NFL News & Notes

[HighCalebR]

Weirdos. Cow is the ****. But give me and opportunity to bring myself home and elk/antelope/deer and ill take that as well. Nice tender backstrap oooowweeeee. Meat remains unbeaten.

[AlexGreen#20]

6 minutes ago, incognito_man said:

Yep. And MLS needs to leverage world cup and promote its stars nationally more too, IMO. I'd watch a lot more soccer if they helped me choose a team/player to root for and follow. But "they" need to spoon-feed it more to the gen pop (like me). 

Disagree strongly. They need to get all their great marketable stars to Europe where they can turn into actual elite talents and grow into global stars. 

[HighCalebR]

37 minutes ago, Old Guy said:

 like 7-up, never had it, never will. 

Whats this mean? Youve had 7up once and banished it forever. Or you watched someone else have a 7up and not like it, OR you played the game 7up and never got your thumb pushed down.

[HighCalebR]

1 minute ago, AlexGreen#20 said:

Disagree strongly. They need to get all their great marketable stars to Europe where they can turn into actual elite talents and grow into global stars. 

Dont look now...

Pulisic, mckinnie, miazga, reyna and yedlin out there doin the thing. Pulisic the superstar of chelsea.

[cannondale]

Soccer is popular in Europe because you can play soccer or play soccer. You can watch soccer or watch soccer. The attention span of U.S. kids is growing shorter, not longer. I can't get my daughter to watch a full length movie, but she can watch YT for 20 hours straight. I played baseball, but can agree it's boring to watch, and that's with a state team to pull for. The NFL changes it's rules to allow for more scoring. LIS, the soccer explosion has been predicted on and off for 30 years and it still hasn't happened. For those that love it and love watching it, all the more power to you, but you can't force it to become mainstream in the U.S. In a country lusting for the next cool thing, it would have happened already IMO. 

Edited August 18, 2021 by cannondale

[Norm]

Again, you're missing why it can happen now and it's not happened in those earlier 30 years 

Again it's not going to convert many who didn't grow up with it.

Again if your daughter doesn't play soccer growing up, it's not really who I'm talking about

These aren't complicated concepts. I know some people don't like it, that's fine. It's still missing the point

[Old Guy]

30 minutes ago, HighCalebR said:

Whats this mean? Youve had 7up once and banished it forever. Or you watched someone else have a 7up and not like it, OR you played the game 7up and never got your thumb pushed down.

It was an old 7-up marketing campaign. There line was about caffeine, "never had it, never will!' 

[incognito_man]

5 minutes ago, Norm said:

Again, you're missing why it can happen now and it's not happened in those earlier 30 years 

Again it's not going to convert many who didn't grow up with it.

Again if your daughter doesn't play soccer growing up, it's not really who I'm talking about

These aren't complicated concepts. I know some people don't like it, that's fine. It's still missing the point

This.

I'm not even a soccer fan. I'm in the 20% football watchers at work, but it's pretty obvious if you spend time with people under 30 what direction soccer in the US is heading.

[Old Guy]

I couldn't stand to watch soccer, didn't know the rules, thought it was like watching paint dry. Then I found myself in Spain during the 2006 World Cup. Some dude named Torres was the star of the Spanish team.

We were in Barcelona hanging in the heart of the city. There were people from every country competing walking around in full patriotic garb. Glad to say the US people weren't the most obnoxious, England won that award by a mile. 

When Spain was playing, the whole country shut down. It was the ONLY thing they were doing. It's literally 10 times larger than the Super Bowl and that is for every game. I was hooked, it was awesome. 

I guess my point is, if soccer can convert me, there is a chance they can convert anybody. I only hope when we host we pull it off because it is truly an amazing event, for 2-3 weeks. 

Edited August 18, 2021 by Old Guy

[cannondale]

8 minutes ago, Norm said:

Again, you're missing why it can happen now and it's not happened in those earlier 30 years 

Again it's not going to convert many who didn't grow up with it.

Again if your daughter doesn't play soccer growing up, it's not really who I'm talking about

These aren't complicated concepts. I know some people don't like it, that's fine. It's still missing the point

I must be missing the point, because I don't see the reasons why it can happen now vs 5 years ago or 10 years ago

[incognito_man]

1 minute ago, Old Guy said:

I couldn't stand to watch soccer, didn't know the rules, thought it was like watching paint dry. Then I found myself in Spain during the 2006 World Cup. Some dude named Torres was the star of the Spanish team.

We were in Barcelona hanging in the heart of the city. There were literally people from every country competing walking around in full patriotic garb. Glad to say the US people weren't the most obnoxious, England won that award by a mile. 

When Spain was playing, literally the whole country shut down. It was the ONLY thing they were doing. It's literally 10 times larger than the Super Bowl and that is for every game. I was hooked, it was awesome. 

I guess my point is, if soccer can convert me, there is a chance they can convert anybody. I only hope when we host we pull it off because it is truly an amazing event, for 2-3 weeks. 

Spot on. The passion is obvious. So there's no question the sport itself lends itself to human endearment. 

