround the rink in boards (which means the puck rarely goes outside the perimeter of the playing area), etc.

Goals are hard to get in soccer. Consider: You have to traverse a huge field, get past a dozen opposing players, using only your feet! Goals are rare in soccer. That means the anticipation and excitement is always at maximum, because if somebody scores a goal -- it's HUGE. A goal in soccer is like 3 goals in hockey. It's devastating. In fact, a soccer game is like a hockey game during overtime.

 

So goals are rare, but when they happen they deliver even more excitement and satisfaction.

I don't really understand the anticipation that much. A whole lot of nothing can go on for 20, 30, 40 minutes. Doesn't excitement wear off after a while? Obviously goals are huge (especially to those Hispanic announcers), but my attention span isn't long enough to stay awake between goals.

 

MTLskyline: you may find the sport boring, but understand that if billions of people play it/watch it, there's gotta be a reason. We're not all crazy!

 

Soccer is the world's sport and it brings nations together to compete in an event even more exciting than the Olympics.

 

In the end, i there's room for lots of different sports. We have hockey in Montreal with the Als and the Impact on the side. Hockey is the unquestionable king, but the Als and Impact still draw crowds. Do i wish we'd still have the Expos? Of course. Heck, that new stadium downtown would have been sweet too. Unfortunately what's done is done.

I suppose different sports for different people. There is also good reason why baseball (or its cousin, cricket) are bigger than soccer in many countries (cricket being more popular in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Australia, the Caribbean, etc).

[MTLskyline]

Honestly MTLskyline, you could have stopped posting after this:

Why? IMO, baseball is much more exciting than soccer. Why should I let that comment slide?

 

1. You posted the same thing on SSP, and people already pointed out how silly this post is, since you pick the worst scenario for one and the best for the other.

The worst scenario for soccer happens nearly every single day at the world cup. If you prefer I could have said a 3-2 pitchers duel. That would still be more exciting.

 

2. You act like 0-0 means nothing happened. Cataclaw has described how much anticipation there is even when there is no goal scored yet.

I don't want to sit there anticipating the whole game. What about actual action?

3. Apparently most of the fun in baseball games is the "ambiance", and for most people it's hard to care if we don't attend.

Ambiance is part of it, but definitely not all of it. What baseball-bashers don't understand is that baseball is a game of strategy. They don't call it the "thinking man's game" for nothing. A huge amount of thought has to go into every pitch, every at bat, every play, etc. If you have a right-hander on the mound and they are pitching to a left-handed batter. Should you substitute your pitcher for a lefty? Should you walk them? And then there is the batter's perspective. "I just received 2 fast-balls in a row. There is a good chance that the next pitch is going to be a curve or a changeup." The fielders too have to think throughout the game. If David Ortiz is at bat, should you push your outfielders out? If a known speedster is at the plate, should you prepare for a bunt? All this while keeping in mind whether or not there are runners on the bases, and which bases have runners on them.

 

4. Baseball on TV? I can't find words to describe how incredibly boring this is.

What is boring about watching baseball on TV? Unless you don't really understand the sport, you won't be bored most of the time.

 

5. This is not coming from a huge soccer fan; I personnally prefer basketball, but I don't care about trying to convince the world that basketball > soccer.

I prefer baseball to every other sport, although it might be tied with ice hockey. I'm trying to prove why I think people should give it another chance (especially when most of the baseball-bashers love soccer).

 

 

Interesting, I didn't know baseball was popular in 10 countries.

 

1st and 2nd generation immigrants = a lot of people (1st generation alone is like 20% of Canada)

Baseball is definitely not dying in most countries (with the main exception being Canada, where the loss of the Expos cost the country's baseball programs dearly. Kids prefer to play sports if they have role models from those sports. No baseball team in Montreal means that few kids in this city play the sport. ). MLB is having problems, but most of those could be fixed simply by putting someone competent as commissioner. Some little things here and there could be done to speed up the pace a little.

 

True that first and second generation immigrants are a lot of people. But the majority of this country is still 3rd generation or older.

