How many of you made fun of/hated soccer in your youth?

I played until I was 13, but it was mostly to play a sport with my friends. I was a soccer hater until the 2006 WC and my subsequent purchase of Fifa. Then I slowly fell in love.

I think there may be some posts from me on my first year here where I claim soccer will never catch on in the US because of ties or something. I'm embarrassed looking back now.

I don't think I ever hated it, but I didn't pay it much attention because I didn't understand it.

The internet and FIFA games in the mid 90s helped me learn about leagues and clubs, which made me appreciate the sport more.

There was also a weekly EPL Review show on Fox with Lionel Bienvenu and Max Bretos that got me hooked for good.

I started playing when I was 4 and haven't stopped.

One of my favorite things to do when people are talking about soccer is to drop a few soccer sucks lines and then join the conversation and everyone gets really confused.

I didn't care for it when I was a kid, but I don't particularly remember making fun of it.. It just wasn't really that common of a sport when I was growing up...

For the most part, it didn't hit my radar until the '94 World Cup... and then I started to get into it...

In '98 I watched the WC in Central America and got into it even more... Ronaldo/Owen

Then as TV started playing more and more games I gravitated more and more towards the leagues vs. international...

And prob about 5-6 years ago, it made the unthinkable leap... LFC usurped LSU/Saints as the team I care about the most... I watch more soccer than all of the other sports combined.. easily..

I started playing at 6 and started regularly watching a few years later in the 1994 World Cup. My family isn't from the US so they grew up watching and playing soccer since they were toddlers, so I certainly had no "soccer is gay" talk in my home.

Oddly enough, my team was coached by a lifelong southerner who was your typical Christian conservative middle-aged guy but he somehow became a semi-pro player and knew the game so well. Through his coaching, we basically didn't lose a game for 4 years. I was one of the worst players on the team.

As far as I know, none of the guys on the team continued to college level in soccer, but 3 played some level of college baseball.

From 6-12 or so I played and was pretty into it. Thereafter I was pretty disinterested. I'd get into World Cups but would tune out and occasionally bash soccer when convenient (just for fun, mostly to friends who still played).

My mom is Honduran. I grew up watching, and loving the game. My earliest memories of the game was observing my mom and my grandfather cheering on Argentina & Spain in the 1990 World Cup. I was 7.

I then played in BRSA until high school. I would watch USA, and Honduras whenever they were on. I stopped playing in high school because I went to Denham Springs, and they did not have a soccer team when I was there. I fell in love with Liverpool while watching the 2002 World Cup because of Michael Owen and El Hadji Diouf.

I've never not been a fan of the game.

I watch soccer less than college basketball and college football. More than NFL, probably about the same as the NBA.

I grew up playing, so I only hated soccer sometimes

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The Saints and LSU are still my big event games. Each weekend in the fall revolves around each game and how or where we will watch them. But as you said, I think I am enjoying Arsenal more. My favorite thing on the weekends is waking up early and watching a game live with a cup of coffee. Also, between Arsenal, Dynamo, and the USMNT, I'm definitely watching more soccer than all of the other sports.

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Yeah, I'm in a similar place. Vandy/Auburn and Nashville Predators are still my big events that things revolve around. The real reason I hate noon kickoff home football games is that it usually means I'm rushing out after the Arsenal game to get a decent seat. The fact that Arsenal plays 38 games plus internationals means I end up watching more soccer than anything else. EPL and NHL are the only professional sports leagues that I really get into. I would get into MLS if I could get the damn Crew games or my internet wasn't too shitty to watch streams.