Soccer: the bidet of U.S. sports

[Bitter]

Check this fool...
Is not the players and millions of youths who keep football down in America, is the sports reporters.
Men who would vote for a horse as athlete of the century.


Soccer: the bidet of U.S. sports
(http://www.suntimes.com/news/steinberg/209483,CST-NWS-stein14.article)

January 14, 2007

BY NEIL STEINBERG Sun-Times Columnist

Opening shot
Americans don't care about soccer. And we never will care. Never ever ever.

The Los Angeles Galaxy, a soccer team -- who knew? -- is throwing away a quarter of a billion dollars over the next five years, assuming they don't go bust first, paying the salary of David Beckham, who may be a star in England, and may be married to the former Posh Spice, but is going to be a fortnight flash followed by soccer-induced obscurity here.

Remember Pele? The Brazilian superstar who, like Beckham, having lost his edge in the international soccer world, decided to put in a few very profitable pre-retirement years playing in America. It was good for him, no doubt, but did nothing to popularize the sport here.

Why? Why couldn't soccer take off in the United States? Easy. There's no room for it. We have too many pro sports as it is -- baseball and football, hockey and basketball. Sports fans care about tradition, about legacy. Few fans ever shift their loyalty from one team to another, never mind embrace an entirely new sport, surrendering precious moments that could have been spent glued to NFL football in order to pay attention to a gang of perfumed foreigners kicking a ball pointlessly around an enormous field.

Soccer is like bidets. Do you know what a bidet is? Some strange hygienic device usually parked next to the toilet in European bathrooms. Very big over there. But nothing over here. Don't need 'em, don't want 'em, never going to have 'em. Ditto for Beckham, even at a million dollars a week. Especially at a million dollars a week.

[Brownsugar]

He confirms why de rest of the planet think Americans are stupid.....ah mean true de game eh popular there, but it is de game de World loves.....and ah know how dey like capitalism....imagine how much money dey could make if they try to cash in...

De absolute ass holes and dem.....who de hell care whether or not dey like de game.....de rest of de planet does.....Ididots....

Ah wonder if we tell him dat baseball is a thing we does play here called rounders and when we grow up we stop playing it and leave it for the younger ones...(in fact mih eh tink children playing dat again nah).  How he goh feel...

[Feliziano]

Ah wonder if we tell him dat baseball is a thing we does play here called rounders and when we grow up we stop playing it and leave it for the younger ones...(in fact mih eh tink children playing dat again nah).  How he goh feel...

Ent 
i ent know when they go figure out a ball is something that is round and can roll in any directions..steups

[Cocorite]

Americans like these are blinded by their arrogance. To reply to them is to acknowledge them. Ah mean, it is one thing to speculate that the beautiful game might struggle to really take off in the U.S. It is another thing to compare it to something for the toilet. Pure arrogance. No wonder Americans are not well liked in other parts of the globe.

[pecan]

OK .. dat is one of de chupidess columns ah read in a long time ....

[DeSoWa]

Sports writers like him in the US are what Bidets were created and used for 

Big Up!

[superoli]

the man talk real good what wrong with you all.

Look at Australia they have rugby Union, Rubgy League, Cricket and Australian Rules they have no room for another sport..................hold on a second thats completely wrong football is now one of the fastest growing sports in Australia with many players in top leagues.

intelligent article.......................not.

[Dinner Mints]

the man talk real good what wrong with you all.

Look at Australia they have rugby Union, Rubgy League, Cricket and Australian Rules they have no room for another sport..................hold on a second thats completely wrong football is now one of the fastest growing sports in Australia with many players in top leagues.

intelligent article.......................not.

Actually, if you talk to some Australians, they doh really care bout football neither.

They don't hate it as much as Americans. But they ent really business with it either until World Cup come round.

[fitzinho]

the man talk real good what wrong with you all.

Look at Australia they have rugby Union, Rubgy League, Cricket and Australian Rules they have no room for another sport..................hold on a second thats completely wrong football is now one of the fastest growing sports in Australia with many players in top leagues.

intelligent article.......................not.

Actually, if you talk to some Australians, they doh really care bout football neither.

They don't hate it as much as Americans. But they ent really business with it either until World Cup come round.

That could be said for some Trinis too

[dcs]

He talking for the older generation for sure.
But don't think the young ones going to change that trend anytime soon.

Is something they might play growing up but it ain't going to share the spotlight with the other major sports.

