British Open vs. The Open Championship?

[Golfingdad]

At the time that Americans first started playing their form of football in the late 1800's, I doubt that soccer (or futbol) had ever been heard of in the US.  Quite frankly, despite what GD is saying, I don't see the popularity of soccer in the US.  I don't know a single sports fan who has any interest in it at all.  I find it incredibly boring to watch.  I know a number of young adults who grew up playing in school and recreational leagues while growing up (I even played a little bit of goaltender in junior high), and they don't even like the game as a spectator sport.

I don't think I've ever met a person who had been to a Colorado Rapids game, yet I know many who are avid Broncos, Rockies, Nuggets, or Avalanche fans.

Not sure if the popularity is up among kids playing it - don't see how it could be higher seeing as how everybody played it when we were kids - but it seems like its still pretty popular.

But I'm more talking about Major League Soccer, and international soccer.  Like Turtleback mentions below ... you can get live EPL games on TV every weekend on NBC Sports Network, and they show highlights on Sportscenter, and scores all of the time on the ESPN ticker.  This may not sound like much, but you don't have to go back very far - I'm going to say about 2 years AT MOST - to find a time where you really had to search to seek out soccer here in America.

I follow the English Premier League assiduously.  I am a Liverpool man.  I always liked soccer (started watching in college many yars ago as my school had a top division 2 team).  I went to Cosmos games at Giants Stadium in their heyday when they had Pele and then Franz Beckenbauer, Giorgio Chinaglia, and Carlos Alberto.   But now since the NBCSportsnetwork started covering the Premier League seriously I've gotten more hooked.  At a time where the 30 minutes of actual action in an NFL game are stretched out to 3-1/2 or even 4 hours, it is refreshing to watch a 90+ minute sports event in 2 hours with time for a halftime and pre and post game wraps.

As to the topic, Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen, Jack Nicklaus, and Arnold Palmer all called it the British Open in print, so that is good enough for me.  Because without those guys, and what they did there, I have doubts as to whether it would be considered a major at all, today.  Other than by courtesy, it certainly was NOT a true major from about 1930 to about 1960.

This is incorrect. ................  Football games actually only have about 12 minutes of actual game play per 3-4 game.

Also, the Seattle Sounders average attendance for 2013:  44,038 per game.  That's impressive no matter which way you slice it.  The league as a whole averages over 18,000 per game, which ain't too shabby either.

Anyways ... back to BRITISH open.

[hopefulhacker]

At the time that Americans first started playing their form of football in the late 1800's, I doubt that soccer (or futbol) had ever been heard of in the US.

American Football started out from European settlers that arrived. The Native Americans didn't play NFL afaik. A quick internet search will fill you in on some history of the game! To say that nobody knew about Futball is ridiculous. American Football started from European settlers playing Futball and Rugby and then this morphed into American Football down the line. Baseball has a similar story, originating most likely from Rounders that was played by European settlers in America.

[tristanhilton85]

I use both terms for the tournament.

[nevets88]

Soccer, the word, originated in England. It's an abbreviation of Association Football. When someone says Open, I'm thinking tennis or golf? NBC broadcasting EPL. It lost the NBA, Wimbledon and soon the US Open. I'm guessing it had some money to allocate. I prefer when Fox had EPL rights as I could easily find a game when channel surfing, yeah technically NBC makes more games available than Fox did, but it has a problem with making it easy to find broadcasting times and EPL will always lose out to college football and basketball.

[Ernest Jones]

Soccer, the word, originated in England. It's an abbreviation of Association Football.

AssFoot?

[hopefulhacker]

AssFoot?

AssBall surely

[freedrop]

What do you call it and why? Is it a Europe vs. North America thing?

Although I know its official name is The Open Championship, most people I know refer to it as the British Open. Must be to differentiate it from the US Open.

It's a British arrogance thing,referring to it as The Open Championship makes all other opens appear as also rans.

[nevets88]

AssBall surely

Ha ha, Footer? Why don't we just call American football armored rugby... with commercials?

But really...

We have to thank the students of the 1880s for the word "soccer". It seems it was the practice amonst the well bred students of Oxford to abbreviate words whilst adding "er" to the end; "brekkers" for breakfast for example.

On asked if he wanted to play "rugger" (i.e. the "rugby rules") astudent replied "no, soccer", an abbreviation of "association", or the"association rules", i.e. the rules of the Football Association in London.

"Footer" was also used, but could have referred to either code.  David Pickering's "Soccer Companion" (Cassell, 1994) names the studentas Charles Wreford Brown, later an England international and F.A.vice-president."

