i belong to an english footie forum and been trying desperately for years to get them to see that football/soccer IS going to work here eventually and that WC02 and youth results aren't flukes. but then they find something like this and post it to knock us down. thing is - most brits, i've found, laugh at not only american sports but MLS especially. .. anyway.. this article boiled my blood. By Ryan Noonan Sports Central Columnist Just in case you didn't notice, the MLS season has kicked off again. And we all know what this means... another summer of cursing the television when we turn on ESPN only to find a 0-0 match between the New York/New Jersey/New Pair of Socks Metro Stars and the New England Revolution. Watching that does sound like fun. Or, maybe I could just stick a fork in my leg and twist it around a bit. I love sports. I love playing them, watching them, talking about them, and writing about them. I consider myself to be a sports nut. As a kid, I was always out in the front yard, playing whatever the current sport in season happened to be. Not only can I tell you what team won the World Series from the '83 season to the present, I can also tell you who lost. I can sit down and watch a college basketball game from start to finish, no matter what two teams are playing. If you were ever curious as to which team has the worst-record in the Super Bowl, I'd be the guy to ask. And although I'm not quite as skilled in hockey knowledge, I still enjoy the game. However, there is one sport that has never sparked my interest. One sport, for me, is more frustrating than exciting to watch. Soccer. For me, the most interesting thing about soccer is how so many people can enjoy it. Watching a soccer game kind of reminds me of watching a (pre-"Meet the Parents") Robert DeNiro movie. I know the talent is there, I know there are a lot of people who enjoy it, but I'd rather spend my time watching paint dry. I played soccer as a kid, I try to watch the World Cup every four years, and I have a number of friends who really enjoy it. But no matter how many times I've tried to watch it -- or play it, for that matter -- I can't find anything appealing about it. Guy has an open breakaway. Guy gets tackled and loses the ball. A midfielder places a perfect pass to a forward streaking to the goal, but the play is called back because the forward is offsides. Someone has an open shot, but the ball sails 15 feet above the goal. Will someone please give me the remote? Maybe the USA network is showing a rerun of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. When I say the sport is boring, I don't want to take anything away from the players themselves. I have played soccer before. I know how demanding and physically exhausting the game can be. If you are a collegiate player, you're running around as hard as you can for an hour and a half. No other sport I can think of is nearly that demanding. It requires discipline and a serious amount of stamina. Football, baseball, hockey, basketball players -- they all get breaks to rest during the game, soccer players go non-stop. It's a lot harder to play the game than it actually looks. All that fancy ball movement and those fierce shots do not just happen by accident. No matter how long I practiced or how hard I tried, I could never get passed the "toe kick" when taking a shot on goal. Like the old saying goes, "those who can, do... those who can't, teach"... or, in this case, write. Those guys you see playing soccer on television (for the brief moment it's actually on, while you decide what else to watch), in my mind, are some of the best athletes in the world. It's just a shame the sport they play could put a test rat on speed to sleep. I have seen soccer on all levels, either on television or in person. I come from a high school that finished first in the nation my freshman year and a college that is consistently ranked in the top-10. And I've attended more than a few games at Arrowhead Stadium to see the Kansas City Wizards play. Let me reassure anyone who hasn't seen it on all these levels; it doesn't change much. The talent level increases and the game play is not as sloppy when you get to the college and professional level, but the game does not get any more exciting. Honestly, the most excited I've ever been when viewing a soccer game was watching my 9-year-old brother score his first goal. It was the first and only time I was watching soccer and wishing I was anywhere else. What brings these feelings of boredom and apathy -- could I just be too lazy to care about soccer? My attention span has been compared to a toddler who has had four cups of coffee. But then how am I able to watch an entire baseball game without losing interest once? I used to put golf on television if I wanted to go to sleep, but as I've gotten older, even that can be interesting to watch from time to time. Not soccer; no matter who is playing or what kind of build up there has been, I don't think I've ever really been captured by the excitement of a soccer game. I want great scoring and phenomenal saves. I want a game where offsides doesn't exist. I want to come out of a game feeling like I put my heart out there with the guys on the field. Soccer just doesn't give me that. Long passes and intercepts, slide tackles, and free kicks -- they don't do it for me. A 0-0 tie after 90 minutes is not too much fun to watch. Sure, sometimes we get to see penalty kicks at the end, but why can't they just do that at the beginning and save everyone the time of watching the game? Maybe it's just me. I suppose I could be alone in my feelings about soccer. There was a lot of talk about soccer really taking off in the United States after the World Cup a few years ago, and while the MLS is still functioning, it doesn't get nearly as much coverage as the rest of the major sporting leagues. I don't think soccer will ever catch on here in America like the other sports have. It's just too boring. Then again, it could be worse. It could be the WNBA. Don't even get me started on that. Article courtesy of Sports Central.
