It seems, with all the fuss about Beckham, etc, and the fact that every other school kid seems to be playing it, that the USA is discovering what the rest of the world already knows - that soccer is The Beautiful Game

Do you think it will go massive, and challenge the likes of baseball, (american) football, etc?

One can only hope



Soccer players dress far sexier

People made a fuss over Pele in the 70's as well. And we saw where that went.
I don't think americans can care much for another sport.
I believe I've read that soccer is the most played sport by student athletes in the US but somehow it doesn't carry over into adult "entertainment". Friends of mine play on a "fun" league right now, but the majority of the teams are immigants. I think it may always enjoy a sort of cult status, but I don't see it breaking into the likes of baseball, basketball and american football here.
But what do I know about sports?

CarrieMpls said:

Do you think the demographics of the US have changed enough since the 70s to mke this different from that though?

i'm thinking actually ping-pong will be taking off. especially with that new novie coming out. the one with christopher walken in it.

just my 2c

Imago said:

No, I don't think so. The general American public needs more goals to be scored in order to feel entertained. Also, basketball, American football and baseball are so well established that it would be hard to compete with them. Even ice hockey is struggling in their shadow.

Imago said:

that and those WEC cage fighters

Mach said:

And they move far sexier too!



Baseball bores me to tears, and football players are now just genetically bred for their positions that it's hard to identify with them.

But soccer players move about the field elegantly and with great speed. The game flows better than football (3 hours to play a 60 minute game?? ).



oh, and soccer players have great haircuts too. They rocked fashion mullets long before the new york club scene.

Imago said:

I agree

I have been involved with soccer from the age of 2

My dad coached
All 3 of my brothers played
My oldest bro played semi pro in Canada
All 4 of our children play (ed)
Both TR and I have coached

I could not begin to tell you how many games in 41 yrs I have attended - TONS of them

I hope not. A supernova would kill us all.

CarrieMpls said:

You are right on.

I think the reason why Soccer does not really catch on at the higher levels is that sports like Baseball, Basketball and Football all tend to score a lot more and have more chances to score. Literally points can be scored in all three sports on every single play. And Americans are used to that.

Also in the USA, Baseball, Basketball and Football is where the money is at and are perceived to be more glamorous. So those sports tend to siphon off the best athletes from the US (and other countries like the Dominican Republic).

Mach said:

Oh my, Did u see that illegal move, Kent.. That player just went spikes up.

i watched the toronto/la game.
we are actually getting tv coverage now!

i did cringe, however, when becks refered to the game as "soccer" during an interview
come on, don't americanize the way you speak for your audience.

No. While it's a cool sport, it doesn't translate to TV nearly as well as football, basketball, baseball, NASCAR, golf or the X Games.

I'm hoping that it doesn't and I don't think it will. It's the one institution that the rest of the world can claim as its own outside of the sphere of influence of the United States. They are also not very good at it too which helps. I remember watching a show where some American guy was thinking of a way to modernise the game where by you had 3 zonal markings on the pitch. You scored that number of goals depending on which zone the shot was taken from. Coupled with the horrible image of cutting to ad breaks during open and Coca Cola symbols occuring in the centre cirle on TV coverage it just doesn't bare thinking about.

Most importantly, everybody knows it's football and not soccer.

american culture & consumerism is tied to American football. soccer is not going to happen here.

Nope.

BE AN AMERICAN HOOLIGAN!
DRINK BEER!

HobbesLeCute said:

HamsterHuey said:

As if Europeans are any less drunk at sporting events.