Drink Discussion: So honestly, why doesn’t the USA embrace soccer?
True story: if you ever want to create a really interesting, multi-party (albeit circular) discussion at a bar, here are some topics to embrace: things people don't really understand, national pride, and generic notions of trends. As a result, when you pose a query like "Yo, why doesn't the USA embrace soccer?" at a watering hole, you're going to get a series of answers, covering a wide gamut of inaccuracy, sheer beauty, true intelligence, and likely, someone falling on their ass. (As Montgomery Gentry will tell you, 'There's one in every crowd.')
This happened earlier today:
That's exciting, no? So, the argument shouldn't really be: "It's not exciting enough," should it? No, not really. It can be boring, but it can be exciting. That's all sports. See: Bills vs. Jaguars, most of the NBA regular season, the entire month of July in MLB, most Pac-10 games on fall Saturdays, etc.
Rather, some conventional arguments you can use to jumpstart your own bar discourse would be:
1. America doesn't like it because we're not good at it: Look at standings right now. Uruguay (who wasn't even supposed to be that good) is 3-0 through group play. So is Argentina. Brazil is 2-0. Paraguay is winning a crappy group. This clearly isn't our continent's wheelhouse; it's the continent to the south. America tends to tune out things we don't (a) understand or (b) excel at, so that deals soccer a raw hand.
2. We need a hero: Look at Beckham. He personifies the English countryside, elitism, snobbery, high fashion, London in many senses. Look at Wayne Rooney. He would be a street thug if he wasn't a soccer player. You'd love to see him at a pub. These two guys are England's last two major soccer heroes. They personify parts of the entire nation. Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey are cool as all hell, but what about the American experience are they saying to us? Not much, honestly. (Feel free to disagree.)
3. The NHL Argument: The NHL is dominated by non-Americans, doesn't translate well to TV, and is low-scoring. Its TV coverage in the US is eh at best. Know another sport with these problems? Soccer, especially club. (FOX? Setana? Only at some bars.) This is a downer.
4. We're dumb: Yea, I said it.
5. Refs have too much control: The second USA game showed this. Tim Donaghy and Jim Joyce aside, in no sport do refs have this much control. Goals are at a premium, so if one thing goes against you, you're straight screwed. That's hard to deal with for the American sports fan, who tends to be pretty cut-and-dried.
Your thoughts? Do two things for us: (1) propose a dialogue at your watering hole this weekend (USA is playing!) with even the random strangers on your left and right and (2) let us know other arguments for the USA's apathy towards soccer in the comments.
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