Posted on 07/11/2014 6:44:37 AM PDT by Objective Scrutator
I’ve always been a big sports fan, which explains why I have absolutely no interest in soccer. The fact is, I’d rather watch my accountant get his toenails clipped than take in a soccer game — and that includes the World Cup final, which I’m sure will be as scintillating as any other soccer game.
In soccer, they spend hours frantically trying to score. That’s not sport. That’s a young guy trying to convince his date that he likes her for her personality. If you could bottle soccer, you’d have a cure for insomnia.
But it’s not just because it’s so dull that I don’t like soccer. Another reason I don’t like it is because of the Americans who do like it. Most of these sports fans — a term I use with no regard for either word, “sports” or “fans” — wouldn’t know a fumble from a first down, a hit-and-run from a double play. But every four years they show up at bars and go wild when the American team ties the Tunisians zero-zero, or nil-nil, as they call it.
I’m not much of a fan of Ann Coulter either (though she’s infinitely more interesting than soccer), but she’s right when she says that soccer is “excruciatingly boring” and that “the reason there are so many fights among spectators at soccer games is to compensate for the tedium.”
Which brings us to how, for many Americans — almost always liberal elite Americans — soccer isn’t really about soccer so much as it’s about proving the superiority of the young over the old, of liberals over conservatives.
Take Peter Beinart, a liberal journalist and professor of journalism and political science at the City University of New York. Mr. Beinart was with Fareed Zakaria on CNN the other day and had a lot to say about how soccer just might save America — from its narrow-minded, insular self.
Soccer fans in America, he said, show us that “we have a less nativist sports culture and we’re more open — at least some groups in the United States — young people, immigrants, political liberals — are more open to liking the same kinds of things that people in other countries do. Things don’t have to be ours and ours alone.”
Part of the attraction of soccer, Mr. Zakaria says, is that we’re sharing the sport with the rest of the world; we’re following something the rest of the world is following. Yes, Professor Beinart says, but it’s much more than that. Younger Americans, who like soccer more than older Americans, “are far less likely than older Americans to say that American culture is superior or to say that America is the greatest country in the world.”
In case you were wondering, this is a good thing to Mr. Beinart, and I suspect many other liberals. Because “it reflects a more cosmopolitan temperament, more of a recognition that America has things to learn from the rest of the world, and that in fact maybe we have to learn from the rest of the world if we’re going to remain a successful country.”
After taking that in, Mr. Zakaria observes that soccer fans in the United States look a lot like the Obama coalition. To which Beinart replied: “That’s exactly right, and if you look at the states where soccer is most popular, they’re overwhelmingly blue states and the states where soccer is least popular are red states.”
You see: Soccer is much more than a game that puts people like me to sleep. It’s a bunch of guys running up and down a “pitch” in short pants teaching us an important lesson — a lesson about how the tide is turning, about how the same people who embrace soccer embrace the idea that despite all the talk from those old right-wingers, America isn’t so special after all. Or as Peter Beinart explains it: “Younger people are far more likely than older people to say they like the United Nations. There’s a willingness to accept the idea that America is one of many nations. Yes, we have a special affinity for it. But it doesn’t mean in some objective sense [that] us, and everything we do are necessarily better.”
So there you have it. He grants us that as Americans we might have “a special affinity” for our homeland, but thanks to soccer we can learn a lot from the rest of the world. We can learn that we’re not as great as we think we are — or, more precisely, that we’re not as great as old, conservative, red-state Americans think we are.
Turns out that soccer is teaching me a lot more about elite, liberal intellectuals than it’ll ever teach me about the rest of the world. In fact, soccer has already taught me that smug, liberal elites are the single biggest reason I have no use for soccer, and that Ann Coulter isn’t crazy when she says, “Any growing interest in soccer can only be a sign of the nation’s moral decay.”
— Bernard Goldberg is a news and media analyst for Fox News and the author of Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News. His website is BernardGoldberg.com.
Some guy who screamed that soccer “is a tool of the Left.”
If conservatives want to do something about soccer, then they should start showing up at matches between the U.S. and other nations with lots of patriotic flags and banners. I would love to see someone dressed as Washington or Patton getting the crowed revved up.
Other countries do it. Why cant we? Dont let the self-hating Americans be the face of our team.
Go all out with the display. The lefties will quickly move on to something else because they will never like to be associated with such displays of nationalism.
Goldberg and his ilk must feel threatened by soccer (football as most of the world calls it) or he can't figure out why so many people are in love with the sport. He is the outsider looking thru the window at the huge party going on inside and although he is invited to come in, he refuses to do so.
What I find disappointing is that some conservatives are now conflating soccer with politics. Soccer is neither a liberal or a conservative sport. It is a global sport that transcends borders and ideology. Just because I enjoy soccer and the World Cup, some are trying to label me as a liberal. It is ridiculous.
