Football in the Dominican Republic

As any one that has ever visited the Dominican Baseball Guy knows, baseball is king, queen, and prince in the Dominican Republic. It is by far the most popular sport. If one was to add up the market share of each sport, I would estimate that baseball owns at least 80% of the money spent on sports or sports entertainment in the Dominican Republic.

The Dominican Baseball Guy has mentioned previously that basketball has become more popular in recent years. Al Hortford and Francisco Garcia have led the way for Dominican players in the NBA. I would estimate that basketball takes about another 10% of that market for sports in the Dominican Republic.

And finally, American football has gained some popularity. Football is watched strictly as a spectator sport, and I am not aware of any major football teams in the Dominican Republic. But every Saturday and Sunday during football season, there are tons of Dominicans that like to watch football, even though they probably have never played the game.

One major reason that many Dominicans watch football is because they like to bet on the games. There are gambling parlors on seemingly every corner in major Dominican cities. And they are filled with Dominican men betting on all types of games. It is men...all men. A gambling parlor is no place for a woman, and gambling is an activity for men in the Dominican Republic.

If not in the Dominican Republic at a betting parlor, or not in Vegas, their are a few options to bet online. There are a number of websites for NFL betting online. Try that link for some options on where to place an NFL wager online.

Baseball in the Dominican Republic has equal with Football in Samoa

Any reader of The Dominican Baseball Guy and any fan of Major League Baseball undoubtedly knows that baseball rules in the Dominican Republic.  Baseball is the culture in the Dominican Republic.  Kids, adults, men, and women all play the game.  Men want to be professional baseball players and women want to date them.  In very few countries does one sport dominate the culture of the country as it does with baseball in the Dominican Republic.

But in one place there is a sport that influences the national culture just like baseball does in the Dominican Republic, and that is with American Football in American Samoa.  Noted sports historian Rob Ruck tackles the subject of Football in Samoa in his latest book, Fa’a Samoa: So close to God, so far from the United States: American Football in American Samoa and Among the Diaspora. And he will speak on the book this Wednesday at the University of West Virginia.

Ruck has written extensively on baseball in the Dominican Republic, so he knows how a sport can affect the culture of a country.  His book, The Tropic of Baseball, is one of the seminal works on baseball in the Dominican Republic.  The Dominican Baseball Guy has blogged on Rob Ruck and other Dominican baseball books several times previously.

Anyone interested in sports and culture should get this latest work on Samoan Football from Rob Ruck, as well as his previous work The Tropic of Baseball, or any of his work that focuses extensively on sports and cultural history.