Soccer Will Never Join the U.S.’ Sporting Elite http://www.soccer365.com/_365_Features/page_121_60692.shtml Ran into this article, thought it was interesting so I post it. "NEVER" is a long time, mate. Gambit said it best: (from Chris Bergin site) What a load of crap. Americans aren't the champs at Basketball(Didn't even finish third), Football(no world championship), or Hockey(Canada anyone?) yet they go see those sports. Not all Dads run off to watch a football game on Sunday or a college football game on Saturday. They all also don't run down to the Home Depot to grab some weekend fixin' supplies.
It is of course, a ridiculous argument. Just another soccer doomsdayer. 50 years ago, nobody gave half a thought about pro basketball or football. It was all baseball. If there was a baseball World Cup, the US likely wouldn't win that either, at least not all the time. Just another irrational argument. In another generation, we won't even have to read stories like this anymore.
http://www.soccer365.com/_365_Features/page_121_57665.shtml Here's another article we've discussed by this guy in this same forum. Based on these two articles, I conclude that he is not a genius. In fact, if he's really an English ex-pat (as his author's bio says he is), I think this is another example of a guy's accent buying him soccer credibility he doesn't deserve. That was common in the 1960s, when anyone who sounded English could get a coaching job, but we should be beyond that now.
World Champs In BaseBall FYI There was a paper named the "World" that orginally sponsored the game. Thus the name "World Series".
I stand corrected. http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/n...919&content_id=534019&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp Let the games begin (please) Nearly half a million immigrants landed on America's shores in 1900 alone, a melting pot that would have a tremendous impact on Major League Baseball's biggest stage. They came from Italy to Ellis Island, like the father of Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra. They came from Germany, like the parents of Louis Henry Gehrig. In 1903, Honus Wagner, son of a Bavarian immigrant, led the Pittsburgh Pirates to the National League pennant. After two years of animosity between the NL and the upstart American League, Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss agreed to have his team play the AL's best, Henry Killilea's Boston Red Sox (also known as Pilgrims, Puritans and Americans). The "World Series" was born as a best-of-nine, and 36-year-old Cy Young helped Boston win the first championship. Why "World"? Better to ask: Why in the world not? The rosters were a diverse mix of ancestries, and it was an age when the entire world seemed to be washing onto American shores. Although the New York Giants remained defiant and refused to play the same Red Sox a year later, they relented in 1905 and a tradition truly began. Two other important things happened in 1908 that became tradition as well. Henry Ford rolled out his first Model T, making us mobile. The Chicago Cubs won a repeat title, and, like the automobile, you never stopped waiting for the next one to come along.
http://www.snopes.com/business/names/worldseries.asp http://roadsidephotos.com/baseball/name.htm Don't mess with Doug Pappas. His point that, if the "World" had sponsored it, then maybe that "fact" might actually be mentioned in the "World," but clearly never is, pretty much puts this rumor out of its misery.
Soccer in US I looks like this guy has not been around very long. Back in the early eighties soccer was made fun of at every occasion. And every journalist participated whenever they could. Things then started rolling in the nineties. And today, the whole picture has changed. not only do we have a MLS giving us intersting games, but we have a high percentage of our youth creazy about soccer. It will not be long before the US will play in the WC finals. And all these guys who still push soccer aside because it is where their $ interests are ( the media ), will need a lot of aspirin in their future.
I have to say...there is one thing that penalizes soccer in the USA. This thought came to mind when looking at Manchester United touring the US this summer and recording sellouts at four 60000+ stadiums. Now, I the avid MLS fan, cannot answer this. Most americans dont even know what Manchester United is, however they just hear its some big soccer club coming from europe. Folks...its the neverending fascination americans have with Europe and rightly so with its soccer...the best in the world. Period. However...I have seen US soccer grow in quality quicker than any european league. MLS soccer is fun to watch! The only thing that seems to be discouraging are the empy HUGE FOOTBALL stadiums... I can tell you that, having lived in Italy for 18 years, not every sunday are all the seats taken even in italian stadiums. This is a fact. BE PATIENT, and time will tell and soccer will sink into the minds and ways of americans...not just californians, coloradians, and hispanics.
HMMMM....probably unless in the US you have these kinda fans... Soccer will take over in america when you get fans like these....omg check out this site and the soccer stadiums in europe... www.fototifo.it www.stadiumguide.com wow...CAMP NOU home of FC BARCELLONA (98000 capacity)<<<<eat that lame AMERICAN FOOTBALL FANS! lol Fuzzz
Re: Soccer Will Never Join the U.S.’ Sporting Elite Do not totally blame some of this NAYSAYERS about soccer fate in USA. Many decisions and the lack of them are dragging soccer into mediocrity and indiference from the fans, just as a token take a look at the Landon Donovan case, a perfect oportunity to promote the sport just like Michael Jordan did for NBA all the chances seems to be fading and I wonder if we are gona have another chance like that....
