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Why no handball?


smzimbabwe

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I'm talking about team handball, which seems to be pretty popular in Europe, but is an afterthought here in the states. Is there some reason it hasn't caught on here? Is it too "European" and we like to stick to our own sports? I watched some the other day and it seems to be fast and exciting and easy to set up, but it isn't a big sport here in North America, and I was wondering why. I wouldn't mind playing a game and could actually watch more as well if it was available.

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We do have handball

 

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Seriously though, international/Olympic handball is awesome. And with the range of athletes that we can produce, we could dominate handball.

 

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Why isn't Major League Lacrosse a bigger deal? I think we're at a point where there are just so many entertainment options and sports leagues that we've reached saturation. I know I don't have time or energy to watch all the games and shows that I want to watch. 

 

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7 hours ago, smzimbabwe said:

I'm talking about team handball, which seems to be pretty popular in Europe, but is an afterthought here in the states. Is there some reason it hasn't caught on here? Is it too "European" and we like to stick to our own sports? I watched some the other day and it seems to be fast and exciting and easy to set up, but it isn't a big sport here in North America, and I was wondering why. I wouldn't mind playing a game and could actually watch more as well if it was available.

If you look up USA team handball, there's a fair smattering of clubs. I've played once, and would love to keep playing. I'll be moving before the season restarts though. 

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Formerly known as DiePerske

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9 hours ago, the admiral said:

Team handball is like something your gym teacher invents because it's raining out.

Basketball is pretty much literally that (substitute "cold" for "raining"). It doesn't mean it can't be popular.

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17 hours ago, smzimbabwe said:

I'm talking about team handball, which seems to be pretty popular in Europe, but is an afterthought here in the states. Is there some reason it hasn't caught on here? Is it too "European" and we like to stick to our own sports? I watched some the other day and it seems to be fast and exciting and easy to set up, but it isn't a big sport here in North America, and I was wondering why. I wouldn't mind playing a game and could actually watch more as well if it was available.

That's pretty much the reason. Not in a bad sense but in just how a sport like this can flourish in one part of the globe and not another. 

We all know Bayern Munich, Athletico Madrid, AC Milan, and several other promonate soccer clubs in Europe. But these are also a part of athletic clubs set up in communities as early as the 1800's. All types of sports were played under these clubs names. Bayern Munich also has a basketball team, a table tennis team (I believe), and I think a handball team. So when someone thought of forming professional leagues in these countries, it was a no brained to use the already established clubs to start the leagues. 

I bet you were watching a Eastern European club, or country, as well. Chalk that up to the Russkies to expand on these clubs to include water polo, volleyball, and I think even chess. To watch two Serbia rival clubs go at it in water polo is bizarre. It looks just like a soccer match. 

Athletic clubs use to a big thing here in that States, but as time went on these became more social clubs (country clubs so to speak) than athletic clubs. Sports became more professionally run, along with high schools and universities becoming more involved with sports.

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On 6/16/2017 at 11:49 AM, McCarthy said:

Why isn't Major League Lacrosse a bigger deal? I think we're at a point where there are just so many entertainment options and sports leagues that we've reached saturation. I know I don't have time or energy to watch all the games and shows that I want to watch. 

 

I like Lacrosse, but a big problem with watching it is it becomes very difficult to keep track of where the ball is. Some people complain about that in hockey, well Lacrosse is a hundred times worse.

 

You also have the issue in that the niche it fills is already taken up by two other sports. Field Lacrosse is a lot like soccer, as far as the dynamics of the game go, and soccer is the more popular sport. Box Lacrosse is like hockey, and hockey is the more popular sport there.

 

So I'd say the biggest issue is that its under the shadow of two different sports. I'm not sure if this is a factor as well, but Lacrosse also has something of a reputation in big parts of the US as being the sport for rich trust fund kiddies. I'm not saying thats a valid view, but I could see it putting some people off.

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3 hours ago, Chromatic said:

I like Lacrosse, but a big problem with watching it is it becomes very difficult to keep track of where the ball is. Some people complain about that in hockey, well Lacrosse is a hundred times worse.

 

You also have the issue in that the niche it fills is already taken up by two other sports. Field Lacrosse is a lot like soccer, as far as the dynamics of the game go, and soccer is the more popular sport. Box Lacrosse is like hockey, and hockey is the more popular sport there.

 

So I'd say the biggest issue is that its under the shadow of two different sports. I'm not sure if this is a factor as well, but Lacrosse also has something of a reputation in big parts of the US as being the sport for rich trust fund kiddies. I'm not saying thats a valid view, but I could see it putting some people off.

 

To me, the perception of lacrosse being a "white suburban" sport still exists in the States.  Yes, field lacrosse is the national outdoor sport of Canada, and it's more than just a game to the Haudenashonee, but far too many in 'Murica won't accept that lacrosse, North America's only original team sport, is actually more inclusive than any other. 

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Oh what could have been....

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14 hours ago, Cosmic said:

Basketball is pretty much literally that (substitute "cold" for "raining"). It doesn't mean it can't be popular.

True, North America has basketball as the winter gym sport. Mostly because Dr. John Naismith, a Canadian in the USA, invented it.  US girls never played Netball, some states has 6 on 6 basketball.

 

Plus, schools aren't paying to draw additional lines on courts for sports they'll never play.

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43 minutes ago, dfwabel said:

Plus, schools aren't paying to draw additional lines on courts for sports they'll never play.

It's called masking tape.

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1 minute ago, dfwabel said:

Floor tape is costly and masking tape forces them to refinish floors sooner.

I guess my HS gym was a black hole of tax money, then. :lol:

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Handball is one of a few sports that’s both super entertaining, and ones that the United States could play at a high level if it wanted to. See Australian rules football.

 

Handball’s super cool though, and it’s kind of disappointing we only really get to see it during the Olympics.

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22 minutes ago, the admiral said:

You know what's a weird sport? Real tennis. I cannot figure that one out for the life of me.

The objective of a game of tennis makes perfect sense. The scoring of the game of tennis makes me completely disinterested in it.

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The scoring of tennis isn't hard to grasp at all. But I'm talking about a different sport. It involves playing the ball off the bounce off an overhang and there are lines all over the floor and somewhere there's a wall with a window. It predates the lawn tennis we know. I read about it on a wikipedia rabbit hole and tried to watch video of it but left more confused than I was to begin with.

♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫

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On ‎6‎/‎16‎/‎2017 at 2:49 PM, McCarthy said:

Why isn't Major League Lacrosse a bigger deal? I think we're at a point where there are just so many entertainment options and sports leagues that we've reached saturation. I know I don't have time or energy to watch all the games and shows that I want to watch. 

 

I'm convinced there's an alternate universe where volleyball is part of the Big 5 North American major sports. I been wondering for years why that sport never became bigger than it is.

Hotter Than July > Thriller

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