Hopefully covid is handled and the earth is still in orbit in 2026 so it might even take place.

[incognito_man]

2 minutes ago, cannondale said:

I must be missing the point, because I don't see the reasons why it can happen now vs 5 years ago or 10 years ago

10 years ago MLS teams paid $5million to join. 5 years ago they paid $150million. 2 years ago they paid $325 million.

MLS has doubled the number of teams in the past 10 years.

Nearly 30 years ago USA hosted the world cup and the MLS didn't exist. In 5 years, we will host again having built up a nearly 30 team, multi-billion dollar league that has better attendance numbers than NBA and NHL essentially less than 2 decades after it didn't even exist.

It's been happening for 30 years, it's just not in your day-to-day yet (assuming you're in WI - it's not in many people's day-to-day here yet).

But it's coming.

[Norm]

11 minutes ago, cannondale said:

I must be missing the point, because I don't see the reasons why it can happen now vs 5 years ago or 10 years ago

BECAUSE YOUNG PEOPLE ARE PLAYING SOCCER IN THE USA AT WAY WAY WAY WAY HIGHER RATES THAN BACK THEN. 

I don't know how else to explain that

[Kampfgeist]

1 hour ago, cannondale said:

I must be missing the point, because I don't see the reasons why it can happen now vs 5 years ago or 10 years ago

• Actual Global household names with major Clubs.   Not Lalas or Dempsey or McBride or Kirovsky or Reyna or Donovan or Bocanegra playing some minutes at fringe clubs like Celtic or Watford or Fulham but players playing and even excelling at the largest, most successful name-brand Clubs in the World -- Chelsea, Manchester City, Barcelona, Juventus, Dortmund, Schalke, Valencia, Lille and still the clubs like your RB Leipzig, Newcastle or Norwich City.   
• Not aging domestic superstars, but fringe global talents like those named above - but young 18-24 yr old dudes the younger generations can relate to (all of the players with the major clubs fit that bill) and more are signing overseas everyday
• Not the sadly overhyped 14 yr old Freddie Adu's but the highly successful debuts of Pulisic, McKennie, Dest, Reyna etc 
• I can guarantee that 10 years ago a Dempsey or Donovan or McBride could walk down the street and not get mobbed, probably not even recognized, but I bet Pulisic and Reyna wouldn't have that same freedom
• Domestic billionaires like Arthur Hunt, David Tepper or the Glazers recently pumping huge money into MLS teams and Premier League teams, not just their NFL franchises
• Television rights and televised access to every major soccer league in the World.   MLS, Concacaf, Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga games all readily available.   The only reason I have even considered Peacock is because they televise so many Premier League games
• Within the last 2 days I saw ESPN or FS1 showing a Canadian domestic league game.    Seriously, a Canadian domestic league game being aired on a major sports channel !!
• Recent - 2021 - big performances and positive results against a major hated rival - Mexico.  Results that were well-deserved and not fluky wins while being outclassed on the field.   Results from our household names living up to their hype
• Major world clubs paying significant investment dollars in the US through tournaments like the ICC (International Champions Cup) or establishing US youth club teams like FC Barcelona has.  They even have full soccer immersion Middle and High Schools here in the US if you want your children to attend (tuition is approx $25-40k/year).  My son trained with actual Chelsea coaches in a clinic as the team travelled the country on a promotional tour.   Any guesses who he cheers for or how much he knew about English soccer teams before that day?
• The rise of FANTASY SOCCER !!  https://fantasy.premierleague.com/      My interest in watching any and all Premier League games is directly correlated to my participation in fantasy soccer several years ago.   3 yrs later I can name obscure defensive players on the 20th ranked PL Club and scour the transfer news like a Packer transaction wire
• Huge $ being poured into large soccer/sports complexes nationwide.   There are some legitimately immaculate complexes all around me now with 16-30 fields, both turf and grass, indoor facilities and out and pickup games being played at all hours.  That wasn't a thing growing up.
• And push things out just past that 10 year timeframe and to add a more local touch.....Jay DeMerit.   Watching a local GB kid who grew up in Howard and whose father was a PE teacher at Bayview Middle School go from a good WI high school soccer career to playing for a 9th division England club to captaincy at Watford and ultimately playing for the USMNT @ a World Cup!     What kid playing soccer in GB can't look to his example and wonder if that could be him/her?  That's the generation that's been inspired to see greatness and to love the game.     Not familiar?  Look for his documentary
• It's a process but the growth is exponential.   Not ever going to reach the heights of an NFL or NBA but it's share is growing

Edited August 18, 2021 by Kampfgeist

[AlexGreen#20]

2 hours ago, HighCalebR said:

Dont look now...

Pulisic, mckinnie, miazga, reyna and yedlin out there doin the thing. Pulisic the superstar of chelsea.

It's awesome that those guys are getting out there. Even Sargent saw time at Norwich. 

Pulisic isn't the star at Chelsea. He's a solid piece, but Kante is fresh off DOMINATING the champions league, and Lukaku is going to destroy when he gets rolled out. Pulisic is in that busy second tier attacker group with Werner, Mount, and Havertz.