Posted on 06/27/2014 8:16:11 AM PDT by Kaslin
I think the points have been made:
— Soccer is largely a tedious game featuring long stretches of uneventful play punctuated by the all-too-rare moment of scoring;
— The clock concept is infuriating. We love the 45-minute halves with no commercials, but then the arbitrary one or three or six minutes of “extra time” violate every concept of precision that a clocked sport should have;
— Soccer has its fan base, and it is not small; but the pressure on America to embrace it to some far larger degree is absurd. We simply never will as long as we have other sports featuring far deeper intrigue.
I have spent a lot of time during World Cup 2014 making these very points against those passionate souls who have insisted that this is the year, this is the time, now is the juncture at which America welcomes soccer in a fashion approaching football, baseball, basketball— hockey, maybe ? Golf? NASCAR?
Nope. Not going to happen. They say never say never. I’m saying never. Soccer will never— ever— reach consistent viewer levels approaching even our fifth or sixth most popular sports, in terms of TV ratings and attendance.
The attempt by elites to cram soccer down our throats are comical, as we are made to feel like rubes for not embracing the sport most of the world loves— because most of the world doesn’t have anything else.
That said, I have heard the diatribes and read the columns crafted by people pushing back against soccer fever— and enjoyed them all, and agreed with most.
But with the USA team’s improbable path into the World Cup’s final 16, I want to offer advice to all the soccer critics— everybody gets it. Points made. Now shut up and root for the Americans.
There has been a window for slapping soccer around. It was wide open for the opening games, when soccer dorks scolded anyone not embracing the sport as God’s greatest gift. We gave as good as we got, and we won. Even the late-arriving bandwagon types knew they were crowded into various venues for two reasons— first, the USA was playing, and second, we understood what a big worldwide deal it is.
As soon as America is ousted— and that could well be after the Belgium game Tuesday afternoon— this entire phenomenon evaporates. We will not gather by the thousands to watch Argentina battle Colombia. But if we can get by Belgium and make the Final Eight— the nation will be going crazy, and everyone keeping the soccer hate alive will come off looking like a bunch of jerks.
I say this with all love to people I share a lot of space with. Conservatives in particular have had a great time savaging soccer— from Ann Coulter, who properly taps the brakes on any sport where girls compete alongside boys, to Marc Thiessen, who crafts a sublime argument that soccer is socialist.
But the fact of the matter is that the world plays it, the world cares about it, and the United States of America might just crash the party even further.
If we do, there is only one proper reaction: celebration. By dinnertime Sunday, July 13, the World Cup final will be over. The USA team will probably not be involved. The next day, America will return to its default soccer setting of ambivalence leaning toward disinterest.
All the critics will have been proven right. There will be no burst of marketplace appetite for soccer in our daily, even yearly lives.
But between now and whenever the USA is done, if the whole World Cup thing is too boring for you or too foreign or too whatever— keep it to yourself. Thousands of your countrymen will be busting their behinds to excel at a game the world cares about a lot more than we do— which should be cause for enthusiasm. We all know American football, baseball and basketball are far better than anything other nations can offer up. As such, American successes in those sports on a world stage are not so surprising.
But for a team of Americans to fight its way out of a group containing three teams from nations that live and die for soccer? To face next week another country that does not have Jack Squat except for soccer? For us to excel in that context makes me enormously proud, even with my pocketful of criticisms for what the world calls “football.”
I know what football is. It is the punishing, compelling, high-scoring affair culminating every year in a Super Bowl that excites me more than any soccer game ever will.
But right now, a team of Americans is trying to win a tournament followed by more human beings than will watch any Super Bowl. I, for one, will cheer for them to win it. And to all of you who have sought to show us how cool you are, or how conservative you are, by bad-mouthing soccer? Stow it for a while. Not because you are wrong, but because large throngs of your fellow Americans will be rooting for our nation to do well on this world stage. And a handful of your countrymen wearing our colors are fighting hard to make us proud.
So let’s be proud. We have the rest of our lives to push back against those who overstate soccer’s appeal. Until our fellow Americans are shown the door, let’s appreciate them by not denigrating their field of battle.
What is the additional time for?
If there had not been this extra time wouldn’t USA have won against Portugal?
“Soccer sure as hell doesn’t need him.”
