Smug Soccer Fans
Woo! Comic 200! Stay tuned tomorrow, I’m going to do a special blog post deal to celebrate. It’ll mostly be words detailing my experiences with the comic thus far. I’ve been doing this for two years, it’ll be nice to talk about it.
American Soccer fans (at least many Portland ones I interact with) are the Hipsters of sports fandom. Proud of liking a sport most of America couldn’t care less about. Soccer isn’t special and liking it doesn’t make anyone special. Stop being smug. Besides, the british invented the word Soccer anyway. It’s called Major League Soccer, not major league football. This is america, goddamnit, land of the free, horrible health care, gun violence, and bald eagles.
Any fans reading this from other countries can disregard my patriotism
Also, I have nothing against Soccer the sport, even if I find it dull and boring. I just can’t stand the smug american soccer fans who act like they are somehow special for liking soccer in america where it isn’t that big a deal.
I played soccer as a kid. Really boring game in my opinion. When a sport like baseball that – much as I love it – just consists of one guy taking his sweet time throwing the ball at another guy with no set time limits on anything, and can literally last over eight hours, is more interesting and entertaining than you are, you are a boring sport.
I usually just read the comments, but I must say that being from Portland, (currently living in Seattle) I know this feeling all too well. You just punch them in their stupid hipster faces and call it a day.
THIS. ALL DAY THIS. You think you’ve got it hard though? Try being a fan in the UK.
I’m from the UK and English football/soccer can bore off. I can’t stand it as it’s rammed down your throat by the media, your family and your peers (I grew up in the North West of England as well so was in the vicinity of both Manchester and Liverpool which made it 100 times worse) so the culture is ‘you have to like it otherwise you’re a loser/gay etc when the truth is I just don’t find it interesting tbh. The fans don’t sell the sport very well either, too many are a complete bunch of thugs! I enjoy watching the NFL and i’m not ashamed to say it, a far more interesting and entertaining sport.
I feel like you’re kind of like “that guy” in the UK though. Most US soccer fans I know don’t like football because everyone else does. Don’t get me wrong though, you’re a better version because the NFL is way better than any other sport.
Nah you misunderstand me, I have a negative opinion of soccer but I don’t sneer at or insult people who do like it
I’m British and I feel exactly the same way you do about association football… mind you, bearing in mind where you’re from, I’m guessing your a Rugby league kinda guy anyway 😛
I don’t even care if the term “football” doesn’t make any sense in regards to the American Football. It’s goddamned football and it’s awesome
It’s called “football” because the ball was originally 12 inches long.
Actually any sport called “football” was called such because it was a sport played on foot, rather than on horseback.
i think you forgot to give the portlander his ironically sported mutton chop and handlebar mustache combo
It’s all football
Soccer – association football
Rugby – rugged football
Football – American football
I love soccer, but man, you nailed the smug fan attitude that exists from ignorance of word history.
>smug fan attitude
>ignorance of word history
>rugged football
*rolleyes* Bless.
Dude, the rules of rugby were devised based on a version played at a school in the English town of Rugby, in the county of Warwickshire.
Soccer is like hockey, without all that exiting stuff.
Very this!
Football sucks. I’d rather watch American football, baseball, rugby and hockey. In fact, until I discovered baseball, I wasn’t aware of sports outside the Premier league and that made me hate them until I was at least 13. Than when I was 17, I discovered American football and love it. I play and ref regularly.
Sincerely, a Welsh (Brit) girl.
The sad thing is, I like soccer to an extent. I just don’t wave it in other people’s faces. It’s the smugness of the Hipsters and Euros that I hate…
I LOVE BOTH FEETBALL, DAVE! AND THE SAME PROFESSIONAL HAND FEETBALL TEAM AS YOU! <3
I like both, but the smug attitude of soccer fans needs to go away. In exchange, I would like to stop hearing non-soccer fans bringing up hooligans. Fair trade?
Whenever I bring up hooligans, i’m usually referring to the Philadelphia Eagles…
American soccer is gaining steam in the US. If you know what to watch for, it can be an exciting game.
I just binge read your comic asshole.
YOu should write an alternate version of this comic where you and the soccer fan make out in the last panel
Effing Portscum fans. I am a huge, long time, unabashed Seattle sportball homer and nothing pleases me more than seeing a Timbers fan hung up the flag pole Ala ‘Salute Your Shorts’. Go Hawks! Go Sounders!
Try liking the NFL in the UK. I love both the NFL & Football; but i absolutely, utterly refuse to watch the NFL outside of my home with the many hipsters that love the NFL and use its lexicon in the most horrendously pretentious way
As someone mentioned above, the word ‘soccer’ was invented by the British and is derived from the term ‘association football’. The two popular codes of football back then were association, and Rugby. Posh people started calling rugby “rugger” (and still do), and shortened association to “soccer”.
Rugby is still officially “rugby football” (well, “rugby league football” and “rugby union football”), and so that’s where ‘football’ for American football came from. NOT because the ball was a foot long.
This could all have been avoided if you Yanks had just called it “handegg”.
*breaks egg on face*
That oughta do it.
Don’t get me started on this, I live in Portland as well and these people are every-fucking-where. I don’t care where the “name comes from”, who’s sport started first, or some obscure out of left field fact thats supposed to suddenly make me agree with their douchebaggery. When people try to have this conversation with me I just call their sport kickball, it’s entertaining to see their pretentiousness turn to anger.
Actually, soccer is Divegrass
I can feel your pain, as despite being from the UK and a massive (real) football fan, I’m also a big Niners fan since being indoctrinated by my SF-loving family. We NFL fans over here get the same hipster stick attached to us in reverse where you’re a crappy hipster who loves the Superb Owl if you’re a football (American) fan.
I love both sports dammit.
Called Portscum for a reason.
Portland is the least racially diverse large city in the US. I wonder if hipsters are attracted to it because of that, perhaps subconsciously. I like how the Timbers celebrate goals by wielding a huge chain saw like big-tree loggers. I imagine many of those fans are opposed to actual local logging. Most of that work has been outsourced to Canada or rainforests far away.. Anyway congrats to the Timbers tonight! Destroyed Seattle. It was on tv in a Denver bar. Good cartoon!
The general consensus of american sports fans is that they’re aware that soccer is called “football” around the world (even in the US to a certain extent) but they’ve been indoctrinated that watching 11 minutes of gameplay, 30 minutes of replays and the rest in commercials is the “real” football (despite only the placekicker, punter and KOS actually making contact to the ball with their foot.)
Still, the comic implies that only one sport can be called “football” yet ironically makes the assumption that in Murka there’s something called freedom of speech.
I still call soccer “football” just to confuse the NFL fans whenever I tell them New York beat Chicago 3-2.
Love seeing a timbers fan treated this way! In other news I am a soccer and football fan, so why cant we be friends. Go sounders and hawks!
smug handegg fans