This was brought up in another thread but I decided to make it a new one for your thoughts. Yes, I live in Arkansas, which I get what I hope is an occiasional good natured ribbing for. And no as some one said I don't hear the word "brilliant" often, though Mitch Albom (famous sportswriter in US) did write an interesting column on the use of the word in a recent article about a meeting he had with a British man. There is one fact that American's know about Soccer/football, we will NEVER be as good as the rest of the world. The unarguable fact is this: OUR BEST ATHELETES DON'T PLAY THE SPORT. PV4 is our highest paid player at about 150 per week, correct? Well that's less than 8 million a year. I would guess that no one in the world makes more than 10. The NBA alone has probably 25 players who make that. Not to mention MBL which has a couple dozen who make more than 15. The league average is nearly 5, and that's the guys who seldom play. If Thierry Henry would have been born in New York or Dallas, he realistically may never have seen a soccer ball. With his size, speed, and grace he'd been but at point guard or shortstop or any of a number of places. Athletes, at the professional level, are about getting paid, even in European Football (ask Claude Makelele), and there is more money in other areas in America. That's why I cheer for Tim Howard, the odds of having the chance he had are small. Being an American Soccer fan means waking at 5 or 6 am on weekends to watch live matches. Or setting the alarm at 2:30 am for a World Cup Match. Alot of us do it, more than the media would have you believe. Just today on ESPN Radio, Bob Ryan said the most under reported story in the US this year was Tim Howard being first choice at ManUre. (he did give a shout out to Arsenal by at least mentioning they (ManUre) were at the top with Arsenal close behind, I was stunned he even knew that) And Please don't tell me to watch MLS unless the basketball fans are going to watch the D league. England is about the size of Florida with about the same popluation and has almost 100 professional teams, if you have any potential at all someone will find you, and maximize you. No here. Not with Soccer anyway.
watch and support mls. that's where timmy came from. that way you'll find more and more great american players being funneled to europe and even the gooners.
IMO, I could care-a-less what tim howard or brad freidel or reyna, (well, maybe not reyna) do in club football... i completely ignore the fact howard is #3 in the american setup and see him as another manyoo player.. i guess i just see everyone as equal and not by nationality... does this mean you root on keller at S***s??? F tim howard, ya great.. he made it from mls to the EPL.. great for him.... shame he signed for that lot in manchester...
why i root for a team in london and for a player on a team in manchester that i'm supposed to hate... because i have no real allegiences to either and am a goof for not following local soccer?
I support Howard only in that every goal scored against Man U I hope is NOT his fault. i.e. poor defensive build up and such things.
I think that within 30 years time the US will be competitive regularly in international soccer. Although the best athletes don't usually stick with soccer, many very good ones do, especially the ones who know they'll never be 6'5" and play in the NBA or NFL. Baseball isn't that much of a problem, as baseball participation is on the downslide is the US as a whole. While I don't actively cheer for Tim Howard, I think it's great that he's with manUre in the EPL. One thing the US has proven is that we can produce goalkeepers, who I think are all frustrated tight ends or something. Had Henry grown up in the States, would he have played soccer? Depends on where he was doing the growing up, but he would not be as developed as he is now simply because the infrastructure in the US for developing young players is light years behind what goes on in Europe (although that is changing, somewhat). The other problem with soccer development in the US is the college system. Many players see college as the final goal, and it is admirable that they want an education, but for development they really need to turn pro and start playing 40 or 50 matches a year, plus train with other professionals full time. Our players who come through the college system are probably 3 to 4 years behind their European counterparts (and South Americans playing in Europe).
Local like Barcalona or the Orlando Fire ( I thought that was in Chicago) not exactly in driving distance. This is the typical American Soccer Fan, (and a part of the reason most Americans close there ears at the thought of soccer) The attitude that says I know more than you about soccer because I can name all 25 people who in attendance for my Local Orlando, I mean Chicago Fire. I pay more for the year long DTV subsription to the Premiership than season tickets for two to any MLS team whould cost because its a better product.
It is just jealousy, and they are right to be jealous. Be sure not to let anyone else in on the secret that is Arkansas.
first of all learn to type. secondly i was born in guayaquil and moved to chicago at a very young age so that covers both barcelona and the fire. though i live in orlando at the moment in 6 months i will be back in school in illinois. you amuse me immensely by talking about things which you have no understanding of. the reason people "close their ears" to soccer is because the "typical american soccer fan" is you... the one who would root for teams on another continent that he's probably never been to (i'm sure you're the exception to the rule though right?) if arsenal gets relegated tomorrow you're a liverpool fan. thats not what sport is about.
You amuse no one, at all. Typing smack is a poor substitute for wit. Take your own advice and explore the wonders of the shift key. Then please share with us, the great unwashed, the definitive answer to the question "what sport is about".
Bob Dylan answers you... Come gather 'round people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You'll be drenched to the bone. If your time to you Is worth savin' Then you better start swimmin' Or you'll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin'.
