Americans don't care about a sport unless they are best at it

[nimbus]

i think it's more accurate to look at it from this perspective: the top american athletes choose sports americans care about...so do coaches and equipment manufacturers.. and so we have a good chance to dominate those. if you notice, top nfl-ers often also dominated at baseball or basketball in hs and even college sometimes. terrell owens would be amazing at any shit he tried. on the other hand, the sports we don't care about get a lower grade of athlete, so it's natural that we wouldn't dominate it. If every american suddenly decided they love rugby, and all the media and advertisers threw their money at the sport, then our top baseball, basketball and football players would start playing rugby from childhood. top coaching minds would also switch over, and equipment makers would start making sick ass gear for us. i almost positive the u.s. would have an elite team in a two decades. but we don't because nobody gives a fuck; it isn't one of our national past times

 

[nimbus]

ok so my arguments are similar to bino's; didn't read his posts till now

 

[nimbus]

Love it. Along with another 3 billion people.

how do you feel about basketball?

 

[Powerbuilder333]

As an American I like Olympic ski jumping, the Biathlon, and Olympic weightlifting - sports Americans suck at...

 

[jd_uk]

i think it's more accurate to look at it from this perspective: the top american athletes choose sports americans care about...so do coaches and equipment manufacturers.. and so we have a good chance to dominate those. if you notice, top nfl-ers often also dominated at baseball or basketball in hs and even college sometimes. terrell owens would be amazing at any shit he tried. on the other hand, the sports we don't care about get a lower grade of athlete, so it's natural that we wouldn't dominate it. If every american suddenly decided they love rugby, and all the media and advertisers threw their money at the sport, then our top baseball, basketball and football players would start playing rugby from childhood. top coaching minds would also switch over, and equipment makers would start making sick ass gear for us. i almost positive the u.s. would have an elite team in a two decades. but we don't because nobody gives a fuck; it isn't one of our national past times

It's a different perspective but isn't it a tainted one?

Yes, the top athletes will choose American sports because they are most popular but why were they popular in the first place? Seems that America took global sports which they weren't good at like cricket and rugby and converted them into sports like baseball and American Football where there would be no international competition.

Same with the olympics...why did Usain Bolt hardly get a mention when he smashed the 100m record? Because of Michael Phelps. all of a sudden Americans didn't care about sprinting but did care about swimming.

..a.and then the medals table...it's laughable that American news has just rejected the offical table and is instead claiming that America is number 1.

Patriotism is good to an extent...but this is just silly.

 

[jd_uk]

how do you feel about basketball?

Enjoy playing it...but never been much of a fan of watching it.

My point is that in other countries it's not about whetehr you're best at it. England aren't the best at soccer rugby or cricket at the moment...we still follow them. We still marvel at the likes of Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps...we appreciate other sports even if we aren't dominating them at the time.

 

[nimbus]

Enjoy playing it...but never been much of a fan of watching it.

My point is that in other countries it's not about whetehr you're best at it. England aren't the best at soccer rugby or cricket at the moment...we still follow them.

dude..didn't england invent cricket and rugby, and practically invent soccer - at least the formal, organized version of it? How can you use those as examples; of course england will always like those sports. It's not like any Americans stopped watching basketball when the U.S. team kept losing in the olympics.

 

[nimbus]

Yes, the top athletes will choose American sports because they are most popular but why were they popular in the first place? Seems that America took global sports which they weren't good at like cricket and rugby and converted them into sports like baseball and American Football where there would be no international competition.

Rugby wasn't even really established as a sport when the rudimentary version football was invented; i'd say the games were more invented in parallel than in series, with football just totally ripping off rugby.

..a.and then the medals table...it's laughable that American news has just rejected the offical table and is instead claiming that America is number 1.

what countries do you think wouldn't do the same thing?

 

[jd_uk]

dude..didn't england invent cricket and rugby, and practically invent soccer - at least the formal, organized version of it? How can you use those as examples; of course england will always like those sports. It's not like any Americans stopped watching basketball when the U.S. team kept losing in the olympics.

Hundreds of years ago...most sports or variations of most sports came from Britain if trace back early enough but the reason i'm using them as an example is because they are such popular global sports. The basic point is that we follow sports we aren't even good at.

Don'y you find it amusing that America have their own version of the olympic medal table and that they barely give Bolt a mention behing Phelps?

 

[jd_uk]

what countries do you think wouldn't do the same thing?

?????

As far as i know most countries would just follow the official table.

As the phrase goes 'only in America'...although perhaps now China might also be this arrogant.