Soccer

Americans do not like soccer. That’s pretty much the full extent of the matter. We might play it, we might have leagues for it, but the fact of the matter is we do not like it much. We do not apologize for it, we do not pretend we do, and we do not see ourselves liking it anytime in the near future.

This of course is a cause of great frustration to our nation’s sports broadcasters and journalists. Every four years they run front cover stories on the World Cup, broadcast commercials featuring stars of the game, and try in any way imaginable to convince us that we really do like soccer. A noble goal to be sure but, once again, the harsh truth is that we do not.

Why is this? We’re not sure. Why could it be, that the world’s most universal sport is ignored by one of it’s most significant nations? What event could have caused America to stray so far from the sport norms of the world? There have been many theories, ranging from the sport’s unfriendly nature in regards to television, to the fact we are not the greatest at it in international competition. However, based on my entirely non-scientific “studies” I believe I have come up with the answer: Americans like baseball.

Besides being a fairly obvious statement, it has more to do with American’s disinterest in soccer than it might appear. It’s very hard for baseball and soccer to occupy the same stature in country. Take the three biggest baseball nations on earth: The United States, Cuba, and Japan. We, already know the state of affairs in our own nation, but take into consideration the other two countries. Cuba has never even made it to the World Cup and has what can hardly be called a team, and Japan has only made it the last two tournaments. Interest in soccer has actually been on the up rise for the last few years in Japan marked by, you guessed it, a decline in interest for baseball.

My theory is that baseball and soccer both fill the same niche in a sports fan’s mind. Both are slow paced, low scoring games where moments of excitement interrupt what is mostly a routine activity. Watching either on TV is a sad excuse for actually being there. Both require a thorough understanding of the rules to be fully appreciated. Most importantly though, is that both are games of history. Both games are nothing without their pasts. Baseball’s all about arguing that the ’69 Mets were better than the ’98 Yankees, and that Stan Musual was a better hitter than Pete Rose. Likewise, soccer is all about whether Diego Maradona is a better midfielder than Zinedine Zidane and whether the 1986 World Cup was better than the 1930 one.

This of course is a discouraging thought.  Is it possible for soccer to become a nationally popular sport while baseball still holds a grip on the nation’s attention?  If it ever does, I hope we can break the norm and embrace both sports equally.