Oh no!

[eau_xplain 2]

I'm curious .... is there a big difference between (your) football and American soccer?

Just wondering as I know that soccer has a growing following among the younger generation. In fact, my two nieces (living in CA) are both active in soccer leagues and they keep my sister & her husband constantly on the run with their games.

[dalegg 143]

Be very careful how you speak to Americans. Calling them all uneducated is no way to make friends in a nation you wish to become part of! All Americans call SOCCER, soccer. So, this means all Americans are uneducated?? You could always just go back to the UK and watch footsie ball on TV without even thinking about real Football. Just a thought. Oh, and by the way....what a great investment Beckham turned out to be.....hehe

Well okay, I can see how offence could be taken at what I wrote although none was intended. Sorry but remember my wife is American so for me to say all Americans are uneducated would be an insult to my wife who is an extremely intelligent and savvy woman... and she would kick my butt if I called her uneducated Perhaps a better word would have been "unenlightened" because I am sure that if more American people understood football (soccer) they would see how it is a far more superior and entertaining sport to (American) football. Unfortunately, I don't think the addition of Beckham to the MLS will be sufficient enough to generate long-term interest in the game over here, considering how he seems to be made of glass, but showing all Arsenal matches on one of the major networks would show unknowing Americans just how beautiful the game is and convert many a misguided soul

Actually, I think the reason American Football is called "Football" is that when they created the sport, they were certain everyone who was a fan of the existing game called "football" would see how superior the new game was and the former game would die for lack of interest. They didn't count on people being so confused by the variety of different plays in the new game that they would be content to continue just watching people just kick a ball around.

[Stabu 0]

I've been also rather annoyed by the fact that Americans call real football for soccer. I used to play football myself for around eight years when I was a child and thus became rather emmotionally attached to the sport. Football and ice-hockey are pretty much the only two sports that I've ever watched. I've been trying to figure out a way how to call American football for something else than football. I've come up with the term "American rugby" to describe the sport what Americans call for football. However, I've noticed that no-one really understands the term American rugby so I've stuck with American football, to just call it football is in my opinnion a disgrace to real football. I also refuse to call real football for soccer but as the word real football is also confusing for Americans I've stuck up with the word "European football" for the sport, even if real football is itself extremely global.

What comes to American football, I've actually learned to enjoy it. Earlier I thought the rules where complicated and the game was very boring (since it sertainly isn't fun to play, I've tried a couple of times because my gym teacher was a professional American football player in the best Finnish American football team). When I watched my first game of American football ever from beginning to the end, I learned that the game is rather entertaining on TV. The rules are very simple and it isn't so much a question of whose got the best players (as things are with European football) but whose got the best strategy. It's also interresting to look at the physical forms of offensive vs. defensive players. The offence is made out of hundred meter sprinters while the defence is made out of strip bar concierges. It's rather interresting in the end. In general I consider watching sports a rather dull activity; I would rather be watching my own toes...

[Caladan 19]

Isn't 'soccer' originally from a British abbreviation of something or other? I seem to remember that it's from something like 'Association Football' to contrast with whatever Rugby was. So you had 'soccer' and 'rugger' or something like that... and the abbreviation stuck here but didn't in the UK. Upon looking, this backs me up.

So it's not like Americans just decided we'd call it something else for giggles.

Both sports are fun.

[Dr_LHA 3]

I'm curious .... is there a big difference between (your) football and American soccer?

Just wondering as I know that soccer has a growing following among the younger generation. In fact, my two nieces (living in CA) are both active in soccer leagues and they keep my sister & her husband constantly on the run with their games.

The big difference between "our" soccer and American Soccer is that when girls play Soccer in the UK (for example) nobody gives a #######.

[Kazan' Tiger 1]

I completely agree with you. It's NOT football. It's, "run away quickly with odd shaped ball tightly pressed against body with hands and arms." I have NEVER been a fan either. Why watch a much of men chase after each other? I'd rather chase my fiancée!