The World Cup starts today. Does anybody care? I know soccer is the world’s game and all…but honestly…I wouldn’t watch a World Cup game if they played in my backyard. Am I supposed to care who wins this “important” tournament? I’d say most Americans could care less. The reason “the real football” isn’t more popular on this side of the pond is that it just isn’t TV friendly. There are no breaks in play…you could watch for 60 minutes and then you get up to raid the fridge and you miss the only goal of the game. Which underscores yet another difficulty for American audiences: low scoring games. I’m sure there are nuances and subtleties to the game, but I just can’t get excited about a 1-0 Peru / Lithuania match. I know I’m sure to draw some ire here…somebody, tell me, what am I missing?
Maybe the soccer “powers that be” could take a page from other sports: a 58-minute “stretch”, commercial breaks every five minutes, maybe a gorilla mascot doing trampoline tricks at halftime. I’d watch a guy in a gorilla suit dribble downfield. That’s entertainment.
already & not yet 
It’s an aquired taste, and when it comes to taste, most Americans don’t have very much.The rarity of the goals is what makes them special. Unless you have played or coached, it’s difficult to understand just how hard it is to score a goal against a well-organized defense and a smart, athletic keeper. Unless you have ever experienced the tantalizing frustration of near-goals, the ballet of a ball well-possessed from back to front to back and up top again, unless you have ever seen a sliver of space appear for an instant inside the 18, like heaven itself opening up before you, and unless you’ve witnessed the beauty of a well-struck ball slipping through the left upper 90 like a thread through the eye of a needle, and then the explosion, the pure release of raw energy that is a goal (some have compared it to…you know), then, my friend, you have not experienced true joy.It is the common language of the world. This week in Honduras, 6 American teenagers took on 6 Honduran youths in their own version of World Cup, played on a field made of donkey dung (USA won). There wasn’t a lot of Spanish or English being spoken, but they all understood each other quite well.This is boring? Compared to what? A game where we all sit around staring at nine guys with grass growing up between their toes waiting for something to happen?Ole.
In my opinion, as Americans, we don’t like soccer because (1) it isn’t one of “our” sports and (2) we aren’t very good at it in comparison to the rest of the world. If we actually had a chance to win, maybe more people would watch. But even if the USA was playing in the world cup finals, I’d still probably rather watch the Braves play, even if it was just against the Pirates.
Hey–what’s with the Pirates slam?You are right, Soccer is a big steaming pile of bore.
Scott said: “You are right, Soccer is a big steaming pile of bore.”That’s a pretty full-bore “red, white and blue” thing of you to say Scott.I didn’t know you had it in you.
Mike, it’s less of a red, white and blue and more of a western, easily bored, short attention span thing.Baseball bores me these days, too.
You’ve been playing with your IPod too much.You need to read War and Peace, then force yourself to sit through a 90+ minute regulation soccer match (which ends in a 0-0 draw, naturally), two scoreless overtime periods, and finally shots from the mark.That’ll for sure lengthen your western attention span.
Let’s try and flip it around. Take football. The football WE know and love. Let’s say it’s been around for twice as long as it has. More tradition. More appeal (if you can imagine). More everything. Then say we play in our own league (such as the NFL) like we normally do every year. But every 4 years there is a worldwide tournament. But the catch is – the rest of the world is actually as good as we are. Isn’t that why we typically don’t watch Olympic Basketball? We KNOW we’re gonna win…it’s just not fair. That is, of course, unless you watched this past Olympiad.But how exciting would it be to have a worldwide FOOTball (not futball) tournament every 4 years? With our all-stars versus the world’s all-stars? Now that’s something to get excited about.Unfortunately, it just so happens that our football isn’t the world’s football.And by the way…I don’t think you can use the argument that Soccer isn’t “TV Friendly”. Do you think baseball is TV Friendly? There’s no WAY TV does any justice to the sport like a day at the ballpark.
It doesn’t interest me either. I take football or baseball anyday over soccer.
Scott – Nothing personal against the Pirates. In fact, without the Pirates the Braves would be deprived of their most dramatic moment in my lifetime. I believe I was actually in your den the evening that the speedy Sid Bream rounded third and beat the throw from Mr. Steroids to win the pennant. For some reason I remember you pulling for the Pirates. Can’t remember if you were an actual fan or just anti-Brave.
I never said baseball was the most TV friendly sport, but at least there’s a break every half inning to sell beer and iPods. If soccer WERE more TV friendly, it’d be on all the time. It isn’t. I’d watch Braves – Pirates anyday over a soccer match. I’d watch Devil Rays – Royals over a soccer match, if only to root for the guys on my fantasy team. Heck, I’d watch a WNBA game before I’d watch soccer. Mike, I’ve never heard anyone compare soccer to “you know.” Interesting.
WNBA over soccer? That’s pathetic.99.9% of experts agree that there is a strong correlation between passion on the pitch (that’s soccer lingo for “field” for all you Cretans) and performance in, well, “you know.”
And who are these so-called “experts”? I gotta see some credentials there.Yeah, you’re probably right…I couldn’t watch WNBA over soccer. I was just trying to get a rise out of you.
You know, experts. Do they ever have names and faces?I’m a soccer guy–it’s never difficult to get a rise out of me.
Well, if the “experts” are correct and if soccer is as boring as I say it is, then I have a serious problem.
I know i’m late on the bandwagon here…but I’ll chime in. 4 years ago, I was in Europe when the world cup was going on. I didn’t know what was going on, but man, I was excited. People partying in the streets of England and Germany…it was something else.When we got back to the States, however, I quickly lost interest. I think it really does have something to do with our culture, and not having a strong interest in it, but add to that a yet.I believe with the rising amount of kids interested in soccer nowadays, that the US could eventually be contenders. However, that still doesn’t mean I’ll watch it. I’ll catch a few games, but when I watch for 2 hours and no one scores, that is when it gets dull.
I know soccer is the global sport, but until they spice it up a bit, it’ll never be huge in the US. If our team were more competitve, I’d probably be more inclined to watch.
During the last world cup, our team did remarkably well, considering they were Americans. I remember we beat several favored teams, including Portugal. Even then, there was no following. About the only thing the US has gotten into Soccer wise is the women’s World Cup and that Mia Hamm chick.
Yeah, and I wonder why anybody was interested in Mia Hamm.