Why Doesn’t America Love ⚽️?

[cjlasky7]

Tomorrow morning, the U.S. men's soccer team will face the Netherlands in the Round of 16 at the World Cup in Qatar. Can you feel the excitement?

No?

You're not alone.

Other than a small but vocal subset of futbol fans, America has greeted this upcoming match the same way it always has treated soccer: with vast indifference. Most of the sports fans I know are much more invested in the Jets and Giants games this Sunday; the rest are wondering if Aaron Judge will re-sign with the Yankees.

To be fair, it's not like the U.S. national team has ever given American soccer fans reason to be excited about World Cup play. In the past four decades, the U.S. has only escaped the round of 16 once (in 2002). From 1954 to 1986, the men's team didn't qualify AT ALL.

But that doesn't mean Americans will only back a winner. American sports fans have a history of following plucky losers for decades, anticipating a long awaited moment of triumph. (It's practically the life story of the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox...)

So what's the explanation? One possible reason for our indifference is that soccer hadn't planted roots in American soil until very recently. The first attempt to start a professional soccer league in the US was the North American Soccer League in the 1970s. The New York Cosmos brought over Pele--maybe the biggest star in the sport--in the hope of jumpstarting a sports organization on a par with the NFL. But without a steady supply of home grown talent from a well stocked minor league system, the NASL gradually withered and blew away...

But even now, with a new soccer league and a minor league system, the best American players aren't always on display for hometown fans. Just like how East European hockey superstars play for the NHL (then go home for the Olympics), American soccer superstars get poached by Europen teams--because that's where the money is. Christian Pulisic may be the star of the U.S. national team, but he regularly plays for Chelsea in England.

At the moment, the U.S soccer system can't compete with England's Premier League in either prestige or money.

Then, of course, there's the matter of the sport itself.

If you watched the U.S. vs. England match a few days ago, you know it would be a tough sell as a recruitment poster for soccer. 0-0. Ninety five minutes of frustration. You could practically hear the TV sets shutting off all across America. "But wait," you say, "baseball and even American-style football have these excruciating exercises in futility." Yes, they do. But it only happens once in a while. A few weeks ago, the Jets and Patriots played nearly an entire game and scored only six points between them. It was a mind boggling, painful slog of a game. But that's a rarity. A 1-0 or 0-0 score happens frequently in soccer. For Americans accustomed to a fast-paced game that gets results, soccer has a distinct disadvantage.

(And as for baseball... a pitcher's duel has its own type of excitement--a battle of wits between the men on the mound and the batters at the plate.)

So, until all of these factors can be overcome (and Americans can get used to low scoring games), soccer will remain a minor sport in America, I'd say around.... eighth in popularity:

Baseball
Football
Basketball
Auto Racing
Golf
Tennis
Hockey
Soccer

But if the U.S. wins tomorrow, who knows? Maybe this will be the start of something big. (Unfortunately, I've been following U.S. soccer for about 50 years...and the "something big" always seems to be around the next corner.)

Good luck guys!

Comments

[shadowkat]

My eighty-year old mother is into it - she watched the US vs. England match, and told me it was amazing - a great match. Also followed the Iran vs. US match. And Wales watched France. Also CW was into the world cup matches. I played soccer briefly, as did my brother - who was on a team up through high school. He also played in college, and when he came to NY he played it a bit.

I actually would rather watch soccer over Football. I don't understand the appeal of that game. It's five minutes of action, and 30 minutes of doing nothing and commercials. I do not have the patience to watch a football game. Also talk about frustration. That has got to be the most frustrating game I've ever tried to play - we played touch football in high school or junior high. It's the only time I got called down to the VP's office.

VP: Okay, why are YOU here??
Me: I cursed on the football field in gym class. We'd spent hour not getting anywhere, so I got frustrated and cursed.
VP: You were playing football?
Me: Yep. Touch Football. Very frustrating game.

He sent me back to gym class, and after that we stopped playing touch football.

My brother played it outside of class.

Mother: You just played touch football, much safer.
Brother: No, we wanted to kill each other - that was kind of the point.

I don't care what people say about football - they like it because they like watching people trying to kill each other. Soccer has a bit more skill and deftness to it. As does Rugby.

