I know some of you will dismiss Matt Drudge (www.drudgereport.com) as sensationalist/ conservative/ whatever, but the bottom line is that he's got one of the most widely read sites on the web. And right now he's very prominently leading with the Iraq cup win. He seems to play up soccer stuff quite a bit, more than any other sports news. He had a "World Cup Wire" link in a high profile spot for much of last summer, he has prolifically showcased the USMNT, he was playing up the Beckham stuff well before the rest of the media went haywire on it, etc. (In fact, if the knock on him is that his site is "too right wing," then this is even better, because he's legitimizing soccer for an American meat-and-potatoes audience.) Has anyone run across info that he is in fact a big soccer fan?
The NYTimes.com is leading with this as well. Neither mean a thing; Drudge is using this for his own means as he does everything else. Congrats to Iraq!
Well, of course he is. What I'm wondering is whether his "own means" is "advocating for a sport he likes." I mean, look at his page late on the evening of last February's Super Bowl here. Not exactly the same sort of treatment. He doesn't trump up traditional American sports events the way he often does soccer. Yes, I recognize that the Iraq win has a dramatic hook well beyond the pitch. But it's part of a larger pattern on Drudge, which is what prompted my post.
Drudge has prominently featured soccer before. The Beckham signing, for instance, got a lot of attention on his site. I have no idea if he likes the sport, but it's clear he doesn't dislike it, in a press sense.
While trying to make this as non-political as possible, Iraq winning the Asian Cup plays big into the conservative "progress" theory.
Not sure how this adds evidence one way or the other, but he ran a bunch of negative Posh Spice stuff last month. I think conservatives view this news as a positve in the Iraq war (and I think it must be). Maybe that is why he is running it. It is a point of national unity in Iraq at a time when the experts say they aren't supposed to have any. The reports say that everyone in Iraq is happy about the national team (except, apparently Al-Qaeda). The fun part will be when the US gets matched up with them in the Confederations Cup! Good thing it isn't home and home.
If you're looking for non liberals and left wingers who like soccer, Drew Carey is enough for me. If Drudge likes soccer, and he's never struck me as a sports fan or decent human being for that matter, I think it will have zero effect on the sport in this country. Even someone a lot more famous than Drudge who is American and comes out and claims fealty to soccer still doesn't convert many fans -- people have to like the sport because they like the sport not cause some celeb comes out and says 'watch football'.
Then you may not fully grasp the nature of modern media and imaging from a socio-cultural point of view. It's not that a link on Drudge's website will "convert" any number of individuals. It's that its presence quietly lends legitimacy, stealthily signaling that soccer is something that's worth regarding by people who sit around regarding things. It is a passive benefit, not an active one. The typical viewer may not even consciously think about it. But he sees "soccer" sitting dispassionately alongside "Murdoch bids for WSJ," "Clinton seeks public service academy" and the weekend box-office figures, and his brain registers it as: This is like those things -- it is considered notable. It's just par for the course like the rest of this news. And so drip, drip, drip... Bit by bit, soccer seeps into the American consciousness, viewed as normal, seen as something that people care about. Drip, drip, drip... This sort of subtle effect is far more valuable to soccer's progress on the American psyche than just about anything else. Someone on another thread today talked about the futility of waiting for some U.S. "soccer revolution" -- that rather, we are enjoying a steady, prolonged soccer evolution. Little stuff like this is part of that quiet march.
I guess we are arguing past each other. Its not a bad thing if Drudge is a football fan; it may even be a good thing. In some ways I can't help but not caring -- I don't know a soul who reads Drudge (I've never visited the site if I'm honest) and as long as I can afford cable I'll have my football. I'm not a Euro-snob, I love MLS, but if beyond the current fan-boy sub-culture America never catches on, ohh well. I see you joined in June -- welcome to BigSoccer.
I am a conservative meat and potatoes lad who loves the drudgereport.... by the way, I love my football with them potatoes... I love my right wing thoughts while playing football... a rough challenge into them liberal sissies never has been a problem for me...
Damn it, Baltimoreyank, you can't be going around ruining soccer's liberal bias... even though I get pretty right wing when I meet an American who supports Italy, Brazil more than USMNT (I say love it or leave it pinko!!)
I am left center libertarian, politically active, can't stand Drudge. He may be featuring the Iraq win for his own purposes....On the other hand it's a totally inspiring, newsworthy story that deserves to be known. Big Soccer is where I come for relief from politics. I am a long-time CM. I could care less what your political stripes are on the field as long as you make smart runs, tackle hard, pass with touch, play team D and finish.
Actually, I have always felt that soccer much better represents American/conservative/libertarian ideas of liberty and economic freedom better than american football, which to me is more like totalitarian socialist Marxism. Though when you get down to it, what he said.
Soccer is the world's most popular sport, so whether he is a fan or not, he is trying to appeal to the broadest audience possible. AmericanBeckham.com
as for the least part... you got Real Madrid vs Barca, Livorno vs Lazio, Boca vs River plate. in which politics have helped fuel the rivalry.
Possible insight tucked near the end of a long, interesting story in New York magazine this week: On my visit to Miami, a neighbor said something interesting about Drudge’s house. The vibe had changed there recently. The pool was on at a different time, at night, and she’d heard Spanish voices in the dark. Drudge might not speak Spanish, but he sure tried. In his book, he used Spanish words. He fulsomely praised European media values, while putting down the United States as tacky and superficial. He knew the international club scene. He’d been in Buenos Aires, Germany, Israel, England. When Argentina’s First Lady announced for the presidency, Drudge headlined the story MOVETE HILLARY. (“Get out of the way, Hillary,” though he misspelled the Spanish.) In his high-school yearbook, his favorite color was “Caribbean blue.” On radio, he pronounced the Mediterranean island playground Ibiza super-correctly, “Ibitha,” and did the same with Peru (“Pay-ru”). I wondered whether Drudge had a foreign lover.