Posted on 06/27/2014 8:16:11 AM PDT by Kaslin
I think the points have been made:
— Soccer is largely a tedious game featuring long stretches of uneventful play punctuated by the all-too-rare moment of scoring;
— The clock concept is infuriating. We love the 45-minute halves with no commercials, but then the arbitrary one or three or six minutes of “extra time” violate every concept of precision that a clocked sport should have;
— Soccer has its fan base, and it is not small; but the pressure on America to embrace it to some far larger degree is absurd. We simply never will as long as we have other sports featuring far deeper intrigue.
I have spent a lot of time during World Cup 2014 making these very points against those passionate souls who have insisted that this is the year, this is the time, now is the juncture at which America welcomes soccer in a fashion approaching football, baseball, basketball— hockey, maybe ? Golf? NASCAR?
Nope. Not going to happen. They say never say never. I’m saying never. Soccer will never— ever— reach consistent viewer levels approaching even our fifth or sixth most popular sports, in terms of TV ratings and attendance.
The attempt by elites to cram soccer down our throats are comical, as we are made to feel like rubes for not embracing the sport most of the world loves— because most of the world doesn’t have anything else.
That said, I have heard the diatribes and read the columns crafted by people pushing back against soccer fever— and enjoyed them all, and agreed with most.
But with the USA team’s improbable path into the World Cup’s final 16, I want to offer advice to all the soccer critics— everybody gets it. Points made. Now shut up and root for the Americans.
There has been a window for slapping soccer around. It was wide open for the opening games, when soccer dorks scolded anyone not embracing the sport as God’s greatest gift. We gave as good as we got, and we won. Even the late-arriving bandwagon types knew they were crowded into various venues for two reasons— first, the USA was playing, and second, we understood what a big worldwide deal it is.
As soon as America is ousted— and that could well be after the Belgium game Tuesday afternoon— this entire phenomenon evaporates. We will not gather by the thousands to watch Argentina battle Colombia. But if we can get by Belgium and make the Final Eight— the nation will be going crazy, and everyone keeping the soccer hate alive will come off looking like a bunch of jerks.
I say this with all love to people I share a lot of space with. Conservatives in particular have had a great time savaging soccer— from Ann Coulter, who properly taps the brakes on any sport where girls compete alongside boys, to Marc Thiessen, who crafts a sublime argument that soccer is socialist.
But the fact of the matter is that the world plays it, the world cares about it, and the United States of America might just crash the party even further.
If we do, there is only one proper reaction: celebration. By dinnertime Sunday, July 13, the World Cup final will be over. The USA team will probably not be involved. The next day, America will return to its default soccer setting of ambivalence leaning toward disinterest.
All the critics will have been proven right. There will be no burst of marketplace appetite for soccer in our daily, even yearly lives.
But between now and whenever the USA is done, if the whole World Cup thing is too boring for you or too foreign or too whatever— keep it to yourself. Thousands of your countrymen will be busting their behinds to excel at a game the world cares about a lot more than we do— which should be cause for enthusiasm. We all know American football, baseball and basketball are far better than anything other nations can offer up. As such, American successes in those sports on a world stage are not so surprising.
But for a team of Americans to fight its way out of a group containing three teams from nations that live and die for soccer? To face next week another country that does not have Jack Squat except for soccer? For us to excel in that context makes me enormously proud, even with my pocketful of criticisms for what the world calls “football.”
I know what football is. It is the punishing, compelling, high-scoring affair culminating every year in a Super Bowl that excites me more than any soccer game ever will.
But right now, a team of Americans is trying to win a tournament followed by more human beings than will watch any Super Bowl. I, for one, will cheer for them to win it. And to all of you who have sought to show us how cool you are, or how conservative you are, by bad-mouthing soccer? Stow it for a while. Not because you are wrong, but because large throngs of your fellow Americans will be rooting for our nation to do well on this world stage. And a handful of your countrymen wearing our colors are fighting hard to make us proud.
So let’s be proud. We have the rest of our lives to push back against those who overstate soccer’s appeal. Until our fellow Americans are shown the door, let’s appreciate them by not denigrating their field of battle.