And America sure as Hell doesn’t need some Euroweenie socialist soccer.
except for blown saves, you mean?
Only if they do away with the offsides rule, wear pads, allow contact.
Oh wait...watch Australian Rules football or Rugby instead.
...we really couldn't care less about being able to covert between units using the number 10. In fact, using the metric system screws up many equations with unnecessary conversions to and from those politically driven and arbitrary measurements.
I just blew out my cerebral cortex looking at that equation.
Part One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXFNrcsXPCQ&feature=share
Part two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGMC6xib6bo
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog on the World Cup.
Simple—the answer is 2.
The rules for soccer differ from the rules for some other games, just like the rules for poker are different than the rules for rummy. They are different games. Saying that one is better than another because the clock runs forward or backward is a matter of opinion, but it doesn’t really matter, because the games are different by design. They are supposed to be different.
I just don’t understand why people think one is better than the other because the rules are different. So are polo, rugby, lacrosse, you name it. If you don’t like to watch soccer, don’t watch it. Nobody is holding a gun to your head. Change the channel. Is it too much to ask that I be allowed to watch a sporting event that I enjoy? Otherwise, I don’t get why those who don’t enjoy it care whether it’s offered.
And again, speaking as an amateur sports economist, we have plenty of American socialist sports. So if you are claiming that our socialist sports are better than their socialist sports, that's ok.
My apologies to soccer, golf and NASCAR fans, but all three sports are as exciting as watching grass grow. You can walk away from your TV for any one of these sports, eat a four course dinner and return to your TV and not have missed anything.
The World Cup is getting much better ratings than for the NBA Finals.
The MLB World Series gets lousy ratings.
Don’t think the ratings are great? The U.S.A. v. Portugal match was the highest rated non-football event, EVER, on ESPN.
The World Cup crushes the World Series in the ratings but it’s not just about that. The demographics coveted by advertisers are soccer fans. Young people with disposable income watch soccer while old Luddites watch baseball & hockey. Going forward that will be a boost to the growth of the sport in the US.
Golf has got to be the worst sport to watch. NASCAR isn’t much better.
If you know the game, soccer at the highest level is very watchable, but you do have to understand it. It is a lot better to watch than what SEC football was 10 years ago when it was not uncommon to have 9-3 or 9-6 final scores.
The extra time is because the referee is the only one who keeps actual record of when the clock is stopped and started. If you notice that the clock keeps running, even though play has stopped for an injured player. The ref has stopped his stopwatch, but the clock in the stands continues to run. So where there are stoppages in play, the ref is the one who is keeping the official time. The time allotted is 45 minutes for each half. When there is a little bit of time added, it’s because those minutes added up, and they are “made up” when the big clock runs to 45 minutes or 90 minutes.
No, the USA couldn’t have won because the time allotted wasn’t up. It wasn’t the end of the game until the ref’s whistle blew.
The ratings are higher than the NBA Finals or World Series.
Okay, thanks for the explanation.
I was at a party when the game was being played. I was nearly the only one oblivious to it.
“The ratings are higher than the NBA Finals or World Series.”
2 reasons. World Cup is every 4 years so it’s a big deal. 2nd, welcome to New America which is now filled with 3rd worlders. Great, World Cup rating are nice - yeah lousy crime filled country. But hey, ESPN has some nice ratings.
Let’s keep those borders wide open and keep importing 3rd world from Africa/ME and ratings will get even better!
BTW, how does soccer do after the World Cup regarding US TV audiences?
You’re welcome. I’m glad you asked the question. Some people don’t want to know the answer, and just think that it’s arbitrary. It isn’t.
Psssst. Brazil isn't in Europe. Neither is Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, South Korea, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Chile, Mexico, Australia, Japan ...
I'm not really sure where "socialist" came from, unless you've been reading Ann Coulter again.
If American doesn't need soccer, America won't watch soccer. But at the moment, a lot of Americans are watching soccer. Along with the rest of the world.
I don't know about a plot. But perhaps a natural extension of the conditions that Communism brings.
And it will become more popular in the U.S. when kids can't afford all of the football, hockey, and baseball equipment. Of course the fancy training camps will be the first to go, and hockey ice time is expensive.
Playing soccer with a bunch of wadded up rags, (wrapped in duct tape if you are rich) will be the sport of choice/necessity.
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