The World Cup is in full swing and the excitement around here is almost unbearable. Is that sarcasm, you ask? Yes, yes it is. When I was growing up in Oklahoma, I never even heard of soccer. By the time I was a teenager, I’d heard of it, but never saw it being played until I moved to the Washington area where it was played frequently on the National Mall. Both our kids (and at least one grandkid) played soccer, so I attended a lot of games, but I just never got into the game. A few days ago I watched one of the World Cup matches on TV… nothing has changed for me — I just can’t generate much interest for the game.
When our kids played, all the games (to me) seemed to be about mobs of kids chaotically running around in circles. Unlike football, baseball, basketball, etc. the gamed doesn’t seem to have any “plot.”
I’ve been told that soccer is gaining momentum and becoming more and more popular in the United States. That may be true, but unless I missed something, the United States national team lost enough games to be knocked out of qualifying for the World Cup tournament and I don’t hear a lot of talk about the tournament around here.
A lot of Americans, including me, are more partial to the type of football in which players are allowed to pick up the ball and run with it. As long as I can remember, Americans have bought into the romance of baseball and football. Basketball also has a fairly large fan base and for a number of years, you could add boxing to the list.
Sometime in the late 1960s, I think the North American soccer league was formed. Since the sport didn’t “take off” at that time, the league signed a number of international soccer stars who’d passed their prime. I remember when supposedly the best soccer player in the world, Pelé, came to the United States to introduce us to the true greatness of soccer. Although I never saw him play, Pelé succeeded in attracting huge crowds to watch soccer.
There was a problem, though… the crowds showed up to see Pelé — not to watch soccer and by 1984 the North American soccer league was kaput.
About the time we moved to West Virginia, the famous British soccer player David Beckham was signed to play for the Los Angeles soccer team and paid a lot of money I’m not sure it’s true, but I read somewhere that during the time Beckham played for the Los Angeles team, he scored just about one goal for every $2 million dollars of his salary.
It seems to me that the more people that play a sport would be more likely to be interested in watching it. But a high percentage of kids in our area, at one time or another, played soccer and few follow the sport as adults. Soccer is by far the most popular sport globally, but only 2% of Americans list it as their favorite sport.
In my opinion, soccer is boring — a lot of running, but nothing happens and the rules seem to be subjective, giving the referees a lot of power to influence the outcome of the game.
Now all that said, I’m sure soccer can be dramatic and entertaining… probably more people watch the World Cup than any other sporting event. I’m also aware that soccer continues to be the world’s most popular sport and the world doesn’t care what I think about it…. but like a true American, I can’t keep my opinions to myself.
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