Baseball? That's akin to watching grass grow. You can go an entire game and have no hits. I know I've sat through boring baseball games. I sat through one once in Yankee stadium that went on tied for about 13 innings.

Cricket though is worse.

Soccer - that has action.

Edited after reading another post on the same thing:

Eh, I just read another post on this (yourlibrarian) who stated that the reason Americans weren't interested is that it takes place overseas, mostly, and is a world sport not a national sport. And that got me to thinking.

The media isn't promoting it at all. I have no clue when it is on - yet, I know when the football and baseball and basketball games are on, even tennis and golf major tournaments. Why? It's promoted and marketed. Why? Money. There are sponsors, there are owners, there are stadiums devoted to it. Money is involved. Also, the sports all take place on US soil - so "money" - we have ticket buyers, food they buy, etc. People can see it in person.

The world cup is overseas - where's the money? It's going to people overseas, outside the US. If Americans buy tickets and go see it - that money goes to Quatar not the US companies, owners.

At the end of the day? It's about the marketing and the money. People aren't into it - because they don't really know about it, and it's not promoted to them, and they aren't indoctrinated into it.
Football - they grew up with, same with baseball and it was promoted to death through film, books, television shows, and news media. Soccer isn't.

[cjlasky7]

First of all, American style football is hardly a sterotypical exercise in brute force. Yes, the contact at the line has that certain CRUNCH; but an acrobatic catch by a wide receiver, a running back weaving through traffic and breaking tackles, or a quarterback scrambling madly behind the line then heaving a pass downfield--all require uncommon speed, grace and dexterity. (I won't get into the complexities of NFL defenses, because I'm probably losing you already.)

Baseball is a marvelous sport, but you can't compare it to other sports. It has no clock. 99 percent of the time there is no action. But after each moment, each pitch, the air is filled with limitless possibilities. Do you swing at the 2-0 pitch? Do you hit and run? Is there a new pitcher warming up in the bullpen? For the skeptic, nothing is happening; for the baseball fan, everything is happening. It's all very.... Zen.

Soccer has it's own charms, its own rhythms. But Americans simply haven't accepted it at a grass roots level yet, not the way we have for other sports. But there's always the possibility of a tipping point. Maybe tomorrow will be that tipping point.

[atpo_onm]

Baseball is a marvelous sport, but you can't compare it to other sports. It has no clock. 99 percent of the time there is no action.

Which brings to mind an old routine by a famous (or once was) comedian, where he was describing the difference between baseball and football. There were several comparisons, but the one I recall is when he was comparing games that ended up in a tie at the end of the normal periods allotted.

"In football, we have sudden death!!! In baseball, we have overtime! Oooo! We might never go home!" (The latter read like he was happily stoned).

Heee...

Now as to a sport about which I know close to nothing, but that one of my grand-nieces is apparently insanely skilled at-- to the point where she got a college scholarship because of her ability. That sould be lacrosse. My sister has watched a number of her games via her phone or laptop, as the college streams them, but I've never seen one, only brief excerpts my sister has shown me.

My grand-niece is short in height but apparently wicked strong and dexterous. I believe she's in her senior year now, and I wonder if she'll keep up in the sport after she graduates. Personally, I think she'd make a great ninja!

Ever watch any lacrosse? It's certainly never on any broadcast network that I've ever seen.

[cjlasky7]

You are describing George Carlin's classic "Baseball vs. Football" routine. Watch the whole thing on YouTube. It's still great.

Congratulations to your grand-niece! Yes, I have watched a little lacrosse; a little bit polo, a little bit field hockey, a little bit jai alai. She got a scholarship for lacrosse? She must be REALLY good....

[shadowkat]

I discussed this with mother last night - and she made a good point. Americans aren't into the World Cup because until now - the US never won. It would be kind of like being a football fan and having no US teams that ever won. None. Zippo.

And there's no money in it. Both Baseball and Football are lucrative sports - that pull in billions a year. The media makes a mint off of them, the stadiums make a mint off of them, and so do the players and everyone involved.

