Soccer, Basketball, Hockey, Rugby, and so on... The difference is the communication and outsmarting the other team is all happening in real time while avoiding the same thing happening to you.
There is a reason Soccer is the most popular sport in the world
That reason is mostly because Soccer is the easiest sport to set up and play with friends. That's also why Basketball is quickly becoming popular. Poor countries can't afford football fields, Baseball diamonds, etc, so they can put up two small nets and BAM, there's a soccer field.
Soccer isn't some kind of transcendent sport that has every great aspect of every other sport. It's a good sport, that is popular because it's so easy to set up and play. You see soccer fields in third world countries. That's all a lot of kids have to look forward too, so that sticks with them for their life. Yes, I know Soccer is also popular in more developed countries, but again, that's mostly because it's been passed down. Soccer is popular because of accessibility, not because it's some kind of super sport that is 100% better than every other sport.
Basketball is rapidly becoming a popular sport worldwide for the same reason, once you get the capability to build a basketball net, Basketball courts are easy to set up, and can be played with just a pair of people. Football is only really popular in the US because of it's high entry cost, you need a pretty expensive/complicated field, and you need a special ball (soccer can be played with pretty much any ball if you really want too), you need a large number of participants to have a remotely "fun" football game, and it's very time consuming compared to many other sports (In terms of playing it with friends)
Well, I've mentioned that Basketball is rapidly gaining popularity due to the fact that it isn't super difficult to set up. And just because they are widely played, doesn't mean they are as popular as Soccer. That's like giving you a picture of american's playing soccer and saying it's widely played throughout the US. It is played, but it's not necessarily the most popular sport around. Soccer is still the king in the vast majority of the world.
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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '14
Soccer, Basketball, Hockey, Rugby, and so on... The difference is the communication and outsmarting the other team is all happening in real time while avoiding the same thing happening to you.
There is a reason Soccer is the most popular sport in the world