My World Cup Thoughts – Pt I
While I am not a soccer fan, and I make no attempts to hide that opinion, it seems that it’s the thing to do right now and so I’ll voice some of my thoughts about soccer, the World Cup, and how this glorious nation of ours fits into the whole thing.
Pretty much, Coach Singletary. Pretty much. Since the World Cup started, I have found that American soccer fans are some of the more defensive bunch that I have encountered as of late, and, apparently, my disinterest in the game of soccer at the time that the US National team is sort of playing well* furthers their defensive reaction when I inform them that I’m not following the World Cup. I’ve tried: I can’t do it.
*We advanced to the 16-team, elimination round this past week, after Germany beat us 1-0. Soccer is a weird scoring system. It is odd, in my mind, to lose a game and still advance because the other team lost by more. It’s weird. Anyway, Germany is a favorite and so I thought: “Hey, maybe we can be like a Witchita State and make a run at things”…. my Irish-born friend assured me that such a thought was ridiculous. We will not make it out of this round, let alone win the World Cup.
Soccer, to me, is boring to watch. It’s too slow. It’s not their fault, I think that the field is too big and, like a plane flying through the sky, no matter how fast they run, it never looks like they go anywhere…..before the ball gets kicked in the opposite direction. There are a lot of things about soccer that I’m not a fan of, but I can get to those later.
I have ran into quite a bit of backlash from friends — as Portland, Oregon is quite the soccer city; so much so, in fact, that they passed on the opportunity to bid for the Expos and MLB in favor for an MLS team — as I’ve openly expressed my disinterest in soccer. Why am I not following the World Cup? Here are few of the reasons:
–I Expect Failure: The soccer fans of this great country of ours are all sorts of excited for our appearance in the World Cup, but — because I don’t follow soccer — I turn to the experts of the sport to see just what our odds of winning are; spoiler alert: they’re not very good. So, why should people expect me to be watching? The game doesn’t interest me and the only sort of interest I would have (my national team) isn’t going to win and, in fact, celebrates making it out of the first round…..which is concerning. Champions don’t celebrate a first round victory; making it to the 2nd round is not and should not be the goal if you’re a champion. So, clearly, we are not champions in this game.
But, hey, soccer isn’t our national game, so the fact that we qualify for these global competitions — against countries who do have it as their national game — is pretty impressive to me. However, I have no interest in watching a sport that generally disinterests me (unless I’m playing it and engaged), and that we have no chance at winning. Sure, odds-wise, we have a 50-1 chance of winning, but let’s be real: the US will NOT win the 2014 World Cup. If we did…I think that the world may implode or something. But, that’s okay, because, again, this is not our game….
–Not Our Game: Some of my soccer-loving friends took specific offense to my “it’s not our game” comment, reacting with a silly counter argument that it is the “world’s game” and, thus, as a member of this world, it is ours as well. Which is a true statement, but has nothing to do with what I was saying. We play soccer, we have a national team, we’re in the World Cup, so yes, obviously, it is a “worldwide” game that we play…..we just don’t play it as well as others, because it is not where our premiere athletes play.
A fun exercise to do at home: start naming the top American athletes (however you define “top”, be it fame, fortune, etc.) and let me know when you name a US soccer player. I can wait. When do American soccer players start showing up on that list? Around the 200-mark? 250? 300? I’m confident that you’re not seeing a US soccer player show up in the Top 10 or 100, simply because that is not our area of focus or expertise. Ergo, not our game. Meanwhile, you pose that same question to someone in England or Brazil or Italy or Latin America and I imagine that, if not #1, you start getting soccer players in the Top 10, at the very latest. That’s my point.
–Soccer Is Growing In America: Sure, but it’s not a premiere sport here. Do we have a US-league? Yes, the MLS. Is it on par with the European leagues? No, not at all — according to our coach (who oddly is German…), it’s a second-tier league (when compared to the international leagues). So should we celebrate it as a premiere league? No. It’s the equivalent of international basketball to the NBA: when players can no longer make it in the Euro leagues, they come to the MLS; and when players are trying to gain the exposure and skills to maybe play competitively on the international stage, they start out in the MLS and hope to get called up.
“But the US-Ghana game was ESPN’s highest rated program since the 2014 BCS National Championship game!” — I am told — “How can that be if soccer isn’t popular in the United States??”
Again, I’m not saying that it’s unpopular, I’m just saying that it is not our primary focus. That’s all. And, to be fair, what has ESPN had sole rights to since the BCS National Championship game?? The Super Bowl was on Fox — which is a bigger event, for sure. The NCAA Men’s Tournament was on CBS (I believe), so they didn’t get those games, either. And, the Stanley Cup playoffs were on NBC and their respective networks. So, really, the US-Ghana game (which was on during the middle of the day, I think) was competing with daytime TV… on a network that doesn’t have a lot of original programming (mostly highlight shows)… and during a time in the summer where there’s not much going on (i.e. hockey is over, basketball is over, football really hasn’t started yet, so it’s just regular season baseball….but not even the All-Star break yet…when teams start playing harder).
I’d be surprised if that game wasn’t a big draw, simply because there’s not a whole lot for it to compete with.
Soccer may, indeed, be growing in the US….but it’s not a premiere sport here. That is not just my opinion, but, for example, pull up ESPN.com and look at the menu, and tell me what you see: “NFL” “MLB” “NBA” “NHL” “NCAAF” “NCAAM” “NASCAR” “WORLD CUP” “MORE SPORTS”. If you hover over “More Sports”, and go through the columns vertically, “Soccer” is the 13th option. And, guess what? IT IS NOT FOR OUR MLS LEAGUE!!!! It’s the option for the World Cup/International leagues!!!
I’ll buy into the “soccer is popular in the US” opinion when it starts showing up on ESPN’s menu. Until then, though, the “Worldwide Leader in Sports” tends to agree with me that soccer is not one of our games.
Personally, if we were going to concern ourselves with a predominantly-international sport to adopt, I wish it would have been rugby. Rugby is everything the NFL was before the culture started getting soft and former players started lawyer-ing it up. It’s a game that, I think, could have really gotten hold in the US awhile back, but probably not anymore. Soccer may be growing in popularity because it is perceived to be “safer” (read: soft…because the injuries are largely exaggerated and flopping is part of the game)…. although, rec league soccer, I believe, is responsible for more blown out knees and Achilles injuries than any other form of amateur sport.
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Well, that will do it for Part I of this series. Stay tuned for Part II where I’ll write more specifically on World Cup-related news and such of that nature.
-Ryan.
The Peanut Gallery 