Ya, I dont know if it is because I am still in High School but I hear you. I have all the Liverpool and Spain fans everywhere but I am the only one with knowledge of the USMNT and other countries like India, Japan, South Africa, Australia etc. I then go to England and I feel much more at home.
"Friends?" Nah, but really I think this the norm in other countries as well. Most other countries average fan isn't as hardcore as your regular BS poster. Of courser they know more than the average U.S fan, though.
I don't mean to curb your enthusiasm, but unfortunately soccer ranks way down the sporting scale in North America. Football Baseball Basketball Hockey Nascar WWF drop off soccer Tennis Lacrosse Horse racing Be thankful that we get to see as many games as we do. And just enjoy !!!!!
well the world cup gets pretty competitive views, and i think olympic soccer would do well if we didn't get eliminated in qualifying...hell most people i know didn't even realize we didn't qualify for men's soccer.
Where is golf on there? Seriously, I like to play a round (even though I suck), but watching it on TV, I just would rather sit in the front yard and watch grass grow...
I actually enjoy talking to casual fans and appreciate that there are more and more people who are fans of US soccer, casually or not. And really, my out of BigSoccer soccer conversations are generally just quick exchanges with guys I play soccer with and who have varying degrees of interest as far as watching or an occasional comment if I happen to go to a bar to watch a game. You know, the kind of conversations most sports fans have about most sports. The last thing I want to do in casual conversation in real life is spend two hours dissecting the minutia of some aspect of why one guy or the other should be the back-up left back for the US at away games in the rain when we are down a goal. That kind of thing would and should force anyone's eyes to glaze over as much as mine would if someone wanted to discuss in detail why the Cardinals middle relief situation in the month of August against left-handed batters from the American league needs improvement and then laying out a 12 point plan of how to do so. He needs to take that kinda shit to BigBaseball or wherever our baseball counterparts hang out.
Wednesday my family & I were out and about on a mini road-trip as part of our short vacation. I was wearing my US National team jersey--all day long, people were saying things to me, asking if I saw "the game", even though half the time they weren't sure which "game" that might be. Almost all the people were casual/recent fans. It didn't bother me at all. Sure, it would have been even better had at least one of these people recognized that "Dempsey 8" is a guy, who was neither in the Olympics or the MLS All Star game that day--but whatever. They were interested. Seeing a soccer jersey, and being vaguely aware that there was soccer being played somewhere, was enough for several complete strangers to approach me and ask a question or two. Bottom line--they realized that what I was wearing was a US National team soccer jersey. And they thought that was cool. 10 years ago--that doesn't happen.
If you know "casual" fans that know what U-23s are, that's pretty impressive. Most casual fans I know don't even pay attention until the World Cup. I tried to get some of them to go to the Gold Cup Final with me last year and I had to explain what the whole tournament was about.
They don't know that it was U23's. They still feel it was Donovan, Dempsey, etc. that failed to qualify
Same thing happened to me, didn't help that the guys weren't Nationally Televised on something other than the Fox Soccer Channel
Here's an episode that illustrates my mixed feelings on this. At a Texas Rangers game, some guys next to me started discussing soccer - Man U, Cristiano Ronaldo, etc. I was amazed and pleased that this was happening and reflected on how far our soccer culture in the US had come. Then one guy started talking about how we didn't qualify for the World Cup. I felt frustrated by this and was compelled to correct him that it was only the Olympics / U-23 tournament we missed out on. My friend and I have started our Subsidize Soccer program, where we take non-soccer fan or non-MLS fan friends to games and/or buy their tickets and beers. This has been marginally successful. A Danish friend now follows FC Dallas. The friends we took to a USWNT game griped about the highway tolls they had to pay to get to Frisco and are unlikely to return. Guess I should have rented a van for that game.
Wow you actually started a Program for this. That shows real determination mate. Keep at it and I hope it grows. I actually hope MLS finds this idea and tries implementing it somehow.
"Wow you actually started a Program for this. That shows real determination mate. Keep at it and I hope it grows. " Thanks for the encouragement, but I wouldn't really call it a Program. It's just me and a friend trying to remove obstacles preventing potential new fans from attending their first game. We hope once they go to their first game, they'll pay their own way for lots of subsequent games. Anyone we know who expresses any interest in attending a game is a possible beneficiary of our "Program." We encourage other soccer fans to do the same.
Still keep it up. When I was living in India for 1 year I always tried getting potential fans to see the local Pune F.C. side who were about to begin there first season in the top flight. The quality of play was bad but me and other people I brought did not mind. Coincidently as soon as I moved back to the New York area attendances started to drop but I still keep in touch with people who still go despite the amazing crowd of 1,000 a game in a 20,000 seater.
No, you're being a hipster. The large majority of people don't follow sports religiously. Most people can't name a lot of the players on their favorite NFL team. You really think they're going to know who these guys that were born in Germany who have a handful of starts for our soccer team are?
Well people I know are surprised that the USA also has a Men's soccer team, they they ask if they are as good as the Women team. I have to say no.