[Pointman]

I smell hate in this article.
When I came to this country as a small bot, people used to tell me that football(soccer) was a girl's sport...my how things have changed, and will continue to change. These guys see the writing on the wall and they are afraid of change. The demographics of the uS is changing rapidly and so will it's sport culture. Soccer is the fastest growing sport in the country and when more and more young Black males start playing it, It'll be a new day for the sport in this country.

[Zeppo]

I smell hate in this article.
When I came to this country as a small bot, people used to tell me that football(soccer) was a girl's sport...my how things have changed, and will continue to change. These guys see the writing on the wall and they are afraid of change. The demographics of the uS is changing rapidly and so will it's sport culture. Soccer is the fastest growing sport in the country and when more and more young Black males start playing it, It'll be a new day for the sport in this country.

Someone give this man a prize for the most sensible post in the thread so far.

And some of the rest of you need to pull your heads out of your backsides and recognize that this guy is a hack writer from the old school of sports journalism. He speaks for a dying breed.

Fifty years ago the top three sports in the U.S. were in this order:

1. Baseball
2. Boxing
3. Horse racing

The moral?

Things change.

[davidephraim]

He confirms why de rest of the planet think Americans are stupid.....ah mean true de game eh popular there, but it is de game de World loves.....and ah know how dey like capitalism....imagine how much money dey could make if they try to cash in...

De absolute ass holes and dem.....who de hell care whether or not dey like de game.....de rest of de planet does.....Ididots....

Ah wonder if we tell him dat baseball is a thing we does play here called rounders and when we grow up we stop playing it and leave it for the younger ones...(in fact mih eh tink children playing dat again nah).  How he goh feel...

better yet if he know he baseball is a wash off of cricket and NFL football is a wash of rugby which is a wash off of football(soccer) more importantly i like yuh point about de capitalization of de sport and their lack of it. During WC is only 1 commercial with the little mexican boy and a handful of players make de grade in America. I sure de spanish channel and other countries had de commercials live. Ah sure TnT see better commercials than de US did. That is half de fun, to watch de commercials.

[E-man]

I smell hate in this article.
When I came to this country as a small bot, people used to tell me that football(soccer) was a girl's sport...my how things have changed, and will continue to change. These guys see the writing on the wall and they are afraid of change. The demographics of the uS is changing rapidly and so will it's sport culture. Soccer is the fastest growing sport in the country and when more and more young Black males start playing it, It'll be a new day for the sport in this country.

Someone give this man a prize for the most sensible post in the thread so far.

And some of the rest of you need to pull your heads out of your backsides and recognize that this guy is a hack writer from the old school of sports journalism. He speaks for a dying breed.

Fifty years ago the top three sports in the U.S. were in this order:

1. Baseball
2. Boxing
3. Horse racing

The moral?

Things change.

I agree the guys an old hack. But here are some numbers, now there were about 8,000 at the T&T-Bdos game. Anyone know the avg attendance at PFL games?

MLS ATTENDANCE SUMMARY 1996-2006
Year G   Total     Average Growth Median*
1996 160 2,785,001 17,406        15,093
1997 160 2,339,019 14,619 -16.0% 12,733
1998 192 2,747,897 14,312 -2.1%  11,871
1999 192 2,742,102 14,282 -0.2%  12,973
2000 192 2,641,085 13,756 -3.7%  12,690
2001 158 2,363,859 14,961 +8.8%  13,431
2002 140 2,214,878 15,821 +5.7%  14,108
2003 150 2,234,397 14,898 -5.8%  13,719
2004 150 2,333,797 15,559 +4.4%  13,285
2005 192 2,900,716 15,108 -2.9%  12,619
2006 192 2,976,423 15,502 +2.6%  14,175

[Deeks]

Not Good, but not bad either

[Jah Gol]

I smell hate in this article.
When I came to this country as a small bot, people used to tell me that football(soccer) was a girl's sport...my how things have changed, and will continue to change. These guys see the writing on the wall and they are afraid of change. The demographics of the uS is changing rapidly and so will it's sport culture. Soccer is the fastest growing sport in the country and when more and more young Black males start playing it, It'll be a new day for the sport in this country.

Someone give this man a prize for the most sensible post in the thread so far.

And some of the rest of you need to pull your heads out of your backsides and recognize that this guy is a hack writer from the old school of sports journalism. He speaks for a dying breed.

Fifty years ago the top three sports in the U.S. were in this order:

1. Baseball
2. Boxing
3. Horse racing

The moral?

