Well, it's new for me. Anyone catch the ESPN commercial where Spanish families get together when Real Madrid and Barcelona are playing? People there are Madrid supporters, visiters are Barcelona fan. Madrid scores, Figo divs.. arguements ensue. "Without sports, what would bring us together?" LOL edit: brain fart, they were Spanish lol.
Somewhere, in the vaults of some advertising agency or in the archives of some museum of advertising, there is a copy of a commercial featuring Monday Night Football color man Dandy Don Merideth playing soccer with his kids, then declaring "whew, this is tougher than football" as the family heads over to a table for some refreshing lemonade. And there were other commercials like this in the 70s, one I can remember even featuring a player calling a timeout and heading to the sidelines for instruction. It hasn't always been pretty, but as Mike points out, this isn't new, and it's hardly a harbinger of professional soccer's staying power on the American sporting landscape.