Well I think baseball is boring. Therefore, it will never be popular. Case closed. --- The only thing that bothers me about that article is that so many soccer fans will be bothered by it. So he doesn't like our sport ... who freakin' cares? Let him get his jollies watching golf. Soccer is a thousand times more popular (in this country) now then it was when I was a kid. Does that mean I enjoy it more now than I did then? Not at all. And if we're worring about growing the sport the last thing we need to do is try and convince everyone. I'd rather eat glass than watch NASCAR, but last I checked the sport was doing fine despite my indifference.
it's not WHAT he wrote that bothered me.. it's that a) it'll go largley unanswered b) it's indicative of a general feeling. remember that dedford article a few years back about football being un-american? that had a lasting affect on sports fans on the fence.
So what that he doesn't like soccer. Who cares what this guy thinks? Each year there are more and more people that DO get turned on to the sport in this country. Let him stick to baseball if he wants. Besides, why pay attention to a guy that thinks that 'Meet the Parents' is Robert DeNiro's best movie?
ok - let's write an article explaining why football WILL work in america and see if it gets published.
I actually don't have a problem with this article. It's not like he's spouting nonsense like Jim Rome. He explained that he played the game, tried to like it, even attended a few MLS games. What more can you ask for? If it didn't take, it didn't take. As Yogi Berra would say, if people don't want to come, you can't stop them.
I don't think it will largely go unanswered. I think the fact that the LA Times has almost daily soccer coverage, the Washington Post has a gem like Steve Goff, the New York Times has Jack Bell, Grant Wahl gets to get the occasional SI plug and almost every MLS game is available on TV somewhere definitely trumps some jagoff working for something called "Sports Central." Answering something doesn't always involve belittling someone's opinion. Sometimes it just involves reality.
I've done it. Lots of people do it. And how do you know that Deford's drivel swayed anyone. Did you commission a poll to find people on the fence and ask them their opinion? If not, your opinion on that matter is just as valid as this nimrod's thoughts on soccer. Soccer will continue to have trouble gaining ground just as long as its most vocal supporters think people who don't like the sport don't have a right to speak.
I beg to differ. Monster was spot on. You, me, Monster and every other footymadferit in this country who'se been around for awhile can notice the difference between coverage 10 years ago and now. 10 years ago I was lucky to get a match a month. Now (with the aid of a DVR) I can see in a given week, one Serie A match, one French game, four Premiership matches, an Argentinian game, two Brazilian games, a Scottish game, four Mexican matches, games from Costa Rica, Uruguay and El Salvador. I also get Dutch football,five MLS matches and two Bundesliga games...We see more than they do. Pay no mind to what they say.
this guys article has about as much worth as me getting an editorial and writing how i think football players in general are fat slow and disgusting. how on any given sunday i can be lulled to sleep by the sounds of the raider nation or the cheeseheads. its pretty worthless and he doesnt really give us any good info as to why he doesnt like soccer. ive read better articles that are just as meaningless.