Things change.

I agree the guys an old hack. But here are some numbers, now there were about 8,000 at the T&T-Bdos game. Anyone know the avg attendance at PFL games?

MLS ATTENDANCE SUMMARY 1996-2006
Year G   Total     Average Growth Median*
1996 160 2,785,001 17,406        15,093
1997 160 2,339,019 14,619 -16.0% 12,733
1998 192 2,747,897 14,312 -2.1%  11,871
1999 192 2,742,102 14,282 -0.2%  12,973
2000 192 2,641,085 13,756 -3.7%  12,690
2001 158 2,363,859 14,961 +8.8%  13,431
2002 140 2,214,878 15,821 +5.7%  14,108
2003 150 2,234,397 14,898 -5.8%  13,719
2004 150 2,333,797 15,559 +4.4%  13,285
2005 192 2,900,716 15,108 -2.9%  12,619
2006 192 2,976,423 15,502 +2.6%  14,175

I understand your point here but recently I saw a report on the start of a professional Lacrose league over there. They said that they already have attendances averaging 11000- that's in a semi pro structure.

 

[pecan]

Good article in today National Post (Canada).

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/issuesideas/story.html?id=8781b3ad-07f5-46c8-af08-23def1f7beb6

Here is the issue in a nutshell:

" .... But even if Beckham does play well, his presence stateside will likely do more harm than good for American footy."

."....In the simplest terms, soccer in the United States will break through when the country has World Cup success. There was a thrust in the right direction after the quarter-final appearance in 2002, but then a giant step back last summer in Germany. A huge factor in the U. S .'s poor performance was the lack of players with experience in the harsh fires of European competition.

For this, Major League Soccer is largely to blame. The league is in a difficult situation -- it needs to develop players to ensure they have a product that's palatable to a buying public with plenty of entertainment options. At the same time, any player worth watching regularly will want and need to leave for Europe to improve his game, and hopefully, by extension, the U.S. national team. MLS, though, has been agnostic about improving the game at the macro level if it means its own product will suffer."


But everbody have a different opinion .. only time will tell.

[trinbago]

One thing that sports writer not taking into account is the demographics of certain stated with MLS teams:

Take the state of CA for example whre the LA Galaxiy is from, this has one of the largest mexiican poulation of mexicans outside of mexico....and what is Mexico's number one sport???...

So yes LA will make some more gate and merchandise sales with Beckham....

The downside I see with beckham though is tha the is not a striker.....hence his ability to grab the headlines on the field as opposed to off the field will be more difficult.

[jamaica2099]

This writer like most in his generation is worried about pure-blooded Americans converting from traditional American past-times,like their parents to a non-traditional sport. Since the USA has 52 states their favourite past-times where Americans can called the winning teams World Series or Superbowl champions among other names synonmous with World champion without the hiccup of playing the rest of the world.

This article seems like a thin veiled excuse to blamed immigrants for attempting to change tradition from middle and lower class America:
"Few fans ever shift their loyalty from one team to another, never mind embrace an entirely new sport, surrendering precious moments that could have been spent glued to NFL football in order to pay attention to a gang of perfumed foreigners kicking a ball pointlessly around an enormous field."

Like the man said: "Sports fans care about tradition, about legacy."

Someone should give the man a placebo.       

[ribbit]

Good article in today National Post (Canada).

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/issuesideas/story.html?id=8781b3ad-07f5-46c8-af08-23def1f7beb6

Here is the issue in a nutshell:

" .... But even if Beckham does play well, his presence stateside will likely do more harm than good for American footy."

."....In the simplest terms, soccer in the United States will break through when the country has World Cup success. There was a thrust in the right direction after the quarter-final appearance in 2002, but then a giant step back last summer in Germany. A huge factor in the U. S .'s poor performance was the lack of players with experience in the harsh fires of European competition.

For this, Major League Soccer is largely to blame. The league is in a difficult situation -- it needs to develop players to ensure they have a product that's palatable to a buying public with plenty of entertainment options. At the same time, any player worth watching regularly will want and need to leave for Europe to improve his game, and hopefully, by extension, the U.S. national team. MLS, though, has been agnostic about improving the game at the macro level if it means its own product will suffer."


But everbody have a different opinion .. only time will tell.

pecan, that's a good article. they have this quote:

"....There is little incentive to improve within MLS -- not much push from junior-level players on the team, no withering media criticism, few demanding fans."

the media have a key role in setting the expectations for followers of the game.