Re: Re: Soccer Will Never Join the U.S.’ Sporting Elite This is one area that I do find myself wondering/asking about: why it is taking so long for the league to develop a "face." I think the post-WC 2002 marketing also makes (at least me) scratch my head. As an example, here in NY/NJ, when the Mathis returned to MLS after the WC in a game against Rapids, I went to the stadium expecting a pretty decent "welcome home!" tribute, with maybe Shep or some other NJ/NJ related ex-Nat presenting him to the crowd, and having Clint say a few words of thanks along with a video presentation. They did no such thing. They simply added a few extra words to his normal PA introduction, noting that he had come back from the WC. Clint got a larger-than-usual hand from the crowd, waved and that was that. In addition, they snubbed Mastroeni. And of course as many know, to make matters worse he was left off the roster and was not allowed to enter the game. You might ask, "what's the big deal? Well, the big deal is that in other parts of the world scoring a goal in the World Cup is a big deal-something people dine off of the rest of their lives. It is something not a whole lot of people can really lay claim to. And if Sanneh had been able to put Clint's cross in the net.. wow. Perhaps in America people are jaded by our success in the Olympics and other big events, because I don't think it was driven home hard enough within MLS, just how special WC 2002 was. Don Garber made the rounds taking what amounted to a victory lap about how important MLS was to the team, but that's not the same as a smart, driven, marketing campaign. And ironically, their ads before the WC, highlighted many of the players who did well in the WC. But the f/u was IMO tepid. I think these sort of oversights, screwups-whatever you want to call them-point to whip's point about squandering chances (although "mediocrity and indiference" is too harsh). Since 1990, things have been moving on an upward curve vis-a-vis the sport in the US. But that doesn't mean it is going to stay that way; there is no guarantee that we will qualify for 2006; that our program couldn't fall into decline. The USMNT of 2002 could be a golden age team ala Portugal 1966-and look how long it took them to have another team with that sort of potential. And if god forbid that does happen, the soccer community may very well wonder if they used the success of WC 2002 the best they could to sell both MLS and the sport at large.
Soccer will one day be one of the top three sports in this country. A couple of reasons: 1. It's inevitable. Virtually all children in this country play soccer at some point. That was not a fact twenty years ago. In twenty years when these couples who both played soccer have children of their own they will introduce them to the game, since it may be the one sport they both played. Small children can play soccer. They cannot play football, basketball and baseball because they cannot catch. Soccer will come first. It will be natural, they will not have to discover it, they will not have to be educated in it and they will never remember a time when they didn't know about soccer. Will they have a passion for the game the way people do in many countries? No, because that is not the way Americans are. 2. The US will be successful on the world stage. People in the US are results oriented. We may not have the best players, but will win a lot. Silly as it sounds right now, the organization of soccer in this country will help it to succeed. Americans know how to create successful organizations. Success will always create interest. Unlike the sports media of today who grew up without the game, the sports media of tomorrow will respect soccer because they understand it. Success and respect will give the game cache and players will choose it over other sports. 3. The growing internationalization of basketball and baseball will help soccer. All things foreign will not be bad. But watching a bunch of foreigners dominate US sports will be a turn off when you can watch Americans dominate at the world level. In effect, soccer will become "ours" because most everbody will have played and the other sports, especially baseball, will become more "theirs" because of a lack of participation in this country and decreased dominance on the professional level. We're talking two to three generations down the road, probably fifty to seventy-five years. Huge success, like when the US won the gold medal in hockey at the 1984 Olympics could accelerate things.
Re: Re: Soccer Will Never Join the U.S.’ Sporting Elite I don't say this very often, but that's a great point, whip ( ). Of course, what you and Real Ray mention are only recent examples of problems that go back to the late 1920s! When I look at histories of American soccer, it's amazing how often the people in charge of running the sport in the US managed to shoot themselves in the foot (or those who ran the WUSA, who shot themselves in the head). But you're right. Soccer has done quite a bit to put itself in this position, and we shouldn't be super quick to blame others when some of the fault rests on those in charge of the game. That's a good point, too.
The real reason the US will succeed with its soccer program lies with the fact that it is in the middle of a generational revolution on the topic. In the '80's, the numbers of girls playing soccer began to escalate very rapidly. A half-generation of young soccer-playing women have progressed through high school and college soccer programs. The numbers continue to increase. These women are now having babies. These women will be the true "soccer moms" of the future, epitomized by individuals like USWNT player Joy Fawcett who has 3 kids. Their children will have a little bit more tilt toward soccer and just a little less toward other sports. The moms will embrace soccer for both sons and daughters because it is a sport they know. They and their families will be a bit more likely to attend MLS games as well. Small changes in the perception of a sport spread across a large number of individuals can have a gigantic cumulative impact registered over a 20-25 yr period. The US soccer future looks mighty fine to me. What is really lacking at the moment is a television contract with advertising of televised games actually pushed by the network showing them. That alone would have instant impact and provide instant credibility to US soccer.
Soccer Specific Stadiums anyone? I know someone mentioned it before (Huge NFL stadiums) but when people actually experience the real football as it was meant to be viewed... the media will no longer treat the game, and MLS for that matter, as a half-step up from the minor leagues.
The success of the national team will play an important part. There's no reason to think we can't win the WC in '10 or '14. Consider: 20 million kids play soccer in the US. We thus need 20 "one-in-a-million" type players to field a world-class team. The numbers alone virtually assure it. That's the only way we'll get the average mainstream American to pay attention. The rest of us will continue to follow our local MLS clubs during the European off season.
India, China, Indonesia and Pakistan are all huge countries that aren't very good at soccer. Sure, having a huge talent pool counts, but it has to be a well cultivated talent pool.