Soccer on Golf Channel

[grm24]

CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY: NBCUniversal networks to televise EPL finales - Front Row Soccer

 

[Ashley Schaeffer]

I kinda dig having a soccer game on in the background sometimes. Not much action, but it’s continuous, which is cool. It might pick up here if the next Lebron James or Jadeveon Clowney picks soccer over basketball or football, but I don’t really see that happening. I will say the flopping theatrics in soccer are really annoying.

[grm24]

Here is the companion WRX whining thread from last year on the same issue. Please bookmark this for when it happens next season in the PL. Really looking forward to see the same complaints again and again in 2021. /s

This is a once a year item for 2 hours for NBC Sports Network/GC during a time of the day they aren't televising PGA Tour golf or the ET, LPGA, KFT or Champions Tour. Would there be the same faux outrage if they ran boring repeats of GC shows that WRXer's love to complain about continually or if GC ran infomercials of latest greatest air fryer, chefs knife, etc?

[MattyO1984]

Biggest and most popular sport in the World - GolfWRX hates it.

[bladehunter]

I don’t think hates. I think doesn’t understand. I know that’s my reason. It’s us who didn’t grow up playing it I guess. I just can’t follow the rules. It’s doesn’t kill me to watch. But it’s like watching a national spelling bee. Once it gets past the locals , I can’t spell the words , so I have to wait to see if the play was good or bad.

[Hawkeye77]

I coached little kids soccer when my girls played and don’t hate it but honestly didn’t learn to like it much, although I did gain a little appreciation for the skills and endurance involved for those who play at higher levels. Just a sport I’m not into and won’t ever watch on TV.

Having said that, I can’t complain about this - haven’t watched any golf or GC since it resumed. Thought I’d watch The Memorial but just didn’t. Either playing or working in the yard this summer.

[bladehunter]

Yep. I agree. I played it some in gym class in high school eons ago. On a full size field. So I agree that it takes huge endurance to play it. But then again I was running 3-6 miles a day 6 days a week then as practice for the cross country or track team depending on time of year. . So I had endurance running out of my ears. But we never knew the rules. Just kick the ball into your goal. lol. Same here on watching golf. I’ve always been a huge watcher. And now for some reason it’s fallen away. I’m generally in the yard. Or on the course. Tried to watch yesterday , and when Finau fell away. I just couldn’t. That course jsut doesn’t interest me. And a weak field made it worse. But I get that the top guys need a week off and that was a good week to take off.

[Nick6771]

I think calling it Championship Sunday is pushing it a bit considering Liverpool took the title a few weeks ago. More like relegation Sunday - which the mighty Aston Villa survived so all is now right with the world.

[dukeman]

Soccer does one thing better than other sports. They turn the clock on and for the most part let it run. You don’t see people slowing things down by throwing the ball out of bounds or running out of bounds. No chats on the mound with the pitcher. No intentionally incomplete passes. No intentional fouls.

Football, baseball, basketball etc could learn a few things from soccer.

[manku]

Didn't grow up watching soccer, and only started the past 10-15 years or so. Now it's the only sport I watch from beginning to end.

I refereed my son's AYSO clubs (as well as managed..go figure), so I understand the rules. Not sure what gets people confused...of all the major sports, Soccer is hands down the easiest to understand.

Relegation battles, which is what we had on Sunday, are sometimes the most riveting games of the year...imagine if an otherwise meaningless Jets game in December meant expulsion from the NFL to the XFL!

Because most soccer matches are close, you have a lot of drama...the goals mean something when there are few than 3 total per game on average and the result often changes at the death. Scoring doesn't mean action...watching a 3 yard TD run, sacrifice fly or a routine 12 foot jumper is hardly thrilling.

Yes, most U12 kids can play, and there is very little strategy and skill at that level...but they're out there having fun, exercising, and learning teamwork. Much better than the humiliation and psychotic parents I've witnessed in Little League.

Go to a game at Anfield or Dortmund and then you might have a change of heart...plus the tickets are much cheaper as well as concessions.

[Lobby]

I actually thought watching a relegation match on TGC was fun. It was a good game, too.

If NBC hadn't shown soccer, we'd have been treated to talking heads boviating about nonsense.

 

BTW, has ANY Golf Channel announcer ever correctly picked the winner of the tournament they're following? I mean, these folks are ALWAYS wrong. Sheesh

[smashdn]

Soccer would be more entertaining if they took 2-3 guys off the field for each team. I think scoring would go up. In most sports I can be entertained by a great defensive battle but I cannot find that with soccer. The scoring plays are far and away the only intriguing part of the game (for me).

Maybe introduce a penalty box concept with 5 minute penalties to spur on offense? That might encourage guys to have more near death experiences when bumped though.

[dcmidnight]

LOL, you guys are acting like they preempted the final round of the Masters to show this. Scrolling back though it looks like most folks are just re-treading their same hilarious hot takes from last year. Bravo!

