OT: Epic Sports Watching Day(s)

Submitted by Bromigo on

Filling out the new 2012 day planner (thanks wifey) with the Mich Hoop Rock schedule and noticed Feb 5th is going to be one solid day of sports. Kicking off (literally) with Chelsea vs ManU, then Mich vs Mich State on the hardwood and a decent little nightcap with the Super Bowl.  

Can anyone else recall a multi-sport-smorgasbord day of awesomeness like this?

Roachgoblue

December 28th, 2011 at 1:12 AM ^

When they used to play the big bowl games on the same day and the Rose Bowl was the late one. It happened every year.

Half Blood Dut…

December 28th, 2011 at 1:24 AM ^

Earlier this year, UFC 126 Silva vs Belfort was on February 5, then the Super Bowl was the next day.

Arguably, UFC always ends around midnight for those on the east coast (I'm pissed that they will be starting them at 10 again instead of 9), so it was a crazy 24 hours for me.

UFC is also planning UFC 143 Diaz vs Condit on February 4 for next years Super Bowl weekend! =)

kevin holt

December 28th, 2011 at 1:37 AM ^

He said sports.

...in case you misunderstand, I'm just kidding :) I also have the privilege of having Feb 6 as my birthday, so Super Bowls are almost always on or around it. Actually it kind of sucks because people are already having parties. But maybe if/when the Lions make it someone will give me a generous birthday gift? 

wresler120

December 28th, 2011 at 2:28 AM ^

I can't get into a game that ends 0-0  ....

 

 

I'd be more excited for a full day of March Madness ... watching Michigan smash someone ... hoping like hell Ohio State and Michigan State get their ass beat ... and then the excitement of a bunch of upsets all day long!!

MGoBender

December 28th, 2011 at 2:28 AM ^

A: Less than 5% of games end scoreless.

B: nobody cares about your opinion about soccer.

C: does it ever fail for someone to but themselves into a conversation about soccer (maybe only tangentially about soccer) and proclaim their disdain for the world's most popular sport?

wresler120

December 28th, 2011 at 2:44 AM ^

It is the worlds most popular sport, but it is quite unpopular in the US .. hence the low turnouts to the MLS games.

True again ... most games do not end 0-0 ... usually 1-1 or 2-1

I'm not trying to make you mad ... just to me a 1-1 soccer game is as exciting as a 3-3 football game ... if they get crazy and the score gets to 2-1 ... it feels like a 6-3 football game.

Don't get me worng ... there are people who love a 6-3 football game

 

three red spiders

December 28th, 2011 at 3:12 AM ^

Your mindset about the popularity of soccer isn't current...MLS's average attendance is the 4th best of any US pro league...it's ahead of the NHL among others...

 

You're not making me mad or anything, I just want to make sure that people who haven't made up their mind on the issue yet have the right info...

Wenham Wolverine

December 28th, 2011 at 8:33 AM ^

average attendance, meaning average number of fans in a venue for a game? or percentage of capacity? it wouldn't be a shocker if there are more fans on average at an mls game, when for example, the bruins play in a 17,565 seat arena, while the revs play in a 68,756 seat stadium (which goes with a listed capacity of 22,385 for soccer to keep the percentage looking better).

I'd still love to see your sources.

Needs

December 28th, 2011 at 12:59 PM ^

This article from sports business journal claims that MLS now has the third highest attendance, passing the NBA last year. Those numbers are boosted by Seattle, which sells out its allotment of 40,000 tickets every game and even opened their upper decks to sell ~65k for a couple games. It's also boosted by the other two Pacific NW franchises, which operate at full capacity.

You have a good point about % of capacity. The MLS is really similar to the NBA and NHL where about half of its franchises sell at or near 100% of their tickets (for MLS, Pac NW franchises, Galaxy, KC, Toronto, Philly, SLC, presumably Montreal), about a quarter have middling attendance and then the last quarter are real dogs (Dallas, San Jose, etc)

http://aol.sportingnews.com/soccer/story/2011-11-07/mls-passes-nba-as-third-best-attended-american-sport

Needs

December 28th, 2011 at 1:25 PM ^

Unsurprisingly, the googles finds an obsessive who tracks MLS attendance by percentage of capacity. My previous post was off on San Jose. It basically breaks down like this in terms of percentage (and these percentages don't tell the whole story, since there are facilities with as few as 11,000 seats [San Jose] and as many as 38,500 [Seattle]. This means the team with the highest percentage (San Jose @ 115%) also has the lowest average attendance)...

Teams with greater than 90%: 7 (Philly, Portland, San Jose, Seattle, KC, Toronto, Vancouver)

Teams between 75-90: 4 (Galaxy [with 23k avg.], Colorado, SLC, NYRB)

Teams below that: 7 (Chicago, Chivas [54%!], Columbus, DC, Dallas, Houston [still avging 17,700], NE) 

One of the interesting things is that only KC and San Jose, of the original franchises, draws in the top group, with 4 of the original franchises making up the bottom of the table. 

http://mlsattendance.blogspot.com/2011/10/final-attendance-update.html

 

Wenham Wolverine

December 28th, 2011 at 1:46 PM ^

Thanks for sharing the data-- very interesting stuff. I'll still keep being bitter towards the MLS until they give Rochester a franchise. (They said build a soccer specific stadium, and you'll get a team; we did, they didn't follow through. Bastards.)