Anyone who thinks "Meet the Parents" is DeNiro's best movie isn't qualified to have an opnion on whether or not his $h!t stinks or not. Sachin
i'm happy oblige you, monster, if you insist. i will, however, manage to do so without snide remarks and i hope it's noted. re: I've done it. Lots of people do it. where? any links? i'd really like to read published pro-soccer editorials in non-soccer oriented publications. i travel to and from the UK quite a bit and get most of my footie news from the BBC online. re: And how do you know that Deford's drivel swayed anyone. Did you commission a poll to find people on the fence and ask them their opinion? If not, your opinion on that matter is just as valid as this nimrod's thoughts on soccer. yes. i have, in fact, spoken to people "on the fence" regarding the state of US football who also read Dedford's article (the "soccer is anti-american" piece to make sure we're on the same page). and sadly.. yes it did damage (albeit moderate of course). of the 30 or so people to which i sent the article, or who read the article independantly, 5 are directly involved at english football clubs at varying levels. i'm not talking about groundskeepers or the biscuit-trolley pushers either: one is a chairman and another is a supporter's club spokesman who reports weekly to his club's board. they were all somewhat disappointed such articles are still being churned out given the strides the USA has made in recent years. the 3 contacts at english clubs (conference clubs) i am personally involved with could/would do well to sign young americans to youth contracts, and while persuasion either way derived from an editorial would be foolish at best, pieces like Dedford's and Noonan's don't shed favorbale light on us as a self-proclaimed "soccer" nation as i'd be willing to bet there are countless more articles like the ones mentioned as there are those to the contrary. i would LOVE to be corrected on this painful point. re: Soccer will continue to have trouble gaining ground just as long as its most vocal supporters think people who don't like the sport don't have a right to speak. in my opinion.. 1) soccer will continue to have MUCH MORE trouble gaining ground if Dedford and other close minded lemmings of his ilk go wholly unanswered. 2) i don't recall advocating removing anyone's "right to speak". monster, i'm not going to get into a slagging match or a vulgar display of internet driven aggresion with you. we're both on the same side and we need to recognize that. i shall give your posts respect as long as mine receive the same in turn. fight the good fight!
I have done it in my own columns available at www.regularguycolumn.com and in my former life as a sports reporter for The (Hanover, Pa.) Evening Sun. Go to the MLS News & Analysis thread. Look at the links with a date in them. Then tel me this kind of crap isn't "answered" by the regular coverage that outranks this kind of crap 50 to 1. So they want everyone to like soccer in the US? I read some British fiction. I have read things disparaging the British fascination with the sport. I have seen studies that tie underachivement academically to soccer obsession in British youth. Why is Deford's personal opinion subversive, but not those things? Please don't try to pretend everyone with a British accent LOVES soccer wholeheartedly. And please don't paint Frank Deford as anything other than an old codger looking for his weekly bit of attention. Go to the MLS News & Analysis thread. Look at the links with a date in them. Then tell me this kind of crap isn't "answered" by the regular coverage that outranks this kind of crap 50 to 1. You're gonna be corrected. Just take the time. Do a frigging Google search and you will be corrected. Trust me. So some people you know were swayed? Not one person I know has ever said, "I don't like soccer because of what Frank Deford wrote." If people are swayed by Frank Deford's opinions, they're weak, shallow people. I just prefer people who can make up their own mind. To be frank, I didn't ask anyone what they thought of Deford's piece because I couuld give a rat's ass what Frank Deford thinks or what people I know think of his opinion. It depends on how it is done. Fair point, but how many people who do take the time to respond to these things do think that there is no room for people who don't like soccer? Experience here and as someone who has worked in the media for a dozen years say they are the majority of people who respond. I do in limited situations and generally get nowhere. If people don't like it, they don't like it. If people are swayed by someone's negative opinion, they're just as likely to see the writings of Steve Goff, Jack Bell, David Boyce, Craig Merz, Fred Rodeblo, Ives Galacarep and the dozens of other people who I do. All the time. And part of my fight is to get rid of a the self-victimization of soccer fans. WHo cares what other people think? I'm a soccer fan. If that's not good enough for someone else, tough nuts.