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Why are so many in United States threatened by soccer?
Posted on 6/27/14 at 7:57 am
Posted on 6/27/14 at 7:57 am
I personally never got into the X-Games. But I never really went out of my way to bash skateboarding. I just didn't watch it. Had it become the next big thing in the pantheon US sports, I probably still wouldn't have watched it. But I wouldn't have complained that other people wanted to watch it at the bar.
I have been shocked at the visceral reactions by a significant number of journalists, sports talk personalities and social commentators on how soccer is not only an inferior sport, but actually a negative influence on society. They actively cheer for its growth to fail.
Going all the way back to 1989, when Jack Kemp said on the floor of the House after the US was awarded the World Cup that soccer was a "socialist" sport while "real football" indentified with "democratic capitalism" a certain segment of our society as seemed to actively root for the game to not take hold here.
Now, with a stable (if still unpopular) professional league in our country, an improved national team and generally all-time high support, the game could actually make it at least in to the fringes of daily sports talk here. The more realistic the possibility of this happening, the stronger the outcry seems to be from the other side. I just don't get it.
ETA: Exact quote from Kemp - "I think it is important for all those young out there — who someday hope to play real football, where you throw it and kick it and run with it and put it in your hands — [that] a distinction should be made that football is democratic capitalism, whereas soccer is a European socialist sport."
I have been shocked at the visceral reactions by a significant number of journalists, sports talk personalities and social commentators on how soccer is not only an inferior sport, but actually a negative influence on society. They actively cheer for its growth to fail.
Going all the way back to 1989, when Jack Kemp said on the floor of the House after the US was awarded the World Cup that soccer was a "socialist" sport while "real football" indentified with "democratic capitalism" a certain segment of our society as seemed to actively root for the game to not take hold here.
Now, with a stable (if still unpopular) professional league in our country, an improved national team and generally all-time high support, the game could actually make it at least in to the fringes of daily sports talk here. The more realistic the possibility of this happening, the stronger the outcry seems to be from the other side. I just don't get it.
ETA: Exact quote from Kemp - "I think it is important for all those young out there — who someday hope to play real football, where you throw it and kick it and run with it and put it in your hands — [that] a distinction should be made that football is democratic capitalism, whereas soccer is a European socialist sport."
This post was edited on 6/27/14 at 8:17 am
13
Posted on 6/27/14 at 7:59 am to mule74
quote:
that soccer was a "socialist" sport while football indentified with "democratic capitalism
Lol.. no salary cap in soccer.
Posted on 6/27/14 at 8:09 am to glassman
I'm in the same boat..i don't watch tennis or golf, but I don't have a problem with people who watch it either.
I never see people posting on facebook that tennis, horse racing, golf is boring, but with soccer they make it a personal issue that it's on tv often. These same people are going to live miserable lives as soccer continues to grow.
I watch football, soccer and that's it. I don't watch baseball, basketball, or hockey. To me, soccer and football are the only sports that have constant action and minimal (but significant) scoring. I can't handle 120 point basket ball games or watching a guy scratch his ball on the pitching mound. They are good sports, but I just dont find them entertaining.
I never see people posting on facebook that tennis, horse racing, golf is boring, but with soccer they make it a personal issue that it's on tv often. These same people are going to live miserable lives as soccer continues to grow.
I watch football, soccer and that's it. I don't watch baseball, basketball, or hockey. To me, soccer and football are the only sports that have constant action and minimal (but significant) scoring. I can't handle 120 point basket ball games or watching a guy scratch his ball on the pitching mound. They are good sports, but I just dont find them entertaining.
This post was edited on 6/27/14 at 8:15 am
Posted on 6/27/14 at 8:13 am to mule74
Closed-minded upbringings that ingrain the mindset that soccer is a wussy sport while baseball is a manly sport.
Posted on 6/27/14 at 8:17 am to mule74
For a long time it was socially accepted to make fun of soccer, mainly because no one really followed it and new how cool it was. Now, the people that bash soccer are more "late to the scene" trying to be cool, and most people are educated or trying to be about soccer.
