Jeremiah: So...with the rising glory of American soccer...can America finally accept the world's pastime as one of its own?
Mike:It really depends on how much of a frontrunner America decides to be... and since it's been shown in the Olympics and the World Baseball Classic that we really don't care until we're owning and winning everything... things don't look good.
Jeremiah: But even if we're the best, even if we dominate the world of soccer and wipe the floor with the Brazilians causing Pele to roll over in his grave, Americans will never accept soccer even though it brings together all of the things that Americans love.
Mike:Teamwork, athleticism and hot chicks dressed up in patriotic colors... but that's the thing, how do we know we won't accept the sport? Look at the US team about a month ago. We beat Spain and got to the Confederations Cup final and suddenly people gave a shit about soccer. Think how much bigger that wave of support would have been if we consistently dominated. If we weren't rolling out the MLS All Stars to play against Portugal, which is pretty much the European Continent All Stars, then yeah maybe we'd have a chance and we'd get more than 16 fans per game.
Jeremiah:One word: pride. We Americans are too scared to say we love anything foreign and unfortunately soccer, er, futbol, has been forever labeled a foreign sport. Even though soccer is extremely exciting, fast paced, and full of most things we as Americans love, most of the populace would rather watch toothless rednecks race around an oval 500 times.
Mike:Well that's why we need to put an American brand on it. I'm not saying we should start making it full contact, but if we get some charismatic stars and stop relying on David Beckham to be our Albert Pujols, Americans will take a hold of the sport. It's just a joke that Landon Donovan is our biggest star when the guy's biggest claim to fame is that he's shy, quiet, chokes under pressure, and whines about his team. We tried to market Freddy Adu as the second-coming but that failed too. We're just stuck without a big centerpiece. Find a soccer equivalent of Arod or Pujols and we'll get the casual fan to convert.
Jeremiah:What if we took it a step further? Americans love three things: porn, McDonalds, and spending money. Let's give Steinbrenner the reins to an American Premier League and have him buy up every European star. Hell to buy Liverpool FC it would only cost him 300million pounds. Think of all the corporate sponsors that would take hold of that enterprise. Here's the catch, we have to convince fans of Shaq and Tony Stewart to start rooting for guys like Lionel Messi and Fernando Torres.
Mike's Final Thoughts: First off, I never want Steinbrenner to touch anything else in the world that I enjoy. But I do like the idea that we need to make the MLS a league that players want to come to the States for. Beckham was supposed to be the first, but he ended up being the only one. It’s totally impossible for us to buy guys like Messi or Torres because there’s no way that they leave the top competition in the world for the MLS, but if we get just a FEW decent European stars, the level of play will increase tenfold.So yeah, the first step is to just improve the league. If the MLS shapes up, we can produce better national teams. Better national teams mean less embarrassing losses in the World Cup. Less embarrassing losses obviously means we are no longer the laughing stock of the soccer world. Of course all this is easier said than done. But the point stands true: Americans will take a hold of the sport and embrace it as one of their own as long as we don’t keep playing the role of underdog. We don’t like being the underdog. We like going into competitions as the favorite. The potential for fandom is there, we just need to win.
Jeremiah’s Final Thoughts: So to answer the original question of, Can Americans finally accept soccer in to their lives? No, at least not a for a good while. Should we? Most certainly. Every time I try to sell soccer to a non-futbol lover, I always get the same excuses and in my closing thoughts I’d like to dismiss some of them.
1) “It’s so boring! The scores are like 2-1…in a good game!” First off, how is it even bad that a game is low scoring? I personally love the buildup of 2-1 soccer games or pitching duels where a decisive 8th can make or break a game. But to address it directly, a 21-14 game of football would seem normal when in reality its only 3-2. Just because you get seven points instead of one doesn’t mean a team is scoring any more. Plus, games are only 90 minutes long…with virtually no commercials! (save for halftime) Average baseball games are around two hours if you’re lucky, probably even closer to three hours. Its fast paced, even though its low scoring, the suspense and waiting are what makes matches so spectacular. That being said, I really wish they’d do away with ties outside of pool play.
2) “C’mon, those guys fall down like every other play!” It’s all part of the strategy folks. Unfortunately soccer players don’t get to take a break every down, or even get subbed out every game. That’s right, at least 9 of the 11 players on the field have to play the full ninety minutes non-stop, trying doing that without faking an injury to suck some wind. And besides, if a D-Lineman could get tossed out for jumping offsides, or clipping, don’t you think a meaty O-Lineman would be rolling around on the ground every other down to take rival players off the field?
3) “This is America, I watch Americans play sports!” Oh really? Take a look around the MLB…now the NHL…now even the NBA. Foreigners have found an athletic niche in American Sports and they aren’t leaving anytime soon. If they played American style Football overseas we’d see crazy Slavs, Mc’s, and Aussies turning their rugby skills into Linebacker phenoms.
One last thing, 5.5 million people tuned in for the NASCAR Spring Cup: Lenox Industrial Tools 500 last month…I never want to hear again that soccer is too boring for us.
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The thing is these guys dive and act like girls when they get bumped. Yeah its strategy but its gay. If it was allowed to be more physical not saying tackling, but more like basketball where you can jockey for position with your hands and body. In soccer usually a foul is called. I love soccer but the fact is people like high scoring. Soccer isnt the most fast paced sport a lot of kicking back and then forward and back again to set up a play. Where as in Basketball, Football,and Hockey its all go go go crash the boards or nets
ReplyDeletevarejao and paul pierce make even the pussiest of soccer players look like brock lesnar
ReplyDeleteYou can jockey for position, it happens on almost every play near the box. You cant shove anyone to the ground, but it is almost identical to the rules of basketball. People do love high scoring, yet fans still turn out for hockey games, pitching duels, and even football games that end in games that average less than 21pts. Also, football is hardly go go go. If anything its one of the slowest paced sports there is except for baseball. For god's sakes they pause after every down. But that post exemplifies why Americans can never accept soccer as their own, people are too stuck in their ways (not always a bad thing) to reach out and give it a shot, even though it is a melting pot of the sports Americans already crave.
ReplyDeleteI'd watch MLS if they weren't shown at midnight on espn 7
ReplyDeletelol good points i know the jockey but its still gets called more often then in basketball. Hockey, Football all have big hits, fights which America loves. Baseball the casual fan is bored at pitching duel. And by go go go football is someone is always going forward getting hit and yeah they pause but soccer does the same thing sort of. They dont pause but they flop, and will slow down ball control by passing back the back then forward to rest and set up attacks yeah they run all game but its a jog sometimes and only rush hard on attacking opportunities. You all know I love soccer but im just playing devils advocate. America likes hard hits, violence, women, Beer and Samuel L Jackson. Aside from Zidanes head butt lacks three of the 5
ReplyDeleteplus the MLS is a joke. If we could get the best players in the U.S I realy think it would change. People like to root for there states or cities team not England or Spains team
ReplyDeleteThe MLS is a joke and will continue to be a joke until America gives it a reason not to be. Like Mike said, we need some effing stars. Freddy "Get Ready" Adu never cut it and Lando cant pull the league by himself. Btw, I do believe Samuel L. Jackson could in fact play striker for the LA Galaxy.
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