Every country in the world enters a team in the quest for the World Cup. After nearly four years of elimination tournaments, 32 teams make it to the finals. And now we have one more game to decide a true world champion. Sit back and enjoy the game with the hundreds of millions of others who will be watching.
I started playing soccer in 1974 at age 13. I also played baseball, football, basketball, swim team, wrestled and surf team. I went to a public school and grew up in lower middle class neighborhoods.
I went on to serve my country for 12 years, leaving due to a spinal injury. I was a Rescue Swimmer and SSET Member among other duties.
I received almost a year’s worth of Imminent Danger Pay and multiple Expeditionary Medals.
The above is only included to qualify me to say:
Bernie and Ann can pack sand. I have served this country to a degree that they can only dream of. Their opinions are worthless and they have not earned the right to pontificate on what is American and what is not. Those who repeat their incoherent ramblings on soccer are just as ridiculous as they are.
LOL—it’s not a “sport” unless scoring is easy.
Your reading comprehension is sadly lacking. Find where I said, “can’t cheer for the US National Team every four years because the Left hates America?”
I agree-
My daughters played soccer- great sport for getting
in shape for hockey!- I have some relatives that
“hate Soccer” - when I ask why?.. No scoring!
They don’t “get it”- I challenge them to just 2,
yes 2 minutes of running - and trying to control
a soccer ball- have not had any takers-
The people who blast soccer are the same who blast
T.V. golf- (I am a terrible golfer-maybe that is
why have come to love the Pro Golfers- like the soccer
Pros- just amazing what these athlete’s can do-
*** YAAAWWWNNNN ***
“.., they spend hours frantically trying to score..”
Sounds like me, in high school, on a Friday night.
Still chuckling about it. Qualifying for the 2018 World Cup (probably) begins later this Fall, and as I watch the men’s national team play, I’ll wonder if I have fallen prey to the Left.
“some conservatives are now conflating soccer with politics” Read the article. Goldberg quotes at length a liberal, sub-human who is politicizing the game.
Love of the game IS politicized. Who is behind it? You can blame the left or the right. You choose. Read the sub-human’s words.
AGAIN, you can like or not like soccer, but it is important to recognize that the left loves it, and it’s good to know WHY they love it.
The left has always and will always seek to rule the culture. It is VITAL to them to destroy the culture. Dumb-ass Americans who did not recognize or care about their cultural take over of movies, tv, education, literature, etc., helped America into her grave.
When I was young I enjoyed watching the SJ Earthquakes play at Spartan Studium. Now I can't handle soccer. For all the reasons Goldberg articulates. So much for the social sea change.
Don’t change the subject. Find where I said, “can’t cheer for the US National Team every four years because the Left hates America?”
Here’s a novel notion for Goldberg, Coulter, and all you other soccer-haters out there. If you don’t like soccer, don’t watch it! I know, it’s tough to swallow, but different people like different things. There are many people who like soccer. If you don’t, why do you care about the ones who do?
I always thought it was liberals who insisted that everyone always has to agree with them and think like them. Don’t we conservatives believe in diversity of thought anymore?
LOL—can’t cheer for the USMNT, it’s lefty. Real righties cheer for MLS.
I don’t see the soccer haters here doing anything different than you’re doing - posting their opinion.
One more week and these soccer threads will die out until the next WC.
I don’t like soccer, but I also don’t think that every sport needs lots of scoring.
Real baseball fans enjoy a no-hitter, or even a 1-0 pichers duel as much as a 15-13 slugfest. Many think that the Triple Play is the most exciting play in baseball (others suggest stealing home).
Real football fans could enjoy the powerfully offensive Rams beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 11-6 in a defensive struggle of the 1999-2000 NFC championship, or for that matter 9-0 in 1979-1980 NFC championship. No one described the 16-7 Super Bowl III as “boring” (only ONE touchdown scored). In the good ol’ days, before the NFL started tinker with the rules, typical scores were 14-7 or 10-3. There were plenty of NFL fans then.
Hockey fans loved seeing a hot goalie keeping the scoring down, or a well-executed power play defense.
For me, soccer doesn’t bring anything that hockey does 10x better. But the mere fact that there isn’t a lot of scoring isn’t a convincing argument against it. I DO believe that it is a valid point that a game of ANY importance can be decided by a shoot-out. That would be like deciding the World Series with a Home Run Derby. Tie games of any sort should be decided by playing the game. Those palookas should have to run around until one of the goalies drops from exhaustion and a bonafide score is made.
(I do believe If scoring=”interest”
Don’t change the subject. Find where I said, “can’t cheer for the US National Team every four years because the Left hates America?”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.