GotZoom
Senior Member
Jimmyeatworld said:Responding to the P.S. first: By todays game, you are right. What we call soccer should logically be called football. I think it's because soccer didn't catch on here at all until probably the 1970s. By that time American football had been around more than half a century, so somebody came up with a different name. Not sure where the name soccer comes from, though.
I think it's hard for other sports to find a place in the United States. The thing about baseball, football, and basketball is kids today have grown up with it, people my age have grown up with it, our parents grew up with it, etc. They were established long ago, while sports like soccer are still relatively new, historically speaking. That's why hockey has never really taken off here, though it is generally recognized as a major sport. When I was a kid, it was a "Canadian sport". They have teams all over the U.S. now, but there still isn't the tradition of it in places south of Detriot or Chicago.
Excellent point. I lived overseas for 12 years and from the moment a child could walk, he had a soccer ball in front of him/her.
In the United States, it is a baseball bat or football or basketball.
It's all what people know.