Well, by now if you care (or even if you just frequent ESPN’s website), you know by now. I watched it, as I’ve done all the games for us this time around. I have to say, I’m really proud of this team.
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A lot of people don’t care a lick about soccer. And I can understand that. After all, it’s never been very popular here; we’ve got other major sports to fill all the days in the calendar year, all much more popular than soccer. A lot of people think it’s a boring game (and I’ll admit, I was in this camp for a long time before I saw a few games) because there isn’t a lot of scoring.
That being said, this is the most important sports event in the world. It blows the Super Bowl out of the water. Don’t believe me? Find out just how many people will watch it worldwide. Don’t be surprised if the total’s close to two billion – roughly one-third of the world’s population.
If you just can’t see yourself getting into soccer full-time, that’s okay. Treat it like the Olympics. After all, how often do we watch track and field or gymnastics (Alabama and Georgia college fans notwithstanding) other than every four years? But we’ll cheer the U.S. and its players on like we were foremost experts in whatever the event happens to be.
This team outplayed the three-time champions of the game for most of the game. Even someone like me, who doesn’t understand many of the nuances of the game could see that. We like the underdog here, even if we don’t get a chance to be it very often as far as sporting events are concerned. After all, this country was founded by some of the biggest underdogs.
My point is, when the tournament comes around again in 2006 (and in a little bit better of a timeslot for us, considering it’ll be in Germany this time instead of Asia), at least tune it in for a little while. I bet you’ll find yourself cheering the team on. And who knows? You may actually get to like the game.
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This would have done more for me if you had changed the background to be the American flag, and perhaps have a MIDI file playing “God Bless America” softly in the background.
I think that I can spur patriotism in our national soccer team without moving my website back to 1996 form, thank you. 🙂
I think that Ricky fellow has some good suggestions there BG.
Well said! Like it said on ESPN, I feel that we’ve finally arrived, because we know what it feels like to dominate a match and still lose. Still, I think people here cannot appreciate how big (and unlikely) it is that we showed as well as we did after finishing dead last in ’98 and being 300-1 underdogs in this Cup. Unfortunately, the sports market is too saturated in America. I believe that soccer’s growth will be in parallel with the younger generation’s growth, because soccer is a really popular youth sport. But, when baseball goes on strike (which is inevitable), Major League Soccer will be ready to jump up as the pro sport to watch during the summer.
Wow! That is incredible of how many people watch soccer worldwide. I didn’t even know that the nomber was so amazingly high. I mean, even up in the billions. This fact is truly remarkable. Also, thanks for the important info about my all time favorite sport.
I think soccer is the best sport because people hardly get hurt, it keeps you active and healthy,and you just need to learn to kick the ball hard enough.