Re: Re: Why I, an American Gunner, cheer for Tim Howard Not sure I want to know what that secret is... Seriously, though, I like Howard and I think he's a fine keeper, but, when he or any other American player has the shirt of any club but Arsenal on, they're on the wrong side of the fence IMO. Same goes for national team matches. If the U.S. should ever get the chance to play France in the World Cup, while I will enjoy seeing Henry, Vieira, and Pires play, my heart will be with my country.
yeah, sorry but I cheer against Tim Howard everytime he takes the field in the EPL....because when he makes a mistake it usually leads to the Mancs dropping points. Same is true for any other rival player. However, when playing for the USMNT, all is forgotten about whom is is employed by.
Re: Re: Re: Why I, an American Gunner, cheer for Tim Howard I'm with that. I hope that he fails miserably with ManU, but I hope he does great with the USMNT. And PLEASE support MLS as much as you can!!!! It's the reason we have a national team worth mentioning in the first place.
Re: You amuse no one, at all. Why are you ragging Sankacofie? He at least understands the value of supporting the teams where he lives. Your Arkansas buddy's out and out dismissal of MLS doesn't do him any credit. Especially his implication that Chicago Fire have 25 people at a match. I'll bet that next year Fire average around 20k per match (due to moving into a full-size stadium for an entire season). That is better than most teams in Europe average (including some in Seria A, Prima Liga, Bundesliga and even EPL). If Billyhoho thinks that watching Arsenal on television in his living room every couple of weeks is the same thing as supporting your local club in person (even if you cannot go to every game) - he is missing out on much of the excitement of soccer. Sport is a social phenomenon. The fact is - it is very difficult to have the same type of commitment/relationship with a club that is thousands of miles away that you can have with a club that is closer in proximity. Unless you have a particular reason for loving that club - as SankaCofie has for Barcelona S.C. If Arsenal continues to have financial problems (Ashburton Grove) and has to sell some of its top players and moves down to First Division - it could happen after all (which is roughly MLS quality) - do you think Billy Hoho would be able to maintain his commitment to them? After all - they wouldn't be on television and they would be mediocre. They would seem to fail these two preeminant criteria.
I root against Tim Howard for the basic fact that the club he plays for is a hated rival of the club I root for. No different than rooting for Chuck Knoblauch, when he played for the Twins (who I follow), but rooting against him when he went to the Yankees. When Howard's playing for the US, I'll root for him, but not while he's in goal for SAF. To me there's a bit of a disconnect if you're a true Arsenal fan but you also want Howard to be the next Peter Schmeichel at ManU. Something's gotta give between the two. sanka deserves to be ragged because he's trotting out the same argument we've all heard a million times and he's doing it on a thread where it doesn't relate to the topic, which is why you'd root or not root for an American keeper at ManU. plus he's just plain argumentative.
Re: Re: You amuse no one, at all. comparing division one and MLS.. imo, i give the nod to Nationwide footie.. sorry you MLS fans, but it is crap (IMO of course) perhaps i have not seen enough of it, but when i was in america, i thought the quality was piss poor.. i reckon it has improved tho over the years~
Yeah, but billyhoho is the guy who brought it up by likening MLS to the D basketball league (whatever that is) and suggesting that an American soccer fan is someone who wakes up at 5 or 6 am to watch a game on tv. He said that stuff in his first post. Hate to tell you, but there are millions of people in the US who love soccer and express it by a) playing the game themselves b) watching their kids and other amateurs play the game and c) support a pretty good little domestic league that features affordable ticket prices and relatively accessible tv coverage.
Not sure how you worked that out. More kids in this country play organized soccer than Little League baseball. But maybe you're saying that there's no system for them to continue playing. That I agree with. By the time they're 12, kids with any athletic talent at all realize they're better off taking up a mainstream sport than sticking with soccer.
There's nothing stopping people from supporting both American/local teams and European teams. Of course many Americans have no local soccer team to support. Here in Phoenix, there's no MLS team. I think that as a person gets more interested in European soccer, it will tend to get them more interested in North American soccer also. I know that as I've become more interested in Arsenal and the EPL, I tend to watch more MLS than I used to. And given sky high ticket prices, many loyal followers of teams end up following them most if not all the time through broadcasts, rather than going to the game.
Re: Re: Re: You amuse no one, at all. Five years ago, my "piss poor" team was good enough to beat Vasco da Gama home and away. That was in the third year of the league, which has since improved. DC United matched up well against Blackburn and Tottenham in recent friendlies (I am not counting the "legends" game in London - I mean the games in the states). Granted these were meaningless friendlies, but the class of our players was still more or less evident against much higher rated opponents. Last Summer in a tournament, one of our worst teams (LA Galaxy) played with Nacional, Schalke and PSV (well - not really) without their two best players. If you think Rotherham or Derby could do all this, then kudos to you.
Re: Re: Why I, an American Gunner, cheer for Tim Howard Although guys with Thierry Henry's raw physical skills (what about 5'10" 170 and 4.4 in the 40) are a dime a dozen on division I football teams. Not suggesting that Thierry doesn't have gifts that make him a much better soccer player than those guys would be - just that his raw athletic skills alone might not make him a natural, elite football or baseball player. There are literally hundreds of guys with TH's raw physical skills who end up with a mediocre college education and no chance of playing pro sports. But on the basis of ODP and the residential program now available to U17s, Henry might make the decision that top-notch multisport (high school all american) athletes like Twellman, Bocanegra and McBride made: I may succeed at a higher level in a professional soccer career than I could in one of these other sports, where I don't stand out quite as much.