By the way, what were we going to miss? Another half hour infomercial? A replay of the 2018 Evian Championship? An extension of the already three hour long pregame show - with the same old studio talking heads whining about Bryson or the distance "debate"?

(and these are just things that were on Saturday when I tuned in)

If people actually understood relegation and what it meant to some of the teams in the Premier League I think they would be fascinated by it. But instead, I imagine we will be right back here whining about this same thing 12 months from now. I look forward to the same posters copying/pasting the same hot takes too...

[manku]

Being a man down in soccer is not that much of a disadvantage...it's not like a power play in the NHL. If you're a man down, most high level professional teams are competent enough to play defensively and "park the bus".

High scoring doesn't mean more entertaining...it just means more blowouts which means I'll be changing the channel mid game.

[smashdn]

I'm a low IQ soccer fan. If I was the same type of golf fan as I am soccer fan I would be Baba-booey guy and get my giggles from BD driving it 400 yards in any direction.

[GSDriver]

If I wanted to watch soccer I wouldn't tune into the GOLF Channel.

[Ashley Schaeffer]

I'm right there with you on 'level of fandom'. I was watching English League like 15 years ago in Santa Monica at this place called Ye Olde King's Head (not kidding). I was with a buddy and we were trying to learn about the game. At one point, I wondered aloud if it would be more exciting if they got rid of offsides to create some break-away opportunities. We nearly got kicked out of the place. Pun intended.

[Darth Putter]

When the NHL Playoffs start I suppose we'll get a "Why is there hockey on Golf Channel?" thread.

[smashdn]

I went one year of college to an NAIA school that was national champions several times in soccer. They did not have a football (american version) team at the time. Soccer was our football. I got into it and know the rules but also think there would be more room to play with fewer players out there (duh, right?). Sort of like 3-3 in overtime in the NHL, just more room to maneuver and the scoring would go up. I get no joy out of 89.5 minutes of passing it around the field. More dangles, more breakaways and more shots on goal would improve it greatly. Lacrosse is a nice sport to watch even if you don't understand all the rules. They have a shot clock and are beating the stuffing out of one another with sticks.

[av1084]

Would you have rather had Morning Drive on instead???

[dcmidnight]

So funny story, here's what I know in the five minutes I tried to watch the lacrosse that was on this weekend. And its sort of soccer related. You know how the broadcast of every sport makes the team name/team score colored to match the uniform color they are wearing? So first time dopes like me can at least partially follow along? Well the team wearing red was in black on the scoreboard and the team wearing black was in red. It was absurd.

[DavePelz4]

Maybe someday they'll show music videos on MTV.

[nsxguy]

 

But UNLIKE football, basketball, hockey, and most every other timed sport, even with the clock NO ONE KNOWS when the game match will actually be over !!!

 

[rafal]

Actually they tried that in exhibition games and it created a very degenerate playstyle of what you'd call in a FPS gamer parlance "camping" and constant long passing. The offside is actually necessary to create compelling gameplay in soccer.

As a person who has a good knowledge of both Association and American Footballs, it's funny how both sides see their opposite type of football as "incomprehensible" and "boring." Both say the same thing about the other!

[manku]

Thread drift here...but if you have ESPN+, I recommend watching the Brentford-Fulham game today at 1145 PST...the winner gets promoted to the Premier League next season...it's called the richest game in Soccer, as the winner will get approximately 170 million pounds by being promoted.

Or you can watch Chamblee and Company handicap the upcoming PGA Championship!

 

[MattyO1984]

Having watched the game, I hope that no one took you up on that recommendation!

[doublehans]

If Clowney played soccer, his nickname would be red card. The NFL/NBA aren't really scraping off the talent that would help soccer here (tho I wouldn't put anything past LeBron), soccer has a different type of athlete generally. Maybe there's a few NFL guys that could pull off a traore type role. But its fairly limited. Allen Iverson was an anomaly in the NBA put he'd be almost perfect for soccer (and Westbrook is a true freak). The quick guys with motors in the nba. DBs/WRs from the nfl, plus Lamar.

Soccer is doing well in the US tho. Attendance (not in 2020!) is strong. The TV market is weak (the Spanish broadcasts often rate higher than the English ones), but some of that is just time - the league isnt that old. In most of the US, MLS is on par with the NHL, but the NHL has some hardcore US markets from the legacy teams, Red Wings, Bruins, etc., that really drive TV (and thats not even including Canada). Those kinds of fanbases dont just appear.

[golfandfishing]

I’ll take the PGA preview. I’d rather call technical support at an ISP than watch any soccer.

[Ashley Schaeffer]

Haha! So, those sports aren’t really scraping off the potential soccer talent, it’s just Lebron, Iverson, Westbrook, probably a lot more guards, WRs and DBs in the NFL, but that’s it. That’s barely enough guys to field 6-7 teams.

[MattyO1984]

Whilst there might be exceptions with poor games, it is genuinely your loss GandF