USA or Australia: What country has the better sporting culture?

[TassieSaint]

It's interesting to read some of the things people see as a positive about American sports I would see as a negative.

College sport is amazing in terms of the atmosphere and the support, but the whole set up where players aren't paid and millions of dollars are going to the Unis it's a bit messed up. I've heard it compared to modern day slavery which is probably a bit far but an interesting point.

The culture of loyalty in Australia (and the AFL in general) is something I think is a positive. I follow the NBA where players change teams like they change undies, the whole super team thing makes it tough to follow. AFL teams are legitimate clubs and feel that way whilst American sports teams are very much franchises for the most part. If Robert Harvey played NBA he would have cracked the shits after '97 and joined North Melbourne, or gone to Freo for a couple of extra million.

Which is the another thing I don't like about American sports is the selfishness and arrogance of the players. You have players constantly talking themselves up to the media, often point blank refusing to follow coaching directions or make sacrifices for the team. It makes them very unlikeable for me.

Anyway, having never been to the US I cant answer this question properly, but I'm quite happy with our sporting culture and to be honest there is not much from over there I see and think 'geez I wish we had that here'. Overall the quality of the players in the NBA is a lot better than the AFL say, but that's to be expected given the population differences.

 

[Procrastinator35]

U.S sport is all about money & fame....Sadly, we are following that same course.

If you want to call that 'Culture'?....Then so be it.

 

[FootyJunkie]

There is like 2 days a year without an NFL/NHL/NBA/MLB game.

yep

if the World Series doesn't end in a sweep and dips into November, you will get a short window where all four pro-leagues are running at the same time

 

[PhatBoy]

One thing that shits me about the yank sporting culture and it is starting to happen here, is the stupidly deep analysis that goes into everything.
Evidenced by 99 per cent of David King's contributions to Fox Footy

 

[Stan_Darsh72]

One thing that shits me about the yank sporting culture and it is starting to happen here, is the stupidly deep analysis that goes into everything.
Evidenced by 99 per cent of David King's contributions to Fox Footy

Americans do love their stats and stupid analyis but their sports are based on set plays and all that.

That being i have heard Johan Cruyff talk in depth about soccer and that was genuinely eye opening

 

[HomokHarcos]

Americans do love their stats and stupid analyis but their sports are based on set plays and all that.

That being i have heard Johan Cruyff talk in depth about soccer and that was genuinely eye opening

It sounds like Australia is like England where many people hate statistics and don't care about tactics.

 

[Stan_Darsh72]

It sounds like Australia is like England where many people hate statistics and don't care about tactics.

I would say we care about tactics, just we want proper analysis on the tactics not david king using as many big words as possible to describe something.

 

[PP34]

US and it isn't even close. As a sports nut it's one of the reasons I want to do some travelling over there and maybe even live over there for a few years.

I was stunned when I made a trip over there in 2014 to play some basketball. They were filling the gym for a high school basketball game against a bunch of Aussies on a team that had been thrown together.

The thing that separates them from us even further is just the regularity of sports viewing over there. Any night of the year there's pretty much a hockey game, football game, baseball game or basketball game that people will sit around at a bar and watch. Midweek sport is a staple over there.

It's pretty sad to come back here and for 4 days of the week having nothing but garbage to watch on a TV at night. Would be pretty cool if we had a sport that you could watch midweek. The Big Bash has sort of become that but it's only for a brief period.

 

[HomokHarcos]

US and it isn't even close. As a sports nut it's one of the reasons I want to do some travelling over there and maybe even live over there for a few years.

I was stunned when I made a trip over there in 2014 to play some basketball. They were filling the gym for a high school basketball game against a bunch of Aussies on a team that had been thrown together.

The thing that separates them from us even further is just the regularity of sports viewing over there. Any night of the year there's pretty much a hockey game, football game, baseball game or basketball game that people will sit around at a bar and watch. Midweek sport is a staple over there.

It's pretty sad to come back here and for 4 days of the week having nothing but garbage to watch on a TV at night. Would be pretty cool if we had a sport that you could watch midweek. The Big Bash has sort of become that but it's only for a brief period.

So what you have gathered is that on average an American follows more sports than an Australian?

 

[PP34]

So what you have gathered is that on average an American follows more sports than an Australian?

They're probably into more sports yeah.

