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All my life, soccer has been touted as the next big thing in American sports. This goes back to the 1970s when Pele was evidently the best in the world at running up and down a large field with tube socks chasing a dimpled white ball.

"Just you wait" said the soccer aficionados at the time, "Soon soccer will be so big in the U.S.A. that you will forget all about NFL football and MLB baseball."

Indeed, "youth soccer" programs sprung up all across the United States in a concerted effort to make it happen. A whole new term was coined for harried housewives in mini-vans ("soccer moms") and at least three generations of 6-10 year old kids learned the joy of standing around in large fields, picking the underwear out of their butts, while several energetic kids who actually took this sport seriously ran circles around them. Nobody ever kept score. Everybody went for ice cream after practice. And everybody got a trophy.

If every adult American who ever played soccer as a child was to clean out their attic and simultaneously put their soccer trophies up for sale on Ebay, the entire Internet would come to a stop due to crashed servers.

Alas, all the would-be American "Peles" got bored with the game and moved on to other recreational activities by the time they reached puberty. Such as Nintendo, texting, YouTube, etc.

I can't explain why soccer never catches on in the U.S. but it's not like we never tried.

I’m not sure what you mean by “catch on”

MLS is averaging almost 20k fans per game (19 teams)

World Cup tv ratings are in line with the NHL playoffs and are up about 25% over the 2010.

(I’m not a soccer fan, just pointing out facts)

LOL!

Thanks for your epic post. All I can do is concur. I, too, remember the Pele hype and the breathless predictions that soccer would soon sweep America. Never happened.

I don't get the media's obsession with this sport. Yes, it is wildly popular outside of the US, but over the past 150 years we have developed our native sports and we like them better.

The NFL Europe thing didn't catch on. And neither will mass soccer hysteria in the US. They should just give it a rest.

Well, they are letting unassimilated 3rd world immigrants into this country at a rate that soccer will just default by demographics.

I enjoy watching NFL Football and have since about 1971, and I love hockey, but I have no use for baseball and basketball.

Soccer is, to me, like watching a peewee hockey game. Probably fun if you have a kid playing or you are coaching. But completely boring from a perspective of action, in my opinion.

If people enjoy it for the social aspect, going to a pub in a European country and getting immersed in it, that sounds fun.

But from a sports perspective, soccer is on the same level from a viewing perspective as women’s softball, baseball, and golf.

My son played soccer until he got to high school where he became the football place kicker. He was pretty good doing both.

After graduation on vacation in Greece he played some pick-up soccer with some Euros and asked if he played football in school. He said yeah but not that football.