I was talking to a cop the other day, this is his quote. "I've been watching that soccer stuff on espn, they run a lot, you have to have some great fitness for that, I like it" Your average white-causian male cop. An African American who plays pick up soccer and was part of the band in high school, played rec soccer with "hispanics." "Freddy Adu should have gone to Madrid or Barcelona, that would have been huge, everybody loves Messi and Ronaldo."
A republican white guy at school. "That many people went to watch a soccer game? wow there is actually white guys in there, or they may be white mexicans." looking at a youtube video of the US National Team.
most of my coworkers here in Phoenix are about 45-60, never left AZ, and played soccer when they were kids. one didn't know we had MLS. or that SSS were built. or that they were training in AZ. it was amazed to hear that we had 19 teams and that the DP rule exists. he didn't know the US played Venezuela recently. he is the kind of guy i wrote off as not caring about soccer at first, but he said he wanted to watch a game or two if they played in phoenix. he wondered why there isn't more marketing done, and its only been until now that i could say that NBC just picked them up for cable broadcasts
I was actually talking to college students yesterday, white southeners. "I love saying stuff about soccer, we just love soccer fans going crazy defending their sport, I watch soccer, I have seen a few epl games, I enjoy it, but I enjoy more all the talk soccer fans do"
Re: Things average Americans would never say about soccer nowdays. "Man, I can't wait for the Super Bowl. It's gonna be awesome! Go Patriots! But.. I can't help but wonder.. what do soccer fans think of the NFL? Hmmm."
Hey AguiluchoMerengue you didn't get the title of your thread right ... it should be: "Where I talk about white people and what they "say" about soccer."
well i go to college in the south east, most colleges in here are heavily attended by white southeners, both males and females
Off topic, since this thread is about what Americans say today, not 30 years ago, but I have to post this, because it's the dumbest thing I've ever heard an American sports fan say about soccer. I'm watching the 1982 World Cup final, Italy vs. West Germany, on a TV set in the newspaper office where I worked. That Italy team was dominated by players from Juventus, with some from Inter, Fiorentina, etc. The German team was spread around among big clubs like Bayern, Eintracht, Schalke, etc. Clerk from the sports department stands next to me and watches the game. After about five minutes, he says: "What do these players do for a living?"
I have to confess that before I started following soccer, I didn't know anything about the leagues, how the national teams qualified, anything. It's an ignorant comment more than a stupid one, really. I mean--most Winter Olympians don't luge for a living, and most Summer Olympians don't compete year-round in a 1600 meter relay league. Back in 1982, I think it was entirely possible to know that soccer was popular all over the world but not to know anything about the pro game.
There's a difference between not knowing about the pro game, and not believing the world's most popular sport was a pro game, I'd have thought.
Most in the U.S. are extremely myopic when it comes to sports. I use to race bikes and a common occurrence that almost everyone who races has had is someone asking, "so you going to do the Tour de France some day?"
When I asked two of my doctors whether they were interested in World Cup 2010, one of them simply said he wasn't interested and the other who is Pakistani said he would rather have root canal. I have another doctor who sometimes (I don't know how often) watches EPL and UEFA Champions League. He had seen Blackpool and Shakhtar Donetsk play. When he bought a Chelsea jersey and saw the reaction of the store employee who supported Arsenal, my doctor could tell they were rivals (he didn't know that in advance).
That comment that the guy made to me in 1982 did reflect ignorance about pro soccer, but even more seemed to reflect that he didn't realize that professional sports existed outside the United States.
I've never met an American that was annoyed with soccer being the most popular sport in most of the world. I have met Americans who are annoyed by idiotic American soccer fans who think soccer should be the most popular sport in the United States simply because it's the most popular sport in most of the world.
What do you mean? Most played? Most watched? Federations Voted online? But you are right, Soccer is king.