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=6442

[k-troop]

When it started, it was The Open Championship. That's still the name of the tournament--why should it change? The winner is the Champion Golfer of the Year. It's pretty ironic when an American derides European or British arrogance, BTW. (BTW Chileans, Mexicans, Canadians, etc are also "Americans" in that they live on the American continents. We should really refer to ourselves in a way that doesn't make us look so arrogant.) (ABTW anyone who infers from the above that I don't love the USA with every drop of blood in my body is mistaken. We're arrogant because we think we're awesome, and rightly so.)

[iacas]

Either. Both. Usually "British" because even they called it that for a few decades. They also call one particular toonamint the "U.S. Masters" because they have the German Masters, etc.

[ScouseJohnny]

Quote:

I don't see the popularity of soccer in the US.  I don't know a single sports fan who has any interest in it at all.  I find it incredibly boring to watch.  I know a number of young adults who grew up playing in school and recreational leagues while growing up (I even played a little bit of goaltender in junior high), and they don't even like the game as a spectator sport.

Such is the diverse nature of America, a love of soccer can always be found if you look in the right places. Both in terms of participation and observation.

I watched many games of the 2010 World Cup in bars in Asheville, NC. Most of them were packed out. Great atmosphere - just like watching a big game in a pub back home in the north of England. Amazing how many fellow Liverpool fans I've found in the US, too.

Also, I remember being in Los Angeles many years ago, and watching some teenagers playing an impromptu game on a public park. Some of them were very gifted. I remember thinking that a football (soccer) scout for a club in the English football league would probably have been interested had he seem some of the quality of play. Then some bully of a cop appeared on a motorcycle and started ranting at them for playing soccer on the park, which was apparently against some spurious local ordinance or some such, and sent them all on their way, angrily.

As an Englishman abroad...I never cease to be amazed with the American fascination in discussing sport to the n th degree. It makes me nostalgic for Match of the Day back home. On Saturdays, after all the day's action in the Premiership, a bunch of old has-beens/legends from the 1980s sit around and chat about the footy for a bit, interspersed with the highlights from the main games of that day. It's a most enjoyable sports show, and it's all over in about 90mins. Compare that with the experience of a friend of mine, here in the US, who is a massive University of Florida fan, and who spends all Saturday during College football season watching football related TV. From the pre-game shows that seem to start at 8am, through to the game itself, and the post-match analysis shows all evening. 12 or 14 hours of American football, to all intents and purposes, most of it just chatter.

Soccer does not lend itself to this level of analysis. Analyzed to that extent, it just becomes boring. Soccer stats, to my mind, don't extend that much further than simple possession, attempts on goal, etc. Such stats don't tell you much. Some teams seem to almost specialize in scoring on the break or against the run of play. Look at an ESPN page for stats for any Premiership club, and it's almost as though ESPN is fishing around for data to pad out the page. So Manchester United score most of their goals between the 46th and 60th minute? Must be David Moyes's favourite 14 minutes of the match. The other 76 minutes still seem to be causing him stress, however. Especially the final minutes against relegation-bound opposition.

Association football is nicknamed "The Beautiful Game." I think its beauty lies in its fluidity. As I mentioned, I've met plenty of Americans who love soccer, but I don't think it works well with the mainstream American sports media's approach to coverage, which leads to this perception that it's a niche interest, only.

[iacas]

Soccer/football is…

[nevets88]

google.com returns 4.1m hits on "British Open", 4.3m on "Open Championship", google.co.uk, 1.28m, 1.22m respectively.

I thought google.co.uk would be lopsided, British Open women's golf, BO Squash, BO darts, BO crabbing, BO dancing, BO canoe slalom! Wonder if the RGA wanted to get away from associating with all those other sports/activities?

[jamo]

google.com returns 4.1m hits on "British Open", 4.3m on "Open Championship", google.co.uk, 1.28m, 1.22m respectively. I thought google.co.uk would be lopsided, British Open women's golf, BO Squash, BO darts, BO crabbing, BO dancing, BO canoe slalom! Wonder if the RGA wanted to get away from associating with all those other sports/activities?

Google Ngrams:

[phan52]

It is the Open Championship, and always has been, so that is what I call it.

[MPtheKid]

I call it The Open most of the time but I don't really care if someone refers to it as the British Open.

[boogielicious]

Similar to @Fourputt .  My golfing friends understand the Open championship is the tournament in Great Britain.  Non golfing friends would not get that.

It should be called The Open - Need to wear a sweater in the summer 'cuz it is wicked cold over there - Championship.  But that's too long.

Off Topic

I think it should be called soccer because occasionally a hand ball can win the World Cup (i.e. Maradona, "Hand of God") and Futbol is not appropriate.

[Spitfisher]

I call it The Open most of the time but I don't really care if someone refers to it as the British Open.

This.....