I got into it in 1997, when I started going to DC United games and hanging out at Summers sports bar here in Arlington, VA. And that really mushroomed into a Frankenstein monster. Then I discovered this Bigsoccer site and now I have no life and my brain got sucked out
Just a couple thoughts now that we're over 100 responses (110): Appx 65% of respondents became fans of pro soccer before MLS started. Good spin is that soccer fans are pretty die-hard - we've been here all along (27% pre-84!) and it's not like we're going anywhere. Despite initially awful play, the shootout, bizarro uni's, goofy time-keeping, etc., we've stuck with MLS anyway. That's at least a floor below which the league isn't likely to fall. Bad spin is that MLS hasn't done a very good job of creating a lot of new fans of pro soccer in the US. WC 98 sure didn't do MLS any favors - over 25% became fans after WC 94 (but before MLS), compared to only 9% who became fans after WC 98 (but before WC 02). Obviously not a surprise, but that's a huge difference. Speaking of lost opportunities, I'm actually a little surprised that even as many as 12% became fans during the long silence between NASL and WC 94. That was a lost generation of soccer fans. Wonder where pro soccer would be in this country if the NASL had just survived as a national pro league for ten more years.
lets see....technically, i played soccer for a few years in grade school, was totally into world cup 94 (i was in like 3rd grade) and then just stopped. back in about 6th or 7th grade, i watched a game on ESPN2...i dont recall the teams but i know it was CL... after that, i became a casual arsenal supporter (they had the coolest name hahaha) and somewhere along the line switched to manU (and no it wasn't because of the championships). i went to england when i was in 7th grade (i arrived on the day of the robbie fowler 'sniffing the line' incident) and was hooked. i've been a rabid manU fan ever since, and i'm obsessed with the game. since the fire have become easily accesable to me (living in naperville) i've become a huge fan and an ultra, and it's only fuelling my obsession even more.
WC 98 sparked an interest, only became truly obsessed after going to Bernabeu to see Real Madrid play in 2000.
the first MLS game i ever saw was Fire at DC in 98. haven't stopped watching american pro soccer since.
The late '70's. "Soccer Made In Germany" with Toby Charles and the English equivalent with Mario Michado. They were truncated hour-long shows of the Bundesliga and English League games on PBS. Had some good laughs with my teammates sitting on the sidelines, watching our high school team play, impersonating Toby Charles.
Have vague memories of watching Pele play for the Cosmos on ABC in '77 or so, Jim McKay reporting. I just remember there being astroturf and thinking that was kinda funny, but there was so much hype around the event it was pretty intriguing. Then I was watching the evening news soon thereafter and they showed a few highlights from the WC '78 in Argentina and Kempes' goals and the smoke bombs were incredible. All I could think was "Wow, I ain't ever seen anything like THAT before." Then I watched the '82 WC on spanish-language only statitions through all the static, becoming a HUGE Paolo Rossi fan in the process (bribe-taker that he was) and watching what I still think may be the greates game I ever saw: the West German-French semifinal. O the pain!!! I went to the WC in '86, more out of luck than any great plan or anything. I was at the Hand of God game and on first view I was like the ref: I thought he got it with his head. Diego's Maradona mazy run through the entire Engolish defense was even more amazing. I watched as much of the '90 WC as possible but still didn't know anything about european clubs or payers or anything. I was amazed the US was even there. It wasn't until '99 that I started following MLS. I don't know why. I was lost in a bit of a personal haze there for a while, and also got really into baseball (my beloved Padres) for a few years ('96 & '98 division champs) so I guess it wasn't meant to be. But I had heard so much about Etcheverry and DC Unitd that I had to watch them and finally in the '99 semis against the Crew & Stern John I did so, and DC dominated. I've been hooked like a big fish since, with the internet and digital cable playing a big part.
Began following pro soccer in that magical campaign of '77 for the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers: 19-7 record, sluggin it out with the Cosmos. Big names all over the place. I was 8. I followed all the incarnations of SoFla soccer...APSL Strikers, USL Sun, etc....born again when the Fusion joined MLS... Stopped following prosoccer this January when my team was vaporized. Way to go, HQ. Now I watch American Idol and occasionally drop by here to see if the league has ceased operations. MLS is one heart attack away from oblivion and you know it. When push comes to shove, no one wants to invest in it, bottom line. Pray for MLS.
Wow, bad karma. Anyway, I started getting interested when my kids were old enough to play and I was old enough to coach and unfortunately too rickety to play. In '97 I sampled MLS and wasn't thrilled. I went to A-league LI Rough Rider games and loved the action. Hey, I was only 5-10 rows from the field. In '98 - '99, I started following the US women's team and though I liked it, it lacked the speed and harshness of the men's game. I was a mild fan in '99 watching MLS games here and there until I saw a galaxy game on tv, and there he was, the young Clint Mathis. In 2000, my prayers were answered and Clint was delivered to the Metros. I have never been the same since. When I was in Fla. last year on vacation, I stopped by to watch the Fusion practice and get autographs. I contemplated Mexico in Columbus but the 30 degree weather and 15 hour drive was a bit much. It didn't matter in the end, because I stood proudly with Sam's Army in October, 2001 at the last game in Foxboro. I stayed up 75% of the nights this past June to watch the WC from J/K. I'm hooked and I love it. Play in MLS is terrific and judging from what I see at the youth games there are plenty of future national team players honing their skills. Thank God I found this game.