I think Australia with the introduction of internet has become far different from the days of being a footy and cricket nation, but still wouldn't come close to the US. I stayed a night with a dad and his kids who lived probably 10km from the University of North Carolina. They literally come home and watch sports like we do reality shows. All the TVs were set up with cable to watch a heap of sport. It was the same at the other house I stayed at.

You go to an Applebees on a Wednesday night and it's pretty filled with people eating a meal and watching a game like Aussies might do on a weekend night watching the footy.

Americans are less aware of what goes on in other countries though I think. All about what is going on domestically.

 

[HomokHarcos]

They're probably into more sports yeah.

I think Australia with the introduction of internet has become far different from the days of being a footy and cricket nation, but still wouldn't come close to the US. I stayed a night with a dad and his kids who lived probably 10km from the University of North Carolina. They literally come home and watch sports like we do reality shows. All the TVs were set up with cable to watch a heap of sport. It was the same at the other house I stayed at.

You go to an Applebees on a Wednesday night and it's pretty filled with people eating a meal and watching a game like Aussies might do on a weekend night watching the footy.

Americans are less aware of what goes on in other countries though I think. All about what is going on domestically.

The only time most Americans care about a foreign sport is during the FIFA World Cup.

Yep that's what it's like with my family in Detroit. During the summer we would watch baseball everyday, in the winter, fall and spring we watched hockey most days, and we also watched the NFL every week.

 

[Catfish Alley]

One thing that shits me about the yank sporting culture and it is starting to happen here, is the stupidly deep analysis that goes into everything.
Evidenced by 99 per cent of David King's contributions to Fox Footy

I'd take stats and analysis over nicknames and commentators trying to be mates with players.

 

[PP34]

I'd take stats and analysis over nicknames and commentators trying to be mates with players.

Stats are good if used correctly. Here in Australia footy stats with a bit more meaning are fairly new and we've got a whole bunch of idiot ex-footballers on TV trying to act knowledgeable with them.

America has some brilliant minds when it comes to analysing a sport and using stats which is what Australian football really lacks. You won't see anyone like that for quite some time though because getting on Fox Footy and talking about a game pretty much means you have to have played AFL.

 

[the_interloper]

I'd take stats and analysis over nicknames and commentators trying to be mates with players.

Cameron Ling this means you.

 

[M Malice]

Australian elite sport still has that tribal culture when it comes to team sports albeit not to the degree it was in the not to distant past. Fans identify with their teams and can/could relate to the players.

While I understand it is market forces at work I think it is obscene the amount of money sports people make in some parts of the world for kicking, throwing, hitting, heading and catching balls. The more money they earn the more detached they become from the everyday fan and most of them have this arrogant delusions of grandeur attitude.

I love the Lions but feel I would lose a degree of passion for the game if the players started developing the multi millionaire arrogance similar to European/Sth. American soccer players if/when the really big dollars start to roll in.

I will never be as passionate about my team as I was in Brisbane in the late 60s, 70s and early 80s when I was a mad Valleys supporter in the old BRL (Brisbane Rugby League). The players earned a few hundred dollars a week at best and worked in the local community during the week and drank at the local pub, probably similar to what the old VFL was like in the day.

End of old bastards oh in my day rant.

 

[HomokHarcos]

Australian elite sport still has that tribal culture when it comes to team sports albeit not to the degree it was in the not to distant past. Fans identify with their teams and can/could relate to the players.

While I understand it is market forces at work I think it is obscene the amount of money sports people make in some parts of the world for kicking, throwing, hitting, heading and catching balls. The more money they earn the more detached they become from the everyday fan and most of them have this arrogant delusions of grandeur attitude.

I love the Lions but feel I would lose a degree of passion for the game if the players started developing the multi millionaire arrogance similar to European/Sth. American soccer players if/when the really big dollars start to roll in.

I will never be as passionate about my team as I was in Brisbane in the late 60s, 70s and early 80s when I was a mad Valleys supporter in the old BRL (Brisbane Rugby League). The players earned a few hundred dollars a week at best and worked in the local community during the week and drank at the local pub, probably similar to what the old VFL was like in the day.

End of old bastards oh in my day rant.

It's funny that a lot have an issue with athletes making this much money from sports, but don't have an issue with the owners making millions from sport.

 

[M Malice]

It's funny that a lot have an issue with athletes making this much money from sports, but don't have an issue with the owners making millions from sport.

