Yeah, I would say extremely different actually. Are there parents heckling and screaming at the participants of those shows? Are the participants of those shows pressured by grown-ups to win at all costs, from the illegal (falsifying boundary maps) to the permissible (creating overuse injuries through fatigue and limited rest)? Basically they are already being recruited and it's taking away any benefits the kids receive from participating in the first place. Is it any wonder doping tests are still coming up positive from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics? I'll watch varsity high school sports but that's as far as I'll go unless my kids are playing. First off it wouldn't interest me, and secondly I think it would be detrimental to whatever the stated mission of the organization would be about. Bill Plaschke wrote a good article about how Little League uses the emotions of kids to create reality TV.
I think there's an anti-soccer bias at US Soccer. How else can you explain this scheduling? Vancouver vs Houston 6pm Rochester vs Bethlehem 6:05pm New York RB vs Toronto 7pm Jacksonville vs Indy 7pm Cosmos vs OKC 7pm Richmond vs Montreal 7pm Cincy vs Harrisburg 7pm New England vs Seattle 7:30pm Charleston vs Louisville 7:30pm Columbus vs Salt Lake 8pm Miami vs Edmonton 8pm Minnesota vs Tampa 8pm USA vs Bolivia 8pm Chicago vs Portland 8:30pm FC Kansas City vs Orlando 8:30pm Colorado vs Philly 9pm Oklahoma vs Golden State 9pm San Jose vs Dallas 10:30pm Sacramento vs Swope Park 10:30pm It even clashes with the Kansas City NWSL home game! Is there an explanation why they couldn't have brought the USMNT match forward by a couple of hours? They could have even made it a double header with the FCKC game.
With a name like Angelo Cataldi, how can he possibly bash soccer? That's such a stereo-typically Italian surname!
If the game had started earlier like at 4:00 P.M. or 5:00 P.M., it would have competed with the UEFA Champions League Final, which went to penalty kicks.