Modifié 25 juin 2010 par MTLskyline

[MTLskyline]

Dude, you don't make any sense. If soccer was as boring as you say it is, would it be (by far) the most popular sport in the world?? I doubt it. Baseball is a sport that is slowly but surely losing interest.

 

I'm not the biggest fan of soccer, but I've watched enough games to know without a doubt that soccer is definately more interesting then Baseball!

That is brought up frequently. If soccer is so boring, how could it be so popular? The same thing can be said about baseball/softball/cricket. Combined these sports most likely have over a billion players and fans. You only believe its dying because that is what we're seeing in this province. The Expos left, baseball diamonds are being converted into soccer fields, etc. Take a trip to the US, Japan, Taiwan or the Spanish-speaking Carribbean. Is it dying there? I think the supposed death of baseball is a uniquely Canadian phenomenon.

 

Baseball is only more boring than soccer if you don't understand the rules/strategy. Soccer=a very simple sport that anyone can understand. Baseball=a highly strategic sport that takes effort to learn.

[pedepy]

what the ...

 

all sports are boring... if you have no stake in them and if you don't know them well enough to understand what's going on and to pick up on the subtle elements that make them interesting to those that do.

 

some like hockey, don't like soccer; some like football, can't stand baseball ... basketball is boring to some, and the most spectacular sport to others ...

[Cataclaw]

The worst scenario for soccer happens nearly every single game at the world cup.

 

50 games have been played so far, there have been 5x 0-0 ties.

 

5 games out of 50 going to 0-0. 10%. Not even close to being "every single game". Not even close.

[MTLskyline]

50 games have been played so far, there have been 5x 0-0 ties.

 

5 games out of 50 going to 0-0. 10%. Not even close to being "every single game". Not even close.

 

I meant every single day. Including today. 0-0 Brazil vs. Portugal. Of course there are also tons of 1-0 games, and also tons of ties in general.

Modifié 25 juin 2010 par MTLskyline

[Cataclaw]

I meant every single day. Including today. 0-0 Brazil vs. Portugal.

 

Firstly, there has been a day that included a 0-0 game one day out of every three (33%) so that isn't even close to being "every single day" either.

 

It isn't how many games go to 0-0 in a day that matters, it's how many games are 0-0 period. Because in one day that includes a 0-0 tie, you might also have 3 other games that go to several goals a piece.

 

In this world cup, only five games have gone to 0-0 (again, that's just 10%)

 

Sorry to split hairs here, but if we're going to argue then we ought to at least get our facts right.

 

There is no relation between the average number of points scored in a sport and the excitement level of that sport.

If number of "goals" meant a sport was more exciting, then Bastketball would be the #1 sport in the world (and by a HUGE margin, since a "goal" is scored every few seconds usually)

Modifié 25 juin 2010 par Cataclaw

[MTLskyline]

Firstly, there has been a day that included a 0-0 game one day out of every three (33%) so that isn't even close to being "every single day" either.

 

It isn't how many games go to 0-0 in a day that matters, it's how many games are 0-0 period. Because in one day that includes a 0-0 tie, you might also have 3 other games that go to several goals a piece.

 

In this world cup, only five games have gone to 0-0 (again, that's just 10%)

 

Sorry to split hairs here, but if we're going to argue then we ought to at least get our facts right.

 

There is no relation between the average number of points scored in a sport and the excitement level of that sport.

If number of "goals" meant a sport was more exciting, then Bastketball would be the #1 sport in the world (and by a HUGE margin, since a "goal" is scored every few seconds usually)

10% (or one game every 3 days) is still too high. Of course when I said "nearly every single day" I was obviously exaggerating a little. 0-0 should be a rare occurrence. It is not. As you have stated, that score in particular accounts for 10% of all World Cup soccer games. I'd be interested to know what percentage of outcomes were ties in general, and what percentage had fewer than 2 goals scored. I bet all ties and all games with fewer than 2 goals scored combined would account for 40 or 50% of all outcomes.

 

Basketball scoring is a little ridiculous, I'll admit. But I see it as requiring more skill than soccer.