How Soccer is Ruining America: A Jeremiad (In honor of the World Cup)

First Things ^ | 3/5/2009 | Stephen H. Webb

[Walkingfeather]

LOL

[kevkrom]

They are undefeated in their last 12 games.

And still ranked #83 in the world. Depends on who you play, after all.

Glad to see them hold Mexico to a draw, though a win would have been better. (My two favorite teams are the USA and whomever's playing Mexico!)

[Dr. Sivana]

Soccer is not important in the U.S. If watching the World Cup became impossible, there would be no major disruptions, except in some Latino neighborhoods.

Yet there would be riots throughout the world, while the rest of the world wouldn't care if the Super Bowl got canceled.

Yup, except in not insignificant countries like China and India, which follow it, but don't live or die by it. Which means there is no one sport that will get every major area of the world upset. Soccer is largely a Euro/Latin American thing. Canada, despite having been part of the British Empire for so long really has hockey as its national sport. I imagine that in Japan, the top sumo wrestler has more prestige than the top soccer player. The top baseball pitcher and home run hitter might be competitive for the title.

[driftless2]

I will say the Stanley Cup is the only time I watch the NHL. The NHL has the same problems all the other major sports team have: too many teams. Years ago you could get behind some forlorn team because they hadn’t won for umpteen years. Now there are about thirty teams in all the leagues, and the talent is diluted. I can’t get excited about the Florida Marlins, the San Jose Sharks, or some other nondescript team. And I liked hockey when it’s teams were mostly from Canada or the northern U.S. cities. It’s more interesting to read about the wishes and desires of a long-suffering resident of Winnipeg than it is to read about someone from Dallas whose knowledge of hockey is minimal. Even though my knowledge of hockey is minimal. (smirk)

[1rudeboy]

Last time I checked, MLS is plugging-along rather nicely. Turning a profit, (reasonably) filling its stadiums . . . .

[Dr. Sivana]

Amen to your whole post. I might add that it would be nice if they shortedned the regular seasonand the palyoff season so that the most important hockey of the year could be played when there would theoretically be ice on the ground in at least one NHL city.

[Chode]

oh yeah, works for me.

or maybe with the ball on fire, it sets the goal and goalie on fire as it goes in... 8^)

[Jakarta ex-pat]

How soccer (football) is ruining America?

Obama? YES

Illegal Immigration? YES

Soccer?

Hardly. People often say music is the international language of the world ( In other words, if you travel and play an instrument, you can speak to others whatever their nationality)

I would put forward soccer ( football) comes a close second.

First, if you become an expatriate, one of the easiest ways to make friends is through soccer ( I'm currently the chairman of the JIFL ( Jakarta International Football League ) and we have teams from Japan, Germany, Latin America, Denmark, as well as numerous others. Our refs as well as approximately 20 players are also Indonesian, so we don't exclude the locals.

Second, soccer is the ultimate easy to play sport as you only need the ball. But most importantly, especially if you do business abroad, whether you are in Iraq, England, China, or Timbuktu, you are a real ignoramus if you can't talk Pele, Rooney, Zidane or Maradona.

[andy58-in-nh]

They do all right, I suppose, at an average attendance of about 16,000 (although that figure is skewed by the League’s particular popularity in Seattle).

[dfwgator]

I think the Euro Leagues are much more popular here than the MLS is, which is actually the case in most of the world.

Most domestic leagues have poor support, even in countries where soccer is the dominant sport, more people follow the famous Euro teams.

[Hegewisch Dupa]

The one thing the Euro soccer leagues have over any American sport is that whole deal where the worst/best teams at each level move down/up to the appropriate league. That is just plain smokin’ cool.

[dfwgator]

I think it would be cool to adopt that to college football. Forget conferences, have the best 13 teams all play each other, and see at the end of the year which one has the best record. Every year, the bottom three drop out, and you bring in the best three teams from the second-tier.

[andy58-in-nh]

Manchester United seems to have a pretty fair fan base around here, perhaps because it’s our own city’s namesake (in NH).

[antiRepublicrat]

Soccer is largely a Euro/Latin American thing

There are teams from every region of the world playing in the finals. The Europeans and Latin Americans are definitely the most fanatic, but unlike American football, soccer is at least somewhat popular in almost every country in the world. 204 national teams tried to get into this final. 32 teams from one country tried to get into the Super Bowl. There is simply no comparison.

The only thing about soccer that I don't like is that we aren't the best at it. It should be a matter of national pride to dominate the sport, but instead we leave it mostly to the Europeans and South Americans. Most of us have accepted defeat, often using various coping devices to explain it away (soccer is not important, it's for pansies, etc.).

[Hegewisch Dupa]

!!!!! Brilliant !!!!!

[dfwgator]

Manchester United seems to have a pretty fair fan base around here, perhaps because it’s our own city’s namesake (in NH).

What about Manchester City?

[dfwgator]

It should be a matter of national pride to dominate the sport

Check NBA or Major League Baseball rosters lately, we sure don't dominate those sports anymore.

[andy58-in-nh]

Yes, them, too. I’ve seen various European soccer jerseys in the sports bars around here, which I assumed was either the result of a genuine interest in the leagues or a clever way to promote conversation with pretty girls.

[shibumi]

Diana Moon Glampers Bookmark

[dfwgator]

I finally went ahead and ordered my Everton jersey.