When it began for me Probably when I went to a few LA LAZERS games in the forum in LA. We also had an outdoor pro team at the time, but I can vaguely remember going to a game with my Dad when I was a little tyke (7 or so). However, I can say that my support and interest in pro (amateur if you want to believe so) soccer took place at the 1984 Olympics in LA. I don't remember too much, but know I saw a game with Brazil and a game with Nigeria I believe. With the passion and excitement I became hooked on International level soccer. I was fortunate enough to live in Colombia for a year in 86/87 and lived in Cali where I got to know Deportivo Cali and learned to dislike America--the Colombian version. I did get to see Valderrama play a couple times as well for Deportivo Cali and what a blast that was--also followed the Colombian National Team while there and the excitement of the Copa America was amazing. All someone has to do to understand the sport is live in any South/Central American country and then you will see the light. What a blast and hopefully we can say this about the US someday as well.
1. i was 11 years old, be nice 2. united was easier to see on tv, so it was easier to be a fan i refuse to argue about this again.
I bought a shirt in '94 with the underdog logo, simply because i thought it was cool. A couple of people were watching match(I don't remember who) at my college and i noticed one of them had the same shirt. I hadn't made the connection between the World Cup and Underdog with a soccer ball. So I watched. That was the first game I ever saw.
why do you find the need to be such a dick to me? i was YOUNG i liked who i saw THE MOST and i've stuck with it. i'm a white sox fan, i can deal with a really good season and then a really bad one, so i know i'll be sticking around longer than all the other "bandwagon hoppers" which is the catagory i guess i fit into. despite the fact that the only games i ever saw were occainsionally on espn2 and i didnt have the interent, so i only knew i joined in on "the bandwagon" of manchester united until around two years later when i started following more rabidly. and for anyone else who cares, and decides to make fun of me with stupid, snotty, nonsensical one-word responses, i started "following" united (to the best of my abilities) the year before the treble. i can't believe i have to defend myself like this so often. i told my story, just like everyone else, and for some reason, you find the need to be and ass. die.
SJ Earthquake Fan - Lifer I started attending my first NASL games in 1974 when I was 10 years old. In the 70's, I would watch Soccer Made in Germany with Toby Charles on the PBS station in the Bay Area. My first World Cup was '78. Over the years, I have attended many friendlies, US Cup, and 1994 WC Games (all games at Stanford, 3rd place, and final). I have been a charter member (1996) of the Clash/Earthquakes and have attended every home game except for one.
At the risk of showing my age, the first TV match I ever remember watching was the '66 WC final with England beating Germany 4-2 in extra time (no golden goal yet). I watched on a grainy B&W TV with my farther in Germany. Damn that Geoff Hurst goal of the cross-bar and goal line, which we Germans still will not admit was a goal. After we moved to the US, I became a big NASL fan and attended most of the COSMOS games in their glory years when 70-80,000 fans would show up at Giants stadium. During the long lull between NASL and MLS, I was mainly watching some local college games (NY State had some great college teams back then) and occassional games by the National team when they would come play at Rutgers or Yale.
As with many of my generation's American soccer fans, I caught World Cup fever in 1994 at the age of 12 in Los Angeles. I was watching every USA match, as well as Baggio, Hagi, Stoitchkov, Romario, Bebeto, all those players. During the Cup, I would buy the Upper Deck soccer cards, attended the SoccerFest at the Convention Center, and played pickup soccer at school every day there wasn't a game on TV. Soon after that MLS came into existence, and of course I became a mad fan of my hometown team, the Galaxy. That experience changed the way I viewed the professional sports scene forever, and soccer took over my being from then on. Long live soccer, long live the USMNT, long live the Galaxy!!!
I'm glad to see someone restarted this thread after the great crash killed it. Well I used to watch EPL games after school on the old HSE network-predated Fox Sports Southwest-in order to fall asleep. I picked up a few rules and got to know some of the teams and players, but that was in the dark ages b4 Manure adopted continental football. Now I do the same w/ Cubs Games. FastFoward 2yrs to WC94. My friend who played for our inaugural highschool soccer team(Texans) forced me to watch the USA v Colombia game and after explaining why we couldn't just use indoor soccer vets and the curious interpretions of the offsides rule-that took about an hour-I enjoyed a spirited upset victory 4 the nats. I wasn't yet sold on the sport until I about jumped thru the screen when Brazil intentionally injured Tab Ramos. After that I was hooked, I watched every game I could and eagerly awaited the birth of the MLS. I still have that very 1st game on video, right b/w warren moon's 1st snap against the Alice Cowboys in preseason and Rick Patino's only Championship game w/ the Kentucky Wildcats. I started going to the games and 97 and still proudly wear my royal blue USA away kit, though the current diggs are lucky enough 4 me to sport the newer design. The internet above all else had made it much easier to follow the sport and I'm grateful that I didn't have to suffer like you old NASL fans out there.