Sorry, soccer enthusiasts, fans, and the like--your game will not become our game this year or anytime soon. It's not because it's not a great game. It's not because we're (the good ol' USA) behind the rest of the world, either. It's certainly not some grand (or even minute) conspiracy.
No, "fútbol" will do little better than grab our attention during the 2014 World Cup and then will quietly go back to its existence as the sport **just on the cusp** of breaking into the big four of American football, basketball, baseball and hockey. It will stay the sport many will encourage our kids to play--and we'll cheer voraciously for our children as they play. Some will take that enthusiasm into their kids' competitive soccer leagues into junior high and high school. Some will even purchase tickets to some MLS games. Most will not.
So, what's the deal? Where's the disconnect with soccer between World Cups? Why does American football sack soccer from Uncle Sam's sea to shining sea?
One theory has it being about our history versus the rest-of-the-world's history--particularly one important **revolution**.
Michael Mandelbaum put it all in words in his book, "The Meaning Of Sports: Why Americans Watch Baseball, Football, And Basketball And What They See When They Do" (Public Affairs, New York ,2004). The revolution? The industrial revolution. Put simply, football emerged from the mechanization of America, where measured time and synchronization of tasks catapulted the USA into the super power it still is today. To quote Mandelbaum:
"Football is the sport of the machine age because football teams are like machines,
with specialized moving parts that must function simultaneously. Players are like
workers in a factory. They must perform their tasks in a precise sequence, and the
failure to so sow leads to the kind of disaster depicted in the film "Modern Times"
in which Charlie Chaplin, working on an assembly line, gets tangled up in the
machinery."
Football was born of boon--and the great rivalries were born during that boon: Auburn-Alabama, Michigan-Ohio State, Oklahoma-Texas are classic examples on the college scene. "The Black And Blue Division" of the NFL (Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings) come to mind, as well as Rust Belt rivalries like the Steelers vs. Browns. It's a game built upon the blue collar, hard labor, bare knuckles striving of the American Industrial Revolution. We became truly great then, and perhaps football reminds of that greatness--at least subliminally.
Mandelbaum also notes that American football is also video friendly, and I believe that's the principal reason football trumps futbol for the general masses between the Atlantic & Pacific (as well as Alaska & Hawaii). You've heard it a kajillion times: soccer's boring. I'll be more precise: no, soccer is not boring at all, just like baseball's not boring--it's just not as exciting on TV. I find soccer strategy fascinating, and the athletes playing the game to be on the same level as football athletes. I, and millions of others, just don't like waiting so long for the **big** action to take place.
Mandelbaum doesn't shy away from the violent aspect of American football. He compares it to warfare--as in the drawing up the game plan (football) is to drawing up a battle offensive, where the head coach acts as the general, the players as soldiers, the support staff subordinate officers and medical staff. Mandelbaum extends on his comparisons:
"Because each (football and war) are dangerous, fighting a war and playing
in a football game both require doing what comes unnaturally. Commanders
and coaches must find ways to overcome the natural inhibitions to taking
part in both. Here again, the array of techniques they use, and the invent-
ives they offer exhibit marked similarities."
It's here I'll extend on Mandelbaum's point. I believe football is a better diversion than soccer. Sports, and all entertainment really, are really just diversions from real life that make real life more bearable, more lively, more hopeful. Yes, football is a most violent game, where there are frequently serious injuries and infrequent deaths, but the violence is generally confined to the field and not the stands. That it's also more fun to watch in person and on TV only makes it better.
So, regardless of how successful the USMNT is in this or future World Cups, futbol will face an El Capitan-like climb to reach the popularity of football in the US of A, and really, even basketball and baseball. I believe it can over-take hockey simply because more youth across all economic lines can play soccer than can play hockey--although watching hockey is a zillion times more exciting than watching soccer (popularity IS about the number of eyeballs).
I fully expect some pushback from soccer fans and elitists. That's OK. Those that know me know I welcome dissent--even if it's based more in emotion than in fact. I fully expect some to counter that the world's game should be ours because most everything is global nowadays. I full expect others to use the well-worn counter that, something like this, "You'll never give soccer a chance because you just hate us and our game and you'll never understand it anyhow." In my 25-plus years of sportscasting, I've heard variations of the above dozens of times in each market where I've worked. There was even a lady in Oklahoma who refused to believe I had **ever** covered a single one of her son's high school games even after I gave her video proof of the nearly dozen games I'd covered in two years. My response to such nonsense is the same: your mind is already made up, so thank you for your opinion and you're free to go--there are some nice parting gifts waiting for you.
Football certainly has its challenges, but popularity in the 50-states is not one of them. Of all facts, this one is undeniable. It's soccer's challenge to eclipse that popularity before the nation gets excited beyond World Cups.
No comments:
Post a Comment