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I think has soccer gets more popular, and it is, the US will only get better.
Last World Cup the US did pretty good. The US team is a lot better than it was in the past, and I think we are going to see improvement every couple of years. We just have a long way to go.
We are improving and capable. The WC was fun to watch!
Mainly because we don't give a crap about soccer. With almost zero marketing, Major League Lacrosse draws almost as much in attendance as Major League Soccer.
As an American woman, who has fallen in love with soccer over the last 10 years, I believe that the average dumba## American thinks that soccer is a no talent sport fit only for girls and small children. Not until you actually try to play the sport do you realize how difficult it really is to be good! I have come to appreciate how incredibly fit and athletic and skilled soccer players are. Then again, I'm a europhile. I despise the American culture of big money, fat "athletes". Most people in this country know nothing about soccer, and children here will continue to want to play football and baseball and basketball because their parents have no appreciation for soccer. It is sad.
I'm sorry. But I can't let a post like this go unmolested.
Seriously? Seriously? You realize some of the world's most highly-paid athletes are soccer players, right? Do you honestly think that a player like Messi wouldn't switch teams if someone dangled a few million more in front of him? Hell, look at Beckham. What? Do you really believe that soccer players are morally pure? That's kind of a crock if you devote more than a second's thought to it.
And let's move on to the highlighted text because it is just so...laughable. You're basically making the really nonsensical argument that one sport is demonstrably superior to all others, when a sport is nothing more than a reflection of a culture. The grace of athletes is just that no matter what sport they play. So don't take your own aesthetics and somehow try to make it intellectually or culturally superior. Because it's an unprovable argument and rather fatuous to boot.
Mainly because we don't give a crap about soccer. With almost zero marketing, Major League Lacrosse draws almost as much in attendance as Major League Soccer.
Really? Source please.
You don't have to give a crap about soccer, but don't give a crap comp like this here.
I'm sorry. But I can't let a post like this go unmolested.
Seriously? Seriously? You realize some of the world's most highly-paid athletes are soccer players, right? Do you honestly think that a player like Messi wouldn't switch teams if someone dangled a few million more in front of him? Hell, look at Beckham. What? Do you really believe that soccer players are morally pure? That's kind of a crock if you devote more than a second's thought to it.
And let's move on to the highlighted text because it is just so...laughable. You're basically making the really nonsensical argument that one sport is demonstrably superior to all others, when a sport is nothing more than a reflection of a culture. The grace of athletes is just that no matter what sport they play. So don't take your own aesthetics and somehow try to make it intellectually or culturally superior. Because it's an unprovable argument and rather fatuous to boot.
Yes, seriously. And most of the WORLDS most highly paid athletes play soccer in Europe, hello. The point of this thread is kind of WHY soccer sucks in the US. Beckham and a HANDFULL of designated players are recruited from Europe to come and play in the US. Yes, they are paid pretty well. They have come from Europe, played there and trained there. That's why they are so good! The two cultures are DIFFERENT, that is the point.
I'm not sure what's so laughable about my statement. It's true, the majority, or at least MANY, MANY people in the US do not appreciate soccer or think that it is an acceptable sport for their kids to play. Or, they are just not familiar with it and don't take the time or interest in learning about it. Thus their children are pushed in the direction of the sports that are typically American. This is the premise of the thread: why America sucks at soccer, which is twofold. It is not appreciated and encouraged, and there are really no good training programs in this country.
Don't get all touchy because I think soccer is superior to other sports. I know, the truth hurts....
That soccer is not a "street" game in the United States. Instead of kids dribbling a ball down to the corner to play with their friends, they are riding to practice strapped into the back of a sports utility vehicle.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trackwatch
I guess you have not watched too many World Cup matches or you would have seen scenes like those in the America pictures.
Yes, I am sure you can find many pictures in the United States of immigrants and the children of immigrants playing street soccer. Unfortunately for the United States, most people here are not first-generation Americans.
I've already posted statistics about the demographics of soccer's viewership. 46 percent of soccer viewers earn more than $75,000 per year. 31 percent earn more than $100,000 per year. About half are non-Hispanic white. 32 percent are Hispanic. Throw in some West Indians, Africans, and East Asians, and you've got the bulk of soccer viewers (and players) in the U.S.
Being the child of an immigrant, and having family everywhere from Barbados to England to South Africa, it's fascinating to see the difference between soccer culture in the U.S. and overseas. In the States, soccer is still very much an upper middle-class sport that's associated with cosmopolitanism and sophistication (with the exception of the small number of immigrants who import their soccer fervor to the U.S.). That's why you see bumper stickers reading, "Men play football. Intelligent men play soccer." In Barbados, in Britain, in South Africa, and pretty much everywhere else, it's the sport of the every day man.
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