ETA: I never could wrap my head around why people thought baseball was a manly game? It's no more manly than tennis. I guess just the steroid generation gave it that manly façade.
ETA: I never could wrap my head around why people thought baseball was a manly game? It's no more manly than tennis. I guess just the steroid generation gave it that manly façade.
This post was edited on 6/27/14 at 8:19 am
Posted on 6/27/14 at 8:17 am to Bluefin
but to say people feel "threatened" is actually accurate. The way they personally attack the sport, it weird. As been the case for 100+ years, this is not a foreign sport anymore so they should stop treating it that way.
Posted on 6/27/14 at 8:18 am to Bluefin
Soccer will pass baseball in popularity in 10-15 years.
Posted on 6/27/14 at 8:19 am to Col Reb is my mascot
quote:
Soccer will pass baseball in popularity in 10-15 years.
No it won't, and that's ok.
This country is big enough where sports don't have to cannibalize another.
Posted on 6/27/14 at 8:20 am to Col Reb is my mascot
quote:
Soccer will pass baseball in popularity in 10-15 years.
Not trying to go down this rabbit hole but I'm a little more conservative in my hopes. It's going to take the MLS becoming a top flight league for the sport to sustain here between World Cup Cycles.
Posted on 6/27/14 at 8:21 am to Broski
xenophobic jerks
Why do we call it the World series and its in 1 country plus the Blue Jays? Hubris
Why do we call it the World series and its in 1 country plus the Blue Jays? Hubris
Posted on 6/27/14 at 8:24 am to JEAUXBLEAUX
quote:
Why do we call it the World series and its in 1 country plus the Blue Jays? Hubris
Posted on 6/27/14 at 8:26 am to JEAUXBLEAUX
That's because there was the National League and the American League that hated each other. They couldn't agree on the title game name so (I think a newspaper) came up with the World Series. I know it looks retarded and I have had to educate many foreigners that look to it as an example of Americans being idiots, but it is a pretty legit reason.
Posted on 6/27/14 at 8:27 am to Col Reb is my mascot
quote:
Soccer will pass baseball in popularity in 10-15 years.
Heard the other day that there are more kids playing soccer than baseball for the first time.
I don't necessarily think it will surpass baseball in popularity, but soccer is definitely becoming more popular in the States.
Posted on 6/27/14 at 8:30 am to mule74
Because we didn't invent it. It is foreign and most Americans want to the US to be exceptional.
Posted on 6/27/14 at 8:30 am to The Cow Goes Moo Moo
I could see it surpassing baseball. I guess it depends where you live but I don't know hardly anyone that cares about baseball.
Posted on 6/27/14 at 8:32 am to TxTiger82
quote:
Because we didn't invent it. It is foreign and most Americans want to the US to be exceptional.
We didn't invent Hockey either, but the general consensus on the MSB is that it is still a sport.
Can't say the same for soccer.
Posted on 6/27/14 at 8:37 am to mule74
Lol people in America aren't threatened by soccer, corporations and sponsors are. Only chance for commercials is halftime when everyone is taking a bathroom/snack break.
Posted on 6/27/14 at 9:04 am to mule74
I agree with that, but kids ages 12-20 rank soccer as their second favorite sport (behind football I believe). Soccer may never pass baseball in the deep south or midwest, but chances are it will soon (10-15 years) on the west and east coast.
Posted on 6/27/14 at 9:06 am to Broski
quote:
We didn't invent Hockey either, but the general consensus on the MSB is that it is still a sport.
Can't say the same for soccer.
Ah, the MSB, the world's finest forum for rational discourse.
Posted on 6/27/14 at 9:09 am to cwil177
People actually don't like hockey. Well, people do, just not the ones we're talking about here. Most of them are just as clueless about hockey as they are about soccer, but they like the prospect of a fight. In fact, a lot of the things they say about soccer is doubly true about hockey ("it's just chaos between goals, etc")
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