And I could say all of the stuff you said about American Football and Baseball about Soccer. I've listened to Brazilians and French and Australians discuss soccer. They honestly don't get American Football any more than some Americans get Soccer. Actually listening to Europeans discuss Baseball and American Football is a lot of fun - they think both are a waste of time. Reason? No one over there plays it, and there's no money in it for them. With baseball? If they play it - it is done by very few teams - and they never win.

Another point? American Football and Baseball were created in the United States. They weren't created elsewhere. And neither sport really caught on outside of the US, or not to much of degree. Do we have American Football in the Olympics? We do have Baseball - but it took a while. So, hello nationalism.

In short - it has zip to do with the sport itself.

[cactuswatcher]

American Football and Baseball were created in the United States. They weren't created elsewhere. And neither sport really caught on outside of the US, or not to much of degree.

American Football comes from a version of rugby played at McGill University in Canada in the mid 1800s. Baseball started out as a version of the old British game Rounders (see Wikipedia!).

Canadian Football and the American Football have developed differently, but have influenced each other a lot. Australian Rules Football is another rugby spin off, which is why the Australians also call that other game soccer not football. It's fair the say that American football hasn't spread. But baseball is played professionally in Canada, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and played seriously in a wide swath of other Western Hemisphere countries. Players from many countries are found in our major leagues.

Compared to those basketball is really the American created sport (created by a man born in Canada!) and because of the lower expense of getting started, it had no trouble spreading everywhere.

[cjlasky7]

Baseball does have an international following, but only in specific areas: Asia, Central America and the Caribbean.(Probably a byproduct of America's colonial era.) Look up and down the lineup of major league teams, and you'll see a large contingent from the Dominican Republic.

South America and Europe? Never gained traction. As you said, these places talk about baseball the way Americans talk about cricket--"that weird game."

NFL commissioners have dreamed about European expansion for DECADES. Every year, a real no kidding it counts NFL game is played in London. This year, Tom Brady and his Tampa Bay Buccaneers played in Munich to what all accounts described as a wildly enthusiastic crowd. (Sports reporters commented: "Gee, why can't American fans be this much fun?")

But one game a year with established American stars is a long, long way from establishing a European branch of THE NFL. I think it'll remain a pipe dream of NFL bigwigs for a while yet...

[shadowkat]

Baseball was created in 1839, it's not a by product of the colonial era.

I had a lot to say about this apparently - so I wrote my own post on it.

The Europeans won't do Grid-Iron, they still think it's a weak by-product of Football (aka Rugby).
Rugby has less rules, less protection and is more brutal apparently - we had debates about it when I was visiting Britain in the 1980s, and I've had them with the Brits online. Soccer was the predecessor to Rugby - they created Rugby in England when someone reportedly picked up the ball during a soccer game and decided to run with it. It was in the 19th century. Football happened a lot later. Both are really only 200 years old at that. Soccer is over 2000 years old, started in Ancient Greece and China in various forms, but the Britain turned it into the sport it is today.

[cjlasky7]

I think what I meant to say is that baseball flourished in areas where America was a colonial power (not that they played in funny tri-corner hats).

American servicemen stationed in Japan were a key factor in that country's embrace of baseball.

[shadowkat]

Well, yes and no. I think Australia has a team? But that may be true to an extent.

Thanks for clarifying. Language can be confusing at times.

[cactuswatcher]

I think one of the reasons why soccer isn't terribly popular among native Americans is that our whole lives we've been told we ought to be excited about it, rather than learning first hand that it is exciting. I'm sure American kids these days get a better taste of it than I did. If I had to do it over again I would still rather play softball than soccer every day at school.

I like watching a tight defensive American football game. One of the best NFL games I ever saw ended 6 - 0 (many years ago). It was not a game to fill up the evening sports report with offensive highlights, but it wasn't as boring as it sounds. But, good night, the U.S. qualified for the game tomorrow after playing three games in which a total of three goals were scored. As you pointed out U. S. vs England was 0 - 0. Watching 90 minutes plus of just dribbling and missed shots would make a pretty dull basketball game. 90 minutes plus of fancy foot work just doesn't interest me much, partly because I don't understand enough about the game and don't want to watch it enough to learn.