American Sports Lack Actual Action Time
Sports have been a huge part of my life from an early age. When I was growing up in Argentina, “Futbol” was shoved down my throat, and as time passed I became introduced to other sports popular with Argentinians like tennis, formula one and rugby.
Athletics were a very important form of life support when I moved to Miami from Argentina five years ago. I was thrown into an unknown culture with little appreciation for the sports I grew up watching aside from the occasional European soccer connoisseur and the abundance of Real Madrid jerseys at Kendall Soccer Park.
After a couple of years attending Felix Varela Senior High School, I realized that I wanted to seek a career in journalism and would have a better chance at doing that if I combined that interest with my knowledge of sports.
However, I hit a stump. I soon became conscious of the fact that I didn’t know much about American sports, which of course are the sports that thrive in the United States.
Baseball, basketball and football were all a mystery to me. I didn’t understand the commotion over sports with games that only last between 48-60 minutes.
According to a study by The Wall Street Journal that was published in 2010, football games in the NFL are about three hours long but only have 11-12 minutes of actual action time.
Throughout my time in the U.S., I have gone to one professional basketball game. It featured the Miami Heat versus the Minnesota Timberwolves.
No offense to basketball or American sport fanatics, but in a two-and-a-half-hour game there were only 48 minutes of play with constant timeouts. In soccer, timeouts are nonexistent.
At the basketball game during halftime, a McDonalds advertisement flashed on a large screen and actual chicken tender boxes began to fall from the top of the American Airlines Arena with mini parachutes confirming my assumption that American sports are more about money than entertainment.
The most consistent complaint I receive when I say that soccer is my favorite sport is that it takes 90 minutes to score one goal. In the last two FIFA World Cup finals, the games have gone into overtime and in 120 minutes of play only one goal was scored in each game.
I understand where this complaint comes from, but that’s 120 minutes of nonstop action. That is with only a 15 minute halftime and another five minute break after the initial 90 minutes of action in regulation play. No halftime shows, no unnecessary music or screens telling you when or what to chant.
Americans have developed this constant need for instant gratification and are not able to live with a sport that doesn’t offer constant scoring such as basketball or football. More isn’t always better. Americans don’t seem to appreciate that.
There’s more to sports like soccer or tennis. The longest tennis match in history was more than 11 hours of full action time. It stretched out over three days. Real sports fans should see the beauty in that.
