All my grandkids started their sports playing off with soccer and watching a bunch of really young kids playing soccer for the first time is something to remember for sure. My granddaughters and most of the little girls on the team would just stare at the ball when it came their way, while my grandsons were pushing their team mates out the way to try to be the one to kick that soccer ball...even when it came no where near them. By the end of the season some of my granddaughters actually made some goals and without a doubt my grandsons did. They also learned how to play as a team which probably was the most important part of that game. Soccer was the beginning of playing sports for every one of my grandkids...and their love for sports continued into softball, basketball, and even volleyball. It's more fun to me any day watching children playing sports than watching the professionals play....and I admit watching my grandkids playing sports are memories I will cherish forever. So soccer will always hold a special place in my heart too just because it was the first sport my grandkids played.
It is a good conditioning sport, and perhaps fun to play, but I find it VERY boring to watch. Playing an entire soccer match, ending up with no score, and having the result decided by a shoot out at the end. Really? I was told that was why Rugby was invented. Some miners thought soccer to be a boring sissy sport, and invented something more exciting. I find basketball boring, too, where the FAILURE to score when you have possession is the exception.
Depends who's playing, I always watch certain matches in the World Cup as you see some outstanding players amongst them (usually)
One thing I dislike about Pro Basketball is when someone makes a winning basket they will HANG on the hoop. If I were the owner of the Court, I would have the hoop fastened very lightly so it would pull off with more than ten pounds hanging on it!
I agree ! And, they are so tall its too easy to score, I was 'little' compared and I scored a good few @Hal Pollner
I like to watch the world cup championships soccer matches occasionally... but I prefer Rugby My preference for armchair sports viewing is Horse racing, I love that!!
I believe when I was in high school and college, it was considered offensive goal tending (or something) if you hung on the rim or even touched it. I remember that it was a foul to hang on the net. Now it is routinely done, so the rules must have changed. In high school, we found basketball sooo boring that we invented a game with a basket, tackles were allowed, and it was played on ICE. Adding aspects of football and hockey to basketball made it worth playing.
I don't watch professional soccer. All my grandkids have enjoyed playing soccer? I, too, think it is a great conditioning sport. So if it's offered and kids want to play the game, why not?
Amending my post above , let me say that I've always preferred doing sport myself to any armchair sport activities. I've never thought much of team games in general and soccer in particular. To my mind, it's a myth that those games facilitate team-building. They may perhaps do so but only for the chosen few, the best, if you like. As for soccer it redlines all those who are considered not good enough to be part of the team of 11 players. It's a common and embarrassing "sport" in schools to let the allegedly best players choose the members of their respective team in gym classes. It helps those choosers to finally settle some outstanding scores and it's hell for those who are not or last chosen and thus ostracised. The premier league, too, is full of sad examples of those who were segregated for whatever reason. I just watched the second half of the Champions League's final and saw the tragedy of Liverpool's goalie. The scorn heaped on him including threat of murder would never be possible in sports where only the individual performance counts and nothing else. That's chiefly the reason why I have always done individual sports throughout my life. I don't like what I'd call the "folklore", i.e. the cult and custom around soccer, the code of conduct around the game, i.e. the endless discussions about the most trivial things, the fact that there's been a years-long blockage of the video-assistant referees by officials just because there was a wide-spread fear(.) among them that the infinite discussions in pubs about whether it was a goal or not would become pointless, which means they were against clarity. Nor do I like the shouting, the screaming, the fan outfit, the fact that a certain type of male has got all the say, the fact that there are, say, 80 million national team coaches in a country of 80 million. Nevertheless, I do watch certain big matches (never league matches) but only if I've got nothing else to do, if they fit into my daily routine i.e. if they are broadcast at a convenient time. I can easily switch off the TV at any time during the match e.g. if it is getting late, etc. or watch the last 20 minutes only, having done other things first. I'm not emotionally involved.
The only sports I really enjoy and was active in are Greco-Roman wrestling and billiards/pool. It’s a bit egotistic perhaps, but the focus is one on one with no dependency upon anyone else in order to assure a win. In football or baseball, it’s always the pitcher or the quarterback who won the game which negates the rest of the “team” and soccer is about the same it seems; i.e. I remember the name Pele (sp?) but I have no idea who he played for. As was mentioned in another post, team building sports have a tendency of being exactly the opposite of what is touted. To me, if someone wishes to belong to a real team, let them join a military function such as ROTC or the military itself. Other than that, one on one sports have only *one* well defined winner and *one* well defined loser and there are no other stats dealing with anyone else to deal with.
I'm not that great at Billiards...in fact my wife is the only one I can beat! So I have my own pool hall with a 9 foot, 900 pound Tournament table that just sits there. Hal
Then it becomes a “fancy eatin’ table” as it was with the Beverly Hillbillies. Or, a mini soccer field.
I thnk it's the skill of the players in any sport that makes it interesting to watch-which is when I will be found following that team or player. I'm only a fan of football (Pittsburgh Steelers but was San Francisco 49ers) but I have watched other sports, soccer included. It's amazing to see how body parts are used to get a ball down field with the determination to making a goal.