For me it is the intensity the Europeans (and other countries that are not the US) bring to the game. I can see that not just being reflected in the players, but in the announcers too. Obviously someone will speak much more enthusiastically about something they are very passonate about. Another cool thing is they are not all decked out in armor, makes it much more manly to me. It isn't uncommon to see vast amount of blood and snapping limbs during a foreign football match. There have even been cases of guys dying on the field and being carried away on a stretcher while the game goes on (okay, so one instance that I know of, could have happened more than once). To some people that might sound cold and disrespectful, but I am sure his team mates went back out there thinking, "Let's win this thing for Alberto!" (or whatever his name was). Also, the guy wasn't killed from injury on the field, but some medical blood/heart related issue. Don't remember the details. In America we stop our American padded rugby matches every five minutes for commercials. Some one gets injured we have to stop the game, zoom in on them with the camera, tell their life story, talk about how much that injury "has got to hurt!", explain a bunch of other stuff, and then if we are lucky the game continues after a plug for some sponsoring product.