Of course Football (Soccer) requires skill. What an incredibly ignorant thing to say. You need a good head on your shoulders too so you can outwit you opponents.
Sports are one of life's greatest pleasures, and association football is probably the best (not because of the game per se, but the atmosphere, and the actual scale - it's good to know your game is followed worldwide by billions of people. It's like a worldwide language).
American Football is a game I've tried to watch, but I've never really got to grips with the rules. I guess it's a bit like cricket to an American; all the crowd seem to be enjoying it, but you can't figure out why. Baseball; now there's different matter! I can't believe baseball's not taken off in most parts of the world.
It's big in Japan (pun intended), and Taiwan. It's not massive in China though, and could never touch cricket in the western Asian countries (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh).
Baseball has a few dedicated countries, the US obviously, Spanish-speaking Carribean countries, Venezuela, Mexico, etc. And then there's Japan and that. But outside of those countries it's barely played, which is a shame. I'd like for there to be small but sizeable enclaves of baseball all through the world.
Did you know that the GB baseball team qualified for the final qualifying round in the Beijing Olympics, but the Olympic Committee people declined to fund it? We were replaced by Germany. Absolutely outrageous decision. I could've been sat at home watching Britain play the US at baseball and get mullered. It would have been immense.
Baseball is a good sport, just like basketball. I wouldn't mind seeing baseball reach the rest of the world. But I think watching soccer provides more of an adrenaline rush, because it's mostly 20 minutes of boredom, followed by 1 lucky/well-played goal. And in most games, there are around 20 exciting moments in between where spectators would perk up expecting a goal.
I wrote an article on game design based on why football is so addictive, but never uploaded it
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
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