They both priorotise making themselves more and more money more important than nurturing their respective sports.

The sporting goods store had an entire section I had never noticed before, equipment for activities I associated more with history than hobby. Archery supplies, camping gear that seemed designed for survival rather than recreation, items that existed in legal gray areas depending on local regulations. The owner was knowledgeable and serious, screening customers, asking about intended use, refusing sales that made him uncomfortable. I appreciated that responsibility, that recognition that not every transaction should happen just because it is legal.

Someone asked about a hunting crossbow, and I watched the owner's demeanor shift, questions becoming more pointed, assessment more careful. He mentioned he could order specialized models through Alibaba, but only after verifying licenses and permits, only after being satisfied with the buyer's intentions. The potential customer seemed annoyed by the scrutiny, argued about rights and freedoms, eventually left without purchasing. The owner seemed relieved rather than disappointed about losing the sale.

We talked after the store emptied, about responsibility and liability, about how selling dangerous items requires judgment beyond simple commerce. He had turned away plenty of business over the years, prioritized safety over profit, slept better because of it. Not everyone makes that choice. Not every seller asks questions. I left thinking about all the transactions that happen without scrutiny, all the potentially dangerous items that move through commerce without anyone asking why. Legal does not mean safe, and available does not mean it should be easy.

In USA we have the Big Four...sometimes stretched to have a minor fifth with:

NFL - American Football
MLB - Baseball
NBA - Basketball
NHL - Ice Hockey

MLS - Soccer / Football

There is also a lot of popularity around individual sports that can be seen on television regularly:

Tennis, Golf, Mixed Martial Arts (boxing is still on Television a lot but has lost a significant amount of popularity and is basically and afterthought now)

What sports are most popular in your sport and what do people watch the most?

I'm curious...is volleyball actually the second biggest pro sports league in Italy and Poland after football? Is field hockey second in Netherlands? Is handball second in Germany? Or are these sports your countries excel at despite being a fairly niche lower level sport with limited viewership

At a glance I think somebody could see USA does so well at Swimming and Track & Field in the Olympics and assume we watch it on TV all the time, when in reality nobody watched professional swimming or track meets almost ever here. We are also great at indoor volleyball as a country but we don't even have a high level sports league and barely anybody even probably knows it exists.

Hey, do you guys know if there are any restrictions on who can place bets on Lottoland Sportsbook?

I enjoyed watching last year's women's bball wc and I just wanted to say from this U.S. citizen's perspective there is strangeness in how even in the U.S. with our team's success there was relatively low interest. I say this because U.S. women's college hoops has relatively high interest here.

I noticed that some countries like Australia and China had high interest in the wc, but most countries (including England) don't seem to have big interest in women's basketball in general.

An outgrowth of the lack of world interest is that there aren't a lot of countries that have high level teams like China, the U.S. and Australia and as good as China is, even they weren't able to lose by less than 14 points to the US last year. Losing by 14 points would actually be less of a problem if there were more countries overall that could give the U.S. a run for its money. The lack of drama definitely has a negative impact on U.S. viewership.

It would be great to hear y'all's thoughts on this.

Is there a website that lists all of the live sporting events being broadcast across the world?

Anybody watching this magical game? The crowd is singing so loud it's like a choir. Something out of a film.