This article in USAToday tackles something I’ve heard countless times before: Why aren’t Americans frothing mad over soccer like the rest of the world? From listening to the morning BBC podcast — and from conversations with Europeans, in general — the rest of the world is seriously bothered as to why we just aren’t going apeshit about the sport. Especially since we fielded a decent team at the start of the cup games.
Perhaps they see it as another example of American arrogance. It is a view I’ve heard repeated, but still can’t wrap my head around: we’re the Ugly Americans because we don’t like what you do as much as you do. Um, no.
Brits, in particular, love to hate American sports, particularly baseball, which they tend to find boring and childish, and football, where they tend to focus on the padding and the fat lineman. Of course, that’s just a generalization gleaned from drinking with British people. Perhaps they feel differently sober.
Both of those sports, like soccer, have their own unique thrills, strategies and athletic standards.
Speaking for all Americans: Soccer is a fine game, we’re just not that into it, sorry. It has something to do with culture and a lot to do with market share, somewhat.
The fact is, we tried to like soccer. Honestly, we did. As a child, I remember Pele being a big star. He was even in a movie with Stallone. (Hey, it was the 80s, and Stallone was culturally relevant, honestly!. If you were in a movie with Stallone in the 90s, it just meant that you were Rob Schneider.)
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