In the U.S. today, more kids under 12 play soccer than baseball, basketball, and football combined.
What happens when your team totally sucks in the European leagues?
You get relegated until you get your shit together & can compete with the Big Dogs again.
What happens when your team totally sucks in the U.S. leagues?
The rich successful teams have their profits taken and given to the poor teams.
Apparently wealth re-distribution is okay in their sports, just not in their national tax structure.
However,
"My suspicion is that the so-called 'beautiful game' is not so beautiful to American sensibilities...in sports, that means excellence should prevail. Of course, the fact that is often not the case when it comes to soccer may be precisely the reason the sport is so popular in the countries of Latin America and Europe."
Ummm, Mr. Schmitt...? That would be" Latin America, Europe, and South America, and Africa, and Asia, and Oceana, and probably Antarctica when the temperature is above -20F.
Ignorance is clearly demonstrated by "... the U.S. was hammered by Italy and Brazil (in the '09 Confed Cup) and only got into the semifinal match by beating Egypt and the fluke of a very arcane scoring system that soccer uses to break ties among teams." Arcane?
I suppose the rule is strange to Americans - unless someone looks at how baseball is played. How can you be behind by a half game? Arcane means 'requiring secret knowledge or impossible to understand'. Look at the rules for playing baseball & compare the volume to that of soccer. I suppose conservative conspiracy theorists are so obsessed with the arcane that they don't believe transparency when they see it. These disappointed nationalists can't accept that America can lose to some 3rd World marginal economic sink hole like Brazil.
In the end, these rabid nativists would be perfectly happy to claim soccer is Our Sport if we were consistently winning the World Cup, rather than never having won since 1930, and only once making it as far as the semifinals (in 1930). That, of course, is the men's team. After all, the women have only had their own World Cup since 1999. Though, our women have won (twice) or placed 3rd in all 5 of the Cups.
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Scary Triangles
2 days ago
1 comment:
Yay for Women's Soccer!!!! I'd actually rather watch women's soccer than men's.
I haven't a clue why Americans are not as wild about soccer/football as the rest of the world. Maybe it's because they came to professional competition in it so late? It's too easy? You have to bounce the ball off your head maybe?
From what I've seen, the American team this World Cup is playing well, but I'm afraid expectations are way, way too high. As usual.
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