American Soccer: Will We Still Love You In The Morning?
24 Jun
It is a comeback-story, and Americans love a comeback-story.
For veteran stars like Landon Donovan, it is a redemption-story, and Americans love a redemption-story.
And as of Wednesday it is a winning-story, and above all things, America loves a winner.
But it is also a soccer story, and the truth is, Americans don’t love soccer.
So when the comeback finally doesn’t come, the redemption story runs out of redemption, and the winning suddenly ends with one sure-to-be-heartbreaking loss, all we will be left with is soccer.
And America doesn’t love that.
Despite the United States amazing, incredible, once-in-a-lifetime, oh-my-goodness-can-you-believe-that victory over Algeria, the most popular international sport still probably ranks, at best, seventh in the eyes of Americans… still behind oddities like golf and NASCAR.
You newly-acquired fans will disagree. You’ll argue you love these American boys, Landon and Jozy and Timmy and Clint. You’ll call them by their first names, like they’re your best friends, like you’ve loved them every day for years. You’ll proclaim them heroes. You might even buy a jersey, or at the very least, a box of cereal with their faces on it.
But ponder this: Did Landon Donovan’s goal make you any more likely to watch his L.A. Galaxy?
Has Timmy Howard’s play convinced you to start following his Everton F.C. in the English Premier League?
Does your city even have a soccer team?
Do you even know when the MLS season starts?
It is the perfect time for a new sport to emerge, with NBA and NHL seasons concluding earlier this month, and baseball not really requiring attention till you start your back-to-school shopping. And the fact that America is advancing…. in dramatic fashion, of course… has only added to the buzz.
But just like the sneezing-sound of the vuvuzela, the buzz will eventually fade. And all we’ll be left with is soccer, a game we don’t love, with rules we hate, and top-talent leagues located on other peoples soil.
So by all means, enjoy the ride. Blow your horn. Get your face painted. Chant incessantly. Find Ghana on the map. Do what you gotta do. I know I will.
But don’t kid yourself into thinking soccer is anything more than a once-every-four-years guest-star on the TV Show of American sports.
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