FUTBOL! COPA MUNDIAL!
As is obvious to anyone with a radio or television, it's World Cup time. I'm sitting here watching the England vs. Paraguay match on ABC.
A good friend of mine at work is a rabid soccer fan. He's not from the USA originally, so though he's my age, he grew up playing soccer. He even played for a university team in the United States while in college. We've been discussing soccer the last few weeks, mostly because it seems to be almost all he could think about with the World Cup coming up.
One of his main complaints is how soccer isn't very popular here. I tried to explain to him that relative to the rest of the world, soccer is still somewhat new here. Having spent my entire life in the USA, I have a somewhat different perspective.
My hometown was relatively small. We only had 1 jr. high and 1 high school. But we had baseball leagues for all ages (through age 16), football for kids (which continued into a jr. high team and high school team), and basketball starting in 5th grade. But no soccer. The coach at my jr. high tried to introduce it during our p.e. class when I was in 7th grade. It started to catch on. By the time I had moved on to college, leagues for small children were starting.
Fast foward to 2006. We now have a national outdoor soccer league. We have ABC television broadcasting World Cup games live on Saturday morning, when in years past you'd have to turn on Univision or something to see a soccer game. Pubs all over are advertising that they are showing the games, sometimes on rented larger televisions. There is talk everywhere about the World Cup, and how good (or bad) the USA will do.
Why is it that it has taken so long for soccer to start getting popular? I think there are several factors involved:
I must admit to having several of those issues myself. Mostly I just don't understand enough about the game to get what is going on. I'm trying to learn during this World Cup. Hey - I even got up early on a Saturday morning to give it a try. Maybe some of it will sink in.
A good friend of mine at work is a rabid soccer fan. He's not from the USA originally, so though he's my age, he grew up playing soccer. He even played for a university team in the United States while in college. We've been discussing soccer the last few weeks, mostly because it seems to be almost all he could think about with the World Cup coming up.
One of his main complaints is how soccer isn't very popular here. I tried to explain to him that relative to the rest of the world, soccer is still somewhat new here. Having spent my entire life in the USA, I have a somewhat different perspective.
My hometown was relatively small. We only had 1 jr. high and 1 high school. But we had baseball leagues for all ages (through age 16), football for kids (which continued into a jr. high team and high school team), and basketball starting in 5th grade. But no soccer. The coach at my jr. high tried to introduce it during our p.e. class when I was in 7th grade. It started to catch on. By the time I had moved on to college, leagues for small children were starting.
Fast foward to 2006. We now have a national outdoor soccer league. We have ABC television broadcasting World Cup games live on Saturday morning, when in years past you'd have to turn on Univision or something to see a soccer game. Pubs all over are advertising that they are showing the games, sometimes on rented larger televisions. There is talk everywhere about the World Cup, and how good (or bad) the USA will do.
Why is it that it has taken so long for soccer to start getting popular? I think there are several factors involved:
- 45 minute halfs (halves? naw...) with no commerical breaks. No time to get more beer, or go to the restroom.
- An addiction to scoring. The recent rule changes to hockey show that games that end 1-0 or 2-1 just aren't that interesting. 90 minutes for 1 to 3 goals is more than our collective ADD national personality can stand.
- New rules for a new game that we don't understand. One of the sports networks should start a series explaining soccer to the masses. Something like Soccer for Dummies or something. I mean, if we can do it for Texas Hold'em poker, it seems like we could do it for soccer.
I must admit to having several of those issues myself. Mostly I just don't understand enough about the game to get what is going on. I'm trying to learn during this World Cup. Hey - I even got up early on a Saturday morning to give it a try. Maybe some of it will sink in.
posted by learningtowrite | 8:39 AM
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