If the sexiest sports bra and the most tantilizing male stature didn't do it for America, I don't know what will! One would think in a society so obsessed with looks that soccer would have more of a following in the US. Not the case for this reason and many others. Along the lines of why America Football is so popular we discussed in class why soccer hasn’t had the same successful following. The US hasn’t failed for lack of trying, but what they try just doesn’t seem to work for us for right now at least. Starting with the fact that soccer is not unique to America. The game originated in Europe and therefore American’s see it as foreign. Stephen Colbert even went so far to declare that soccer, “the sport for fourth graders that foreign people take seriously" (Nelson, 2009).Something else that might take the attention away from soccer in America is that it is a long game, 90 minutes; 2 halves; with almost no break time until the first half is over. Also, it is very difficult to score. The field is long and wide and the ball is very small and has to over a lot of ground and get through a lot of the opposing players to make it to the goal area. Because of the difficulty in scoring it makes for a very low scoring game. It is not usually a continuous string of excitement if you are used to watching basketball where scoring happens almost every play. I think that for the people that don’t find the game exciting it is because they don’t understand it. Not every play is going to score a goal, but there are plays in the game that are exciting and not necessarily end up in the back of the net. Most of us grew up playing youth soccer so the fundamentals are understood, but for those who didn’t stick with it or care enough to learn more about the game, they write the game off as being unimportant and boring.
It is one thing for people who don’t understand the game to just not pay attention to it. It is another thing to bash the sport or bash people for playing the sport. Soccer is often seen as a sport for wussies and for people who aren’t good enough to play American football. To that us soccer enthusiast say, go take off all your protective pads, slip in some shin guards and we will meet you on the field. “People make fun of the sport the way people make fun of Canada—it's the easiest target imaginable. Until you go to Canada, that is” (Nelson, 2009).
"What's the use in worrying, what's the use in hurrying"
{Dave Matthews Band; Dancing Nancies}
Kara I liked your last paragraph and the way you defended soccer! Many time people are quick to judge the sport without even knowing what the purpose or techniques behind the game. Soccer is an exciting sport and I only wish it could be as big here as it is in Europe. I have discussed this a lot with people after we had this discussion in class. I and most of the other people I have talked with this about agree that the reason American’s don’t like soccer is because they did not come up with the sport. Looking at the sports that are very popular in the United States most of them were formed here. These are sports that we have covered in class like football, baseball and basketball. I don’t think people don’t like it because they are not good at the sport but because they don’t want to be good at the sport. Lets hope one day that soccer can be something our country can take pride in!
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent post about the popularity, or lack, of soccer in the U.S. All of your arguments make a lot of sense. But your opening statement really hit me: "If the sexiest sports bra and the most tantalizing male stature didn't do it for America, I don't know what will!" That was such a great point. I actually thought that the Beckham experiment would make the difference and make soccer "relevant" in the U.S. I am not sure if it was his injuries, or the fact that Beckham was past his prime, or what, but it did not succeed like hockey did after Wayne Gretzky was traded to the L.A. Kings.
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