Why Americans Hate Football

Hello all.

I'm writing an essay for my Rhetoric class wherein we have to over analyze something and say what it means to American culture. Naturally, I picked football and why there is a lack of importance and genuine dislike to American fans. I'm still in the process of brainstorming, but so far I've come up with a few reasons... (Task is we have to mythologize our chosen topic and come up with some absurd ideas, but back them up) I'm thinking of saying that for Americans, soccer stands for four things that Americans dislike:

a) Absence of direct big business (not much room for commercials leads to advertising agencies here in America to pull out leads to networks not showing it leads to Americans not seeing enough of it and therefore thinking that it isn't worth watching)

b) Immigrants (can be seen on the diversity of the teams. Clubs actually spend good money to get foreign talent to play fr them, whereas Americans want to see one of their own being a superstar. Immigrants therefore become a threat especially since countries like Mexico are generally better at football than the US)

c) Homosexuals (As football is mostly regarded as a "girly sport" as compared to high impact, high velocity sports like American Football and Basketball, and sports that show manliness with tobacco chewing and trash talking like Baseball. Events of "diving" in soccer does not help with the image either)

d) Initiative or lack thereof (Throughout history, Americans have been known for taking initiative and being in constant movement looking to get results in the quickest way possible. Soccer is seen as a more defensive sport and rather than sending a message of "let's make something happen," soccer is mostly seen as a sport that tries to "prevent something from happening." Also, soccer can be seen by Americans as indecisive as a match can end in a draw whereas sports like Basketball and American Football and Baseball have rules that prevent these from happening)


Again, I need to over-analyze and if some of my ideas seem far-fetched, then that's the reason why.

Any thoughts or things that could be added?[/b]

The already established sports such as baseball and NFL have such longstanding traditions and support thru generations that their fans will not move on even in part to another sport such as football.

Like Jono says NFL, baseball, along with basketball, are seen as being American "made" - its their invention to them.
Football would be deemed foreign, so maybe not taken to heart as much?

Exactly.. Will add that to the dislike for immigrants part. cheers

I'm still amazed they call their big baseball tournament the World Series when only americans play in it.

Is there no non-American players in the MLB?

There is a large number of foreign players in the MLB. Mostly from Latin America and Japan.

I meant teams!

Ah, I see. There was the World Baseball Classic (won by Japan)

Lack of history and rivalry would be another reason Id imagine, In America clubs are run by the MLS aren't they? Similar to the rugby in the Celtic league..so Id imagine there wouldnt be a the same amount of pride for your local clubs.

As well as that clubs are hugely spread apart, one of the best things about football over here is local rivalries but I wouldnt think you'd get that as much over there with the clubs being thousands of miles apart.

And Cuba are very good in baseball, perhaps better than USA.

I don't really get this. So you're supposed to come up with absurd reasons why Americans hate football?

Excellent point there, Conaldinho. I never thought about it like that.



The paper is on mythology. We read some works by Roland Barthes and we have to do a similarly styled paper wherein we take what seems to be an ordinary thing and show how it affects American culture, or how American culture sees it.

You can't expect a sport to become popular with males in a country where phrases like "soccer mom" have become part of the vernacular. Where the media keep projecting the idea of football as a boring sport (see The Simpsons -- remember when Homer and Bart are watching that Mexico game and the ball never leaves the midfield and the players don't even move? -- and many other sitcoms, as well as Hollywood films).

If their media had enough incentive to promote the sport i think it would gain a lot of fans. But i do agree with the reasons you mentioned.

Excellent points there marios. I should mention the whole soccer mom thing, I didn't think of that.

Ah I see I think I get it now ...

Well I guess generally Americans are a patriotic lot and it might be difficult for them to come to terms with a sport that is also called 'football' in other parts of the world as it is vastly different to what the word means to them.

I think it's just culture.

I had two points to make.

The first one was D) in your initial post.

The other was that American's tend to like sports involving the hand, like Baseball, American football (although it uses both), Basketball, Tennis and Ice Hockey. In football using the hand is obviously illegal and the game is played with the feet.

I think it's because they don't play football at school but American football, baseball or basketball and i don't think there are many football clubs or competitions.

What would be the closest English equivalent of football to America, do you reckon?