Let me ask you this question: those Third Worlders . . . they become USA soccer fans the moment they cross the border? I suppose it’s possible, the way a Venezuelan, Dominican, or Cuban becomes a baseball fan . . . but please elaborate. Spanish-speakers watch Univision, anyway. Why the interest in ESPN?
I notice you didn’t mention the NBA Finals, which happens every year. Which is as an American sport as you can get.
3rd world ? Baseball is 50% Latin American. And it is a dying sport.
Enjoy your Bud ads every 5 minutes as you watch 350 lb fat asses sit on each other in ‘football’.
The idea of Little League and hockey camps is basically ludicrous. Willie Mays grew up playing stickball and Gretzky on frozen ponds.
The entire concept of adults running expensive children’s sports leagues demonstrates a lot of what is wrong in the country.
So the NFL will have to import players. Think about that for a minute.
The ratings for an average English Premier League game exceed those for the Super Bowl. Viewership for the World Cup final in 2010 approached a billion people.
The only people who watch American sports are Americans. The only people who watch soccer are everyone else.
Olympics are every 4 years too and its a big deal. I’ll watch gymnastics, swimming and even curling because its the Olympics.
Other than the Olympics (4 year event) I could never imagine myself or a buddy saying ‘Hey, girls swimming is on Ch. 5 now, or gymnastics is on ESPN, or curling is on”. A guy would get scoffed at if he did.
Only way soccer does well in the US is the World Cup and amongst the mass forced immigration populace.
It’s nice to watch a sport without a bunch of thugs (Luis Suarez, notwithstanding).
But to suggest that soccer (in the U.S.) will "only" succeed because of the World Cup (and that it will fade afterward) requires no small amount of denial.
Please note, I'm not talking about the "bump" I'm talking about the trend.
If the NFL dies, it will be from be sued out of existence by its own players. I never understood people blaming some made up strawman that they think is out to get football. When we all see with our own eyes football’s ex-players being they ones dragging the NFL into court. It will be football players who destroy football, nobody else.
Would it be too much to ask to have his stopwatch synched to the stadium clock?
Now that post I think is 100 % spot on.
And the owners don't recognize it, yet. Because they are rolling in dough generated by their taxpayer-funded stadiums.
This is how I see the trends in my lifetime. When I was young I would rank in popularity these sports in order, Baseball, Football, Basketball, Hockey, and Soccer. Now I would make the ranking Football, Basketball, Baseball, Soccer, and Hockey. With Soccer being within striking distance of baseball, due to baseball’s nursing home demographic. Hockey had a brief moment in the early 90’s, but it did not capitalize and now it is teetering on irrelevance. Football is king right now, with Basketball and Soccer being sports that are trending up. While Baseball is about to enter a death spiral after its fans pass to the great beyond in the next two decades, and hockey was never there to began with.
Ha, that debate has been going on forever. There are others who keep time too, just to keep the ref honest, but good luck getting that changed. It has grown on me over the years. I look forward to seeing how much time is left for the stoppages. It’s a reminder that the game isn’t over till the fat lady sings (or the ref blows his whistle).
I don’t see what’s so hard about this “best records advance” concept. If the Tigers lose game #162, they’re not supposed to still be happy if they’ve made the playoffs?
I'm off to watch some thoroughbred racing . . . oh, wait.
There are 36 inches in a yard but I'll be damned if I can remember how many centimeters there are in that same yard........
NHL just posted record revenue. If the MLS has passed them it’s not because they’re falling, it’s just MLS growing, which given the much larger stadium size isn’t terribly unexpected.
you are right, because the US is now awash with illegals.
For most young white American males, soccer is a sport you play because you are smaller and suck at baseball/football/basketball. I’d add hockey, but in the US, if you want to play hockey you need some money and parents willing to sell their lives to the sport.
Guess what else is “trending down” here in the old US. The concept of a republic. What is “trending up”. Crime, the acceptance of criminal govt, and barrios. Yeah US trends.
Didn’t know that, thanks. The one article I read did reference average crowd turnout . . . but those specialized MLS stadiums aren’t that big to begin with. I thought NHL stadiums are larger.
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