why most u.s. americans don't like soccer

a rare species: a soccer fan rooting for the u.s. team at the dupont circle public viewing area in washington dc

maybe it's been a riddle to you. or on the contrary, you never thought about it. fact is, most u.s. americans don't like or don't care about soccer. washington dc being an exception with its international minded mini-population from all corners of the earth.














for the first time for a soccer world cup, dc set up public screens - rather small ones however

i know little to nothing about the german national soccer league, the Bundesliga, which is maybe somewhat of an equivalent to the national football league in the united states. but i do get enthusiastic about the soccer world cup. germans have won it three times before and these days are hunting for the fourth victory. never mind they screwed losing 0:1 against serbia after the hubris following the 4:0 dream game against australia.

but soccer is an odd thing in the united states. at the start of the world cup several voices arose to psychoanalyze the u.s. american relationship with the game.

stephen colbert tried in his show on june 11, 2010 to which he invited two guests, one dissing, one defending soccer. but first he set the tone the debate:

"Speaking of crimes against humanity: soccer. ... As an American, I don't care about soccer. Soccer is just one more thing the rest of the world is trying to jam down our throats like the metric system and the Geneva Convention. Here to viciously confirm my prejudice, please welcome Washington Post columnists and noted soccer ball-buster Marc Fisher. Okay, Marc, first question: the rest of the world loves soccer. Why is the rest of the world wrong?"

apart from the fact that colbert in his typical style lets neither fisher nor his opponent, veteran newsweek contribute and global post contributor mike starr, finish their sentences, the arguments on the con side are rather weak.

fisher says soccer is un-american because it’s too simplistic. it’s for little kids running around on a field, he says, getting their cardio in. "they go there, eat cookies. then they grow up and crave complexity". (think four hour-long baseball matches with nothing happening but sunflower seed munching, think american football with the ball buried under a pile of plastic-protected flesh and muscles while the people in the bleachers stuffs itself with baked potatoes). just because it's popular it doesn't make it right, fisher adds. aha, suddenly there is popularity.

that's where sports columnist for nation magazine david zirin comes in. he gave a more economically and culturally founded analysis for the u.s. soccer aversion in an interview on al jazeera english at the eve of the games. he says there's been a bit of a miss about it. soccer is the most popular sport among girls in the united states. and with the unites states growing more multicultural soccer is still gaining popularity. but it’s not highlighted by mainstream media such as bis sports channel ESPN. they do the world cup, zirin says, but soccer is not highlighted at other times.

plus, he says, there’s an old stereotype about the foreignness of soccer. there’s an american myth that baseball was invented in the united states, zirin says, which it wasn’t and that football started in the united states, which actually came from rugby. so soccer has maintained it’s foreignness, he says, so we have our own sports culture which is overladen with a lack of right-wing politics and official media saying it’s foreign. ultimately, he says, it has a lot to do with nationalism and culture.

picking up a similar line is an article in the atlantic monthly of june 11, 2010.

"But here, the culture of soccer has become a badge of liberal cosmopolitanism. When you consider the timing of this trend, perhaps the adoption of soccer was a rejection of Bush/Cheney 2000s provincialism. If Karl Rove kept the I-4 corridor Nascar red in 2004, why then young Beltway wonks, Brooklyn MFA candidates, and Bread Loaf novelists, instead of moving to Europe (like they said they would) would adopt the red of Manchester United, Liverpool, and Arsenal. Fine, but for me, soccer was always about inclusiveness; I'd kick a ball with anyone, talk about it with anyone. I was only too glad. With these "thinking fans"—or nouveau fans, as I like to call them—it feels exclusive, a networking tool for the elite."

but atlantic blogger for the world cup michael agovino admits that soccer does offer hope precisely because if its cosmopolitanism. maybe one day kids will pick up an atlas to find out where the strange people playing the strange game and scoring high come from.

a friend says the solution to the riddle is easy. it's because u.s. americans never win. so maybe it's all just about being sore losers? the famously cited example from way back in 1950 with the unites states losing 0:1 against its former colonial owner england was made up at least partially with the 1:1 tie this year. baby steps.

the future of soccer in the unites states is not here yet as another atlantic article of june 25, 2010, predicts.

"How will we know that the soccer future has arrived? A key plot point in The Secret in their Eyes, this year's Academy Award-winning film from Argentina, turns on the police grasping the significance of a suspect's encyclopedic knowledge of the annual rosters of a local professional soccer club. When the same thing can happen in an American film, we will have the answer. If it ever can."