Take a moment and take an unbiased look at some of the world's great rivalries, which make anything American sports can conjure look like nerdball by comparison. You'll find that they are about tribalism and tradition, not globalism. To use just one example -- Rangers/Celtic. British crown vs. Irish Republicanism. In short, The Troubles, and a manifestation of a struggle that has gone on since 1690.
Manchester and Leeds have hated each other since the War of the Roses and that carries over into Manchester United vs. Leeds United. That's not globalism.
"But despite 40+ years of trying, Football is, if anything, more popular now that it was back then and Soccer's popularity (or lack thereof) is virtually unchanged."
Since you don't like globalism, perhaps you could explain why the NFL spends so much of its marketing effort globally, an effort soccer mastered long ago. Meanwhile, you now have American networks bidding big bucks to show the English Premiership and Fox puts the UEFA Champions League on as a regular part of its programming. 112 million people watched at least part of the 2010 World Cup in the United States, a 22 percent increase from 2006.
Sure, the NFL is top dog domestically. Nobody disputes that, and MLS has a long way to go before it even comes close. But to simply dismiss soccer isn't correct. It's the wave of the future and you should get used to it.
And here's the other thing I don't get: with the understandable animus toward Mexico on certain parts of this board, why aren't people rooting for the United States to beat Mexico at its own game, the only high-profile sport besides baseball where the countries meet on more or less equal terms?
And the article leaves out the very best thing about soccer as opposed to American sports: promotion and relegation. You do well, you prosper and get promoted. If you don't, you get punished and dropped a league. That's actually a very conservative principle. In American sports, if you stink, don't worry. Just sell your best players and let your crony capitalist owner pocket the money while you try again next year in the same league.
That's one thing I find humorous: people whining that there are too many Mexico fans at the stadium, but when asked, won't go to a match. Don't go if you don't want to, just stop the incessant whining and act like a real NFL fan.
Promotion and relegation are not only the best aspects of soccer; it’s one of the best concepts in all of sport.
If the bottom four teams in the NFL got dropped to a minor league, you sure would get rid of a lot of complacency and nepotism in front offices.
LOL!
The wave of the future since 1970!!!!
They been saying the same thing about Solar Power, The Metric System, Presta Valves, Windows 8, etc.
communism was the wave of the future at one point. Should we have gotten used to that?