I don't have an issue with the athletes making this much money, I accept it is the economic system we live in. I see it as a huge societal issue with no solution anywhere on the horizon unless there is some sort of global revolution against the economic system. Sports people are entertainers just like actors/singers, for what they bring to society I feel some of them earn way too much money.

eg.http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...tar-pens-new-five-year-365-000-week-deal.html

This is a discussion for the SRP board so I'll leave my whinging at that.

 

[Jevvy Wallis]

It's interesting to read some of the things people see as a positive about American sports I would see as a negative.

College sport is amazing in terms of the atmosphere and the support, but the whole set up where players aren't paid and millions of dollars are going to the Unis it's a bit messed up. I've heard it compared to modern day slavery which is probably a bit far but an interesting point.

The culture of loyalty in Australia (and the AFL in general) is something I think is a positive. I follow the NBA where players change teams like they change undies, the whole super team thing makes it tough to follow. AFL teams are legitimate clubs and feel that way whilst American sports teams are very much franchises for the most part. If Robert Harvey played NBA he would have cracked the shits after '97 and joined North Melbourne, or gone to Freo for a couple of extra million.

Which is the another thing I don't like about American sports is the selfishness and arrogance of the players. You have players constantly talking themselves up to the media, often point blank refusing to follow coaching directions or make sacrifices for the team. It makes them very unlikeable for me.

Anyway, having never been to the US I cant answer this question properly, but I'm quite happy with our sporting culture and to be honest there is not much from over there I see and think 'geez I wish we had that here'. Overall the quality of the players in the NBA is a lot better than the AFL say, but that's to be expected given the population differences.

Yep, one of the reasons I can't stick to an NBA team is player movements.

I was in love woth OKC when they made finals that year. They had Harden, Durant and Westbrook. But of course, they all moved on and now it's just Westbrook.

A few years later my dad went to Boston for work, and got me a Rondo guernsey. Of course, Rondo left the next year.

Finally I was like screw it I'll just go for an aussie. Loved watching Delevadova's efforts for Cleveland in last years playoffs. I'll go for Cleveland. He leaves the next year.

So now I've given up and will never support any NBA team and I'll only watch the finals.

 

[I Lost My Keays]

American Sports

 

[kickazz]

Does the US have a strong culture of local leagues, pie nights, etc etc?

I honestly don't know.

 

[peppy la pew]

No love for the "Duke"?
View attachment 369867 View attachment 369867 View attachment 369867

He looked much better in a Leeds shirt

 

[Gough]

Five championships, an FA Cup winners medal, two League Cups, a Charity Shield, and a Europe Cup winners medal. A grade mullet too. Hard to go past Craig Johnston as the best Aussie to grace a European league.

 

[Blackout]

I’m pretty sure the number one participation sport for adults in the US in ten-pin bowling. US sporting culture is nothing more than fan culture.

I’ll take semi-professional community sport over Doritos and Mountain Dew any day of the week

 

[peppy la pew]

Five championships, an FA Cup winners medal, two League Cups, a Charity Shield, and a Europe Cup winners medal. A grade mullet too. Hard to go past Craig Johnston as the best Aussie to grace a European league.

I remember the goal he scored in the FA Cup final against Everton

 

[Scotland]

Stats lend themselves to some sports and not to others. Not sure we're stat-phobic or anything down here since cricket is the summer sport of choice and is all about stats.

Basketball is the only US sport I really take an interest in and that's a pretty stat heavy game. With a 24 second shot clock and possession being handed over after every score it lends itself to being a very 50/50 game in terms of opportunity. If you watch a team work the ball around the 3 point arc they might have 10 passes before someone takes a shot. Whoever made the last pass is credited with an assist if it goes in, but no one really takes note of the 9 passes before that. Steph Curry could touch the ball 100 times in a game but if he shoots 5 of 20 and turns the ball over no one cares.

Footy is a bit different and I think we keep stats just for the sake of it these days. Disposals were 452-459 yesterday for the game in China and Port won by 12 goals. Four of the top 6 possession getters were Gold Coast players and IIRC overall disposal efficiency was 72% vs 73%. What value do those stats provide? Rugby is another game with limited useful statistics. Who has the ball and where they have it are the main ones. If a team has 70% possession and 70% territory you can tell that they are regularly attacking the opposition try line. Soccer is pretty simple with stats, too.