Why don't Americans like professional soccer?
| 13
|
by Joliecat
To the rest of the world, the game is known as "football" but to us holdout Americans it is called "soccer." Among youths it is a popular enough sport that a whole subculture has grown up around it. "Soccer mom in a minivan" is a figure that can be seen in any major suburban area in our country.
Professional soccer never has caught on in our country, however. In other parts of the world, such as Europe or South America, people seem to live and die by it. This morning David Beckham and his wife greeted the press and L.A. as his official beginning as a new player for the L.A. Galaxy. Many feel that having a player of his stature in the American soccer league will finally elevate the status of the league in our eyes.
Or will it? Why has soccer lacked popularity on our shores? To our football-with- heavy-pads-and-helmets, all-star wrestling and NASCAR culture, the staid game of soccer may just be too boring.
In June of 1994, I was fortunate enough to see the World Cup games at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, working as a temp employee at the concession stand. Many of the games were back-and-forth defensive struggles with scores of 1-0 or 2-1. The game between Mexico and Ireland was really memorable because we ran out of beer at the concession stand only a few minutes into the final period.
Soccer does lack the frenetic action of a kickoff, the drama of a long bomb or a walk off homer, or the electrifying finesse of a buzzer beating three pointer or a slam dunk. Even the officiating is low-key: the referees hold up one of a series of three different color translucent cards when a foul is committed. Can it ever compare to enforcers in hockey being called for high-sticking?
Maybe David Beckham's foray into American soccer will remind us all of Michael Jordan trying to break into baseball. Or maybe it will energize the sport so that a few of the players (besides Beckham) will become household names. As the (British) singer John Wetton once sang "Only time will tell."
