After the results to todays hockey game. WOO HOO !!!! I was wondering what sport is treated as a religion in the
country you are from?? It seems to me that there are members on this board from many different countries.

I haven't heard the numbers yet but I'm sure at least 80 percent of Canadians were watching the hockey game today(I guess it was yesterday now) http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/ ... BritishColumbiaHome

[ Last edited by  smilybob1 at 1-3-2010 04:15 ]

I also saw the hockey game.  Of course hockey is a religion in Canada.  It was great to hear the crowd at Canada Hockey Place singing O'Canada in unison.  One of the best hockey games I ever watched.  Sid the Kid is a clutch player.  How about the fans in Quebec, they treat the Montreal Canadiens as if it is a relgion.

I'm not generally a hockey fan, but that gold medal game was pretty damn exciting!  Too bad MY team/country lost!

Obviously that means I'm an American in the USA.  So our sport that comes as close to being a religion as possible is the NFL = American football; definitely not football as in soccer!  More than 100 million viewers in the US tuned in to the Super Bowl!

And besides, in what other sports do you have "hail mary's"!?

Cricket is the game for India. though it has seemed to lose a bit of popularity in recent years. Still cricket stars are treated as superstars.

In Glasgow, it has to be football and after Sunday's result, the blue half will be celebrating non-stop whilst the green and white half go into hiding until the start of the next season.

Alan

Baseball in Cuba, Venezuala, Dominican Republic, Japan & Korea by a mile.

in the US...

NFL in the US only play 16 games so hard to really test the depth of it's popularity. When they tried to get a summer league off the ground it quickly folded. Superbowl is a TV institution  but it's a one off in the middle of winter so hard to compare to other sports.

Baseball attendance almost 80,000,000 fans per season to Major Leagues plus 45,000,000 in the minor leagues in the US. The most of any sport by far. Sure they play more games but no other sport could hold fans attention with such regularity. History has proven that.

NBA will lose around US$400,000,000.00 this year (2010) after losing around US$200M in each of the last 3 years. NBA revenue less than half that of Baseball & Football, Basketball more of a second tier sport in theUS now. A friend of mine sent me the following list a few years ago which I found interesting. The numbers have changed a little but not much... however no one doubts soccer is the World's most popular sport:

Major League Baseball        Baseball        United States/Canada 2005
74,915,268

Nippon Professional        Baseball League        Japan        2005
20,924,613

NHL        Ice Hockey        United States/Canada        2005-06
20,854,169

NBA        Basketball        United States/Canada        2005-06
20,595,804

NFL        American football        United States        2005
17,303,791

FA Premier League        Football (soccer)        England        2005-06
12,872,613

Bundesliga 1        Football (soccer)        Germany        2005-06
12,477,001

La Liga        Football (soccer)        Spain        2005-06
11,031,020

Football League Championship Football (soccer) England/Wales 2005-06
9,724,032

Serie A        Football (soccer)        Italy        2005-06
8,245,240

Ligue 1        Football (soccer)        France        2005-05
8,198,880

Campeonato Brasileiro        Football (soccer)        Brazil 2005
6,297,060

Australian Football League (Premiership Season)        AFL 2005
6,283,788

J. League 1        Football (soccer)        Japan        2005
5,742,233

Turkish Premier Super League Football (soccer)        Turkey 2004-05
5,140,494

Eredivisie        Football (soccer)        Netherlands        2005-06
5,137,468

Bundesliga 2        Football (soccer)        Germany        2005-06
4,415,944

Scottish Premier League        Football (soccer)        Scotland 2005-06
3,687,672

National Rugby League Australia (1 team in New Zealand) 2005
3,276,675

SuperLiga        Football (soccer)        Portugal        2004-05
3,250,944

Major League Soccer        Football (soccer) United States/Canada 2005
2,900,716

Russian Premier League        Football (soccer)        Russia 2005
2,937,840

Canadian Football League        Canadian Football        Canada 2005
2,303,445

K-League        Football (soccer)        South Korea        2005
1,756,248

Chinese Super League        Football (soccer)        China 2005
1,450,000

A-League Football (soccer)        Australia (1 club in New Zealand) 2005-06
1,046,459

National Lacrosse League        Indoor lacrosse        United States/Canada 2005-06
942,011

NPC Division 1        Rugby union        New Zealand        2004
601,000

NFL Europe        American football        Germany/Netherlands 2005
568,935

Football or the other name Soccer.

Seems to be popular all over the world and I think its the only real World Cup game which every country can participate in. Other games like cricket and rugby claims World Cup status but only a handful of selected countries play it.

It depends on where you come from in Australia.  If Victoria and South Australia, Australian Rules Football.  In QLD and NSW, it used to be Rugby League before the "Super League war" fucked things up.  

In NZ, it's definitely Rugby Union, which makes it so so good when we beat their beloved All Blacks.

Depends on where you are in the US.  In Boston Redsox (baseball) is loved more then the Patriots (american football).

I love football and it sucks when the season ends.  Next fall when it starts up EVERY Sunday I watch the Patriots play.  Football would be very difficult to play year round.  Teams would not last.

If you go to different parts of the US people like NASCAR or college basketball, etc.  Pretty diverse when it comes to sports

Here in N. Carolina it's college basketball and NASCAR

Hell yeah!  i have my Carey Price Jersey in my room (#31) and i've i'm obsessed with the team..
It's like england with their soccer.. it is a religion here in montreal..
When we won just the 1st round of eliminations... we had riots in downtown .. imagine if won the cup!

The reverse of the question is much more interesting.

I agree the NFL is a great league and what makes it great is gambling. I admit it I love betting on NFL games and I would say that makes the league interesting
to at least 60 percent of its fans

For the rest of the world, soccer is religion.  Case in point: even though China sucks at soccer, nearly all Chinese youth are soccer addicts.  They would stay up at 4 AM to watch the world cup in another time zone.  If anything, soccer is religion in China.

In Australia is AFL in winter and cricket in summer.

in China, I'm pretty sure soccer takes a back seat to table tennis and basketball, especially in the south part of China.  Soccer is very revered in Shenyang and places in the north part of China though.

Women's volleyball is a relgion in the Taishan (Toisaan) part of Guangdong province - a good numer of the women's national team come/came from that region.

for me its football, i have always like to play fooball, watch football and play football on my consoles. In my country the netherland football is NUMBER 1 sport by miles.

Soccer was the answer I was expecting for most of the countries in the world. I have seen what its been like during the World Cup in the
Commercial Drive area of Vancouver. ( A melting pot area of Italians, Greeks, Chinese )

V8 Supercars

not the most technological advanced cars, but the racing is sure fun to watch!

you're either a Holden fan or a Ford fan. I usually be happy when Holden wins but then i drive a Ford Falcon. Go figure

[ Last edited by  viperv10 at 9-3-2010 14:19 ]

I grew up playing football.  In my part of the country football is everything, friday night is for high school, saturday is for college, and sunday is for professional.  The best part of football is playing it though.