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Soccer Fever – Could it stick!?!?!

It was pretty rough to spend an entire month completely surrounded by the sights and sounds (BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ) of theWorld Cup and not get swept up in the “this is the year that soccer will be here to stay” hype that happens every four years. But I held out. I wanted to see how well it’d stick when America’s heart rate got back down after Donovan’s late winner against Algeria, and after the tears dried up after that heartbreaking exit to Ghana.

I must admit, I’ve been pretty pessimistic about soccer sticking in American culture for some time now. It’s not how we work. We can barely watch TV shows without DVR anymore, because the two minutes of commercials is too much of a break from the action we’ve come to need from our televisioning experience. So how can we be expected to watch 90+ minutes of soccer. Yes, soccer, that sport where any team has a chance, so long as you play 100% defensively and hope for a miracle (2010 Switzerland et al. v Spain). That boring ol’ game. It’s just unrealistic.

But if New Meadowlands stadium had a vote in this, it’d say that soccer is here to stay! Oodles of fans, and 11 unlucky American soccer players packed the not-yet finished stadium to watch Brazil put on a clinic. And if you think it still might be a quick remission from World Cup Fever, I suggest you start taking a look at the side stories that ESPN is running on their website.

Sure, Lebron and Favre will always produce enough news to keep an entire newspaper staff busy, and they’re always going to take the front page story, but have you noticed that you can now find news reports and opinion articles about the goings-on of some of Europe’s best leagues? Every once in a while, headlines will pop up – “Fabregas to Barcelona?”, “Robinho wants out of Man City”, “Liverpool resign Torres” “Fabregas to Barcelona? The saga continues”, “Mourinho eyes treble in Spain”.  Now, I don’t know how much of this is driven by actual fan support, or how much of it is ESPN trying to impose its will upon America, trying to make some money by tapping into what can be a very very large market for them. But the fact remains, soccer isn’t fading away so slowly just yet.

And MLS seems to be picking up some steam. I recently saw a Real Salt Lake game against Philadelphia Union – on TV. Now that would never have happened in years past. First, the game wouldn’t have even been on TV. And also, as a self-respecting soccer fan, I wouldn’t have been able to watch the crappy MLS teams perform the comedy of errors that I’ve grown to so fondly associate with MLS. But I did it. Yeah, I’ll admit, its not the same as watching Man U face Chelsea, but it wasn’t all too bad. Better yet, the fans seemed to be LOVING it. Over the microphones you could hear the swell of emotion as a team was nearing the goal, the jeers at the ref for blowing a call, and the pure orgy of excitement when a goal was scored. People weren’t just watching – they were caring! It wasn’t a soccer game – it was a soccer experience.

I guess only time will tell, but from what I’ve been able to see, I think soccer is making deeper and deeper inroads in American culture. People know and care about what the UEFA Champions League is. People watch the Euro competition and the Confederations Cup now, not just the World Cup and a Premier League game or two every once in a while. You don’t ‘follow sports’ without having something to say about soccer; without having seen a game or two recently.

People are starting to ask better soccer questions. No longer are people watching games and asking, “why didn’t he shoot?”, “can’t he just score it?”, or “isn’t there basketball on?”. People ask questions that are actually worth asking. “Why did they start Ricardo Clark instead of Fielhaber?”, “Why do our defenders just boot it up, haven’t they heard of possession?” etc.

Now that we’ve got a strong(er) fan base – Americans made up the majority of the travelers to South Africa this summer – it seems there’s only one thing left to do: win something. That’s what will glamorize soccer and really catch the nation’s attention, and capture its imagination.

“No way, nobody will ever care!” Really? Lets take a look at an example that’s a bit of a gamble for me, but that I think makes a decent example… hockey. Following “The Miracle on Ice”, hockey became a mainstream sport for a good while. I remember growing up (in South Florida, mind you) playing hockey on the street with the neighborhood kids. This was all part of the aftermath of that resulted from Team USA’s historic win over the Soviet Union and eventual Gold in the Winter Olympics of 1980. Unfortunately for hockey the bureaucracy and the NHL falling apart ruined their hot streak. But they’re getting back on track and things are looking good again.

This sort of thing can happen with soccer. If we knock off a superpower (Spain, Brazil, the Netherlands) and actually win something big, we can make sure soccer stays. Then we can start thinking about the scenarios in which the sheer athletic talent we produce in this country can turn to soccer. People have long asked, “Could you imagine if Lebron or Adrian Peterson played soccer?!” But only after a big win can we start asking, “Why did Reggie Bush pick football instead of futbol?”

Soccer’s day is finally here, now we need someone to carpe this diem…