I know I'm a jaded puckhead, but I really do feel like going forward the NBA has more to worry about than the NHL, with the lockout increasing the odds that fans won't want to pony up hundreds of dollars to see the 3rd unit play, since the teams could be playing their 3rd game in 4 days.

Tuebor

December 28th, 2011 at 11:19 AM ^

I've really gotten into soccer since I bought fifa 06 way back in the day and every installation since.  However I still can't watch MLS because it isn't the top league.  I love me some USA mens national team and watch them even when they play concacaf bottom feeders.  The only club soccer i can watch is premier league or euro league. 

NHL on the other hand is completely different.  It is a much more niche sport than soccer.  It is really only popular in USA, Canada, Northern and Central Europe.  I think the NHL did itself a huge disservice by expanding into southern markets.

Bosch

December 28th, 2011 at 11:12 AM ^

Camp's influence in football has nothing to do with the popularity of soccer today. 

However, that was just an aside to my post, the actual point of which is that 14-7 football games are not much different than 2-1 soccer games, in response to those that argue that soccer is boring because it is low scoring.

Next time.... follow along.

Tuebor

December 28th, 2011 at 11:31 AM ^

However, 14-7 in football is nothing like 2-1 in soccer because of thing called field goals and point after conversions (1 or 2).  In football you can win 10-7 but in soccer there is no fraction of a goal.   

unWavering

December 28th, 2011 at 12:04 PM ^

14-7 games in football are completely different, as the other guy stated.  The two sports can't really be compared on any level.  Some people prefer football to soccer, and vice versa, for legitimate reasons.  Maybe next time you could try to make a valid point without sounding like a douchebag.

Bosch

December 28th, 2011 at 3:30 PM ^

the fucking sports.

It's a simple statement.....  14 to 7 is two scores to one.  I'm ignoring the PAT.... because it's worth ignoring.  The PAT is made 99% of the time.

If anyone on this board attempted to argue that a 14 to 7 football game is boring just because it was low scoring, they'd get roasted.  However, we can't bring up soccer without someone going out of their way to let everyone know that they hate soccer.  Why do they hate it?  Because it's boring...........  And why is it boring?  Because not enough goals are scored.........

Ignorance brings out my inner douchebaggery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

unWavering

December 28th, 2011 at 3:49 PM ^

But whatever.  Aren't you forgetting field goals?

Anyway, that's beside the main point.  Yes, people say they don't like soccer because it's boring, and it's boring because it's low-scoring.  Perhaps that is over-simplifying it. 

The difference between a low-scoring soccer game and a low-scoring football game is that soccer is almost always low-scoring.  Aside from that, I'd rather watch dominating football defenses beat the tar out of the other team's offense than watch a bunch of guys pass a ball around a field for 90 minutes.  (OK, there's more to it than that, but it's not interesting enough to me to break it down any further).  Call it ignorance or whatever else you want, but you're not changing my opinion about it.

 

swan flu

December 28th, 2011 at 11:04 AM ^

I guess 25 million americans watching the World Cup finale makes the sport pretty unpopular.

 

Or perhaps the fact that the audience for the Champions League finale has increased by 1000% over the past decade would shed some light on the situation.

 

"Soccer continues to draw an impressively young audience.  Saturday’s match earned a 1.8 among Men 18-34 on FOX, which is +29% higher than the HH rating. It’s exceptionally rare for a sports event to be that much stronger among the younger demo than it is overall."

 

http://theoriginalwinger.com/2011-06-02-uefa-champions-league-final-us-tv-ratings-up-91

B-Nut-GoBlue

December 28th, 2011 at 3:33 AM ^

Not to change the subject, but opine on the matter, I love days filled with the same sport. For instance I seem to lose interest in the summer sport baseball when Fall football rolls around. This is not to say I don't love me some great MLB playoff/world series games. But to my point, I love the opening weekend of March Madness and New Years day (January 2nd this year) that are jam packed with intense games all day long (same sport obviously). It's hard for me to watch a great 6 hours of football then try to get amped for a baseball game in the same night. Moar football for me!

My opinion can of course be skewed as I'm not as in to as many of the other "sports" easily accessible to and around now-a-days.

natesezgoblue

December 28th, 2011 at 4:32 AM ^

A few years back in June there if I can remember correctly--

World cup soccer all day

French Open

Triple Crown finale- war emblem lost

Stanley cup finals- wings won in OT

Lennox Lewis - Holyfield

mgobleu

December 28th, 2011 at 6:36 AM ^

Wait, wait. I am confuse. I know you said "sports", but what exactly are you suggesting is going to happen between Manu Ginobili and some chick named Chelsea on this particular day?

nmumike

December 28th, 2011 at 7:33 AM ^

Oct. 2nd of this year when the Lions came back from a 24 point deficit to beat the Cowboys, and later that day the Tigers beat the Yankees in NY. When the Yankees and Cowboys lose on the same day it is a pretty good day, but when the teams from Detroit are responsible for those loses, even better!

MGoBender

December 28th, 2011 at 12:55 PM ^

I simply don't get this.  Why can't people say what their favorite sports day would be without bashing on soccer?  It's actually quite fascinating.

For example, my favorite sports day would involve:

Michigan Basketball in the final four

Tigers opening day

 

I don't need to go out of my way to pine about how much I hate NASCAR.  So the question is, why do people go out of their way to complain about soccer?  Is there some subconcious need to put down a popular thing?  Is it the false conception that the game is not physical? (American football and hockey are really the only major sports more physical)  Is it some desire to ignore the fact that it is growing at a steady and sustainable rate in the States?  I don't get it.