American football is a better sport than soccer

Oh it’s fine, ironically the same happened to me. Arguments: 1. Soccer is simple There’s a reason soccer is the most popular game in the world and that’s because it can be played by almost anyone at anytime. Football requires a specific ball shape as well as being quite difficult to throw the first couple attempts. Soccer on the other hand can be played with hundreds of different objects. The soccer legend Pele grew up playing with a grapefruit or rolled up sock [1]. This allows anyone, from children in Africa to kids on a college campus in New York to play a pickup game at any time. Added to that, you can even play the game by yourself, whether it be shooting goals or passing the ball to yourself off a wall. Later in life, rules do emerge though and the game can be complicated. But anyone can sit down and watch a soccer game, no prior experience needed. Granted, the minor rules and offsides can be confusing at first but it’s an easier game to understand for a beginner than a NFL game. 2. Scoring is more exciting in soccer Soccer games can last their full length with only one or two goals being scored so therefore, compared to a football game where there are both multiple ways for teams to score and both teams almost always score multiple times, scoring in soccer is rarer. Just look at the goal celebrations that teams do [2], either way better than a guy throwing the ball at the ground as hard as he can. 3. Length of game Football is 60 minutes long. Soccer is 90. But how is an NFL game 195-210 minutes long while FIFA games usually average around 120? Well, one of the reasons is the constant commercials that the NFL and now even the NCAA air. There are commercials before and after kickoff now. That means for around 15 seconds of gameplay, the viewer has to watch several minutes of commercials. In soccer however, that isn't the case as there is only once chance to show commercials and that’s during halftime. You get to watch 45 minutes straight of soccer without interruption unlike football where the most you get is around 5 minutes if it’s a long drive. Also, this shows the endurance needed to play a soccer game compared to a football game. 4. Fitness of players I will concede that it takes a different body type to excel as a linebacker rather than a midfielder, that’s obvious. However, in a country with obesity being such a prevelant problem, should the people the kids idolize be overweight? “The issue of weight and heart risks has spread even to high schools, where studies indicate that more than half of linemen are overweight. Some medical experts have called for weight limits on players, though that seems unlikely in the immediate future. Even so, some former N.F.L. linemen wonder whether it is really necessary to weigh 300 pounds to play effectively today.” [4]. Soccer players on the other hand, have to be neither underweight or overweight in order to succed at what they do. Most elite soccer players have a normal BMI [5]. This is also due in part to the fact that football players get rests every 15 or so seconds during a game. Added to that, they only play half the game because offense and defense are two seperate to units. On top of all that, substitutions are fairly common during a drive in football. Soccer on the other hand has none of that. Players play for up to 45 minutes straight, with substitutions being few and far between. 5. Injuries I again concede that football is much more of a contact sport than soccer. But then you have some players going out and intentionally going out with the intent of harm. Take for example the New Orleans Saints who offered bounties based on who they hurt and how badly they hurt them [6]. Also, in regardance in injuries, soccer injuries are much less common than football injuries [7] [8]. Added to that, they are also less severe, the worst a soccer player can get is maybe a fractured limb compared to permanent brain damage that some football players sustain after years of playing [7] [8]. Some football players have even died on the field, ranging from pros to even high school boys [9]. [1] http://5mag.co... [2] http://www.youtube.com...# [4] http://www.nytimes.com...; [5] http://www.livestrong.com... [6]http://espn.go.com... [7]http://www.forbes.com... [8]http://www.forbes.com... [9]http://abcnews.go.com...