Why did Americans have to go and change the name of the greatest sport?
404106
Brits actually invented the word. "Soccer," when it first appeared in the 1890s, was spelled "socca," which was short for "association" or "association football," meaning football played according to the rules laid down by the British Football Association. It was also called "socker" until the current form "soccer" appeared around 1895.
691969
I still have to say that the "Miracle on Ice" was the biggest upset in sports history.  The US used amateur college kids in those Olympic games and they beat the best team in the world.  There wasn't a person outside of the United States that actually thought the US team could win the gold medal in those Olympics.
1157767
The two sports were kicked out of the Olympics, unwanted by international sports officials who felt they were too American for the world sports stage.\n\nThe decision, made during a secret vote in Singapore, is effective for the 2012 London Games, meaning the two sports will have a final fling at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The sports, the first eliminated since polo in 1936, are eligible to reapply for the 2016 Games.\n\nEach of the 28 existing sports was put to a secret vote by the IOC, and baseball and softball were the only two that failed to receive a majority. The IOC then rejected adding squash and karate, which failed to get the necessary two-thirds approval. Softball reportedly was only one vote short of 50% needed to remain.\n\nIOC officials were unhappy about the absence of major leaguers. The NBA has sent its best players since 1992 and the NHL stopped its season for 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics.\n\nSo, basically the IOC wants to blame MLB for not disrupting their season so major leaguers can play in the games.  But who knows for sure. I think the ballot should be made public, but it won't happen...to think, we'll have EXCITING sports like Archery, Badminton, BMX racing, Canoeing, Equestrian, Field hockey, Team Handball, Open water swimming, Synchronized Swimming, Modern Pentathlon, and Table Tennis, but no softball/baseball...utter BS....
698700
Because the great players set a standard. Once a standard, or high water mark is set, that is the goal to achieve. So therefore that is the cause for comparisons.\nThen the newer great players names will also be mentioned in the future along with the greats. One day players like Tom Brady, Kobe Bryant, etc will be on the list.
4875
It is football.\nAmericans and Australians call their own "football" (the one played with the Stewie Griffin head looking ball) football, so they had to find another name for football.  \nI call American/Australian insistence on soccer cultural imperialism.
490167
Maybe the Americans can have there own Olympics because they seem to only want to play sports that are played by such a small amount of countries. Im sorry your dream is gone for the moment but lets try and even up the playing field and play something thats played at a competitive level in the other 90% of the non americanized parts of the world.
414339
Because traditional sports like baseball and football have been played for many years in america. Plus, soccer is dominated more by european players than americans...hard for them to identify with them rather than identify with local (meaning american) stars like michael jordan and Tom Brady than Zidane.
462559
It IS one of America's favorite sports.\n\nPlease note that America, as the proper name of a country, needs to be capitalized.  Also note that "favorite" has a preferred spelling, and that questions always end in a question mark, even though you ended yours with a period (Y!A supplied the question mark).
363815
Very good question...It's what prompted the World Baseball \nChampoinships this year for the first time....Some feel that it's not fair that MLB named it the World Series considering not every country gets a chance to represent...There are players from all over the world playing in our(U.S.) Major Leagues, but still, it's not the "World" series if every country doesn't have a chance to enter a team...
212681
The World Series began in 1903.  At that time, the entire baseball world was the U.S.  We've kept the name because of inertia/tradition/laziness or whatever reason you like.
66228
Comes from Scottish.  They invented the game, called it "Goff".  Golf is the Americanized version of that word.  Not an acronym for anything, that's absurd.
1089311
Its because we don't have a chance for it to grow on us. America is a culture that relies on the media heavily. Soccer isn't made for tv. It would be impossible to show commercials or anything like that. All of the other sports in America actually make breaks so that they can show commercials. Soccer just wouldn't fit in with what most people are used to. Therefore no big network would risk it.
219761
I think that originally, there weren't any Canadian teams included in Major League Baseball.  Also, baseball began in America, so it was the only baseball league, and therefore it sort of WAS the world of baseball competing (except the world was only America, since there wasn't baseball anywhere else).  Thus, the World Series was a big deal since it was the two best teams in baseball in the whole world!  Also, it probably just makes it sound more exciting with "World" in front of it, so they didn't change it when Toronto and Montreal joined; they just stuck to tradition.
445504
The problem is not that Americans butcher soccer (they are ranked 5th in the world and the MLS is not a joke anymore). The problem lies in the fact that Americans HAVE butchered the real meaning of sport. Look at the professional leagues in the States for Baseball, American Football, Basketball, etc. They are plagued with player strikes, horrible and inconsistent officiating, and horrid marketing schemes. It's not about tradition, winning, or entertainment. It's about making money. The Brits want eternal glory for thier team. The Russians are not nearly as likely to undermine that, in fact they are as passionate about sport as the Brits are with football. The British fans are upset and they should be. They believe Americans don't know the first thing about football as it's played over there, and they don't. The game is different, the players are different, and most importantly the FANS are different. I BLEED Arsenal Red, I don't simply root for them. There's also the way he's threatened the existence of Manchester United by incurring debt, using the team to secure £265 million, or $490 million, of loans as part of his £790 million takeover price. The man also hates sports. He was once seen rooting for the opposing team when he attended, which is a rare occurance, a game of his NFL team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He knows nothing of pride, traditions, and the importance of soccer. That's why the Brits are pissed, not simply because he's a Yankee.
1075
Because the MLB didn't want to suspend its season to let the professional players go to the olympics, in a manner similar to what the NHL does for the winter olympics.\n\nThis plus other problems like a poorly designed qualifying scheme meant that piss-poor teams from Europe and Africa went to Athens, but several very good teams from N & S America were left out led to almost no ticket sales. It was all about the Money.
1080949
Soccer didn't pick up in the US becouse our history tried to issolate ourselve from Europe, we tried to remove Europrian culture and influince in the US. We have begun to reverce our views and join Europe, but it's a slow process. The key reason is there is little Major leage Soccer attation, outside the World Cup, people know little about US professianl soccer. We have Football or "American Soccer" as europe would call it translated, we have Baseball while they have Rugby and Cricket.
1033292
It's the nature of the game, of all sports for that matter. Everyone thought the US would take the new World Baseball Classic, but they lost. The best teams never win every game. If they did, events like the World Cup wouldn't be as popular as they are now. Repeat winners gradually lose their luster.