I know a few people who suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder or ADD. One way to cope with the affliction is breaking things into increments throughout the day.
Rather than attempting to read half a book, ADD sufferers should instead shoot for 10 pages before moving on to something else.
I bring this up because the United States, as a nation, suffers from ADD, which is exactly why soccer could never supplant the big three of football, baseball, and basketball in popularity.
Americans want to love soccer, we really do. It offers great international competition. Fans around the world are intensely passionate, although some of the strange traditions such as trampling each other to death or lighting fires inside the stadium can only be appreciated by Oakland Raider fans.
It’s the woeful lack of scoring that is not conducive to American culture. Even the popularity of baseball waned prior to the steroid-era. As soon as juiced-up players turned ballparks into pinball machines, the fans came flocking back.
The excruciatingly long lapses of time between goals can make one start to fantasize about yard markers and quarterbacks on the beautiful green field. We use sports as an escape from thinking about unpleasant things, such as bills or work.
Watching a bunch of guys kicking a ball around with nothing really getting accomplished for long periods of time enables our mind to wander back to bills and work.
After decades of watching bone-shattering hits on the football field or rim-ratting dunks on the basketball court, it is unrealistic to expect the average American sports fan to get excited about a slide tackle.
Even in the inexplicable event America's premier young athletes decided to look past the glory, riches, dates with cheerleaders and numerous other accolades, the "big three" sports offer and decided to play soccer, it would merely put us on par with the rest of the world.
Sure, athletes of LaDainian Tomlinson's or LeBron James' caliber would certainly make the U.S. a force in international soccer competition, but just like track and field, where America also dominates, our interest would last as long as the World Cup before returning to the big three.
Another factor working against soccer in the U.S. is the history. Sure, soccer has been around forever, but grandfathers in this country tell their grandchildren stories about guys like Ted Williams or Jim Brown, not Pele.
The time to establish a major sport in this country was the early-to mid-20th century. Unfortunately for the most popular international sport, soccer missed the boat to America.
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3 months ago
And yet soccer remains the world's dominant sport and americans sports don't. BTW "LaDainian Tomlinson" (I had to google him) would make a nobody in soccer and would most likely be stuck on a bench in a second division team.
3 months ago
Yes gem, I mentioned soccer is the most popular sport in the world. The column was about why it will never be that way in the U.S.
I'd love to hear more about your theory on Tomlinson. His size, build and speed actually would make him perfect candidate for soccer stardom. Not sure how you figure he would be a "nobody."
3 months ago
Actually after googling Tomlinson a bit more, I decided that he would make a fine replacement for Micah Richards in Man City. They have about the same stats physically and I hate Richards and his terrible def. awareness.
Compare them:
M. Richards:
http://images.google.ca/images?&q=Micah+Richards
L. Tomilson:
http://images.google.ca/images?q=Ladainian+Tomlinson
3 months ago
As someone who has struggled with Attention Deficit Disorder my entire life, I agree that on first impression soccer appears to only be a game for the truly patient.
That said, once you get into it, there is simply not a more exciting game.
Watching the World Cup last year and the Euro Cup this year has truly changed my perspective on what I once considered a relatively "boring" sport. I now regard soccer as one of the most beautiful games on the planet and feel confident that I would have come around to this notion sooner had I just given it a chance.
Sure: goals are scored very infrequently. But think about it this way: unlike sports like football or baseball, the action simply never stops!
And: when a goal IS, scored, the excitement is simply unparalleled. I'd go as far as to say a goal in soccer is the equivalent of hitting a grand slam in terms of energy generated amongst a crowd. And your bound to get at least one goal every day, whereas the same cannot be said for a grand slam.
Furthermore, the displays of athleticism you see on a soccer field are unbelievable. The idea that a guy could be running full speed ahead for 30 feet and ever so delicately tap the ball a few times with his toes to fake out a defender is simply mind numbing.
Americans are indeed an impatient people, but let us please not forget that Baseball is our national pastime. Sure, there's more scoring in baseball—but without question it's an extremely slow paced game. The same cannot be said for soccer.
In essence: if we can appreciate baseball, we can appreciate soccer. It's just a matter of time before the masses give it a chance.
Soccer is the #1 sport played amongst our youth and I feel all it's gonna take is one US team to put the nation on the map in a World Cup. This may be years away, but it will happen eventually and change the way the sport is regarded in our country forever.
Just my two cents. Excellent piece though Jon—thanks so much for the great read!
3 months ago
It's obvious you haven't actually attended any professional soccer games. I grew up on the three "big" sports you refer to. I didn't discover soccer until the past 10-15 years. It grew on me slowly but is now by far my favorite sport. It's dynamic and exciting. I have no problems understanding why it's the most popular sport in the World. More and more Americans are coming to the same conclusion. To enjoy any sport you need to make an emotional committment. Get out and support your local MLS team and the U.S. National team. It won't too long and then you'll get it.
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