Say what you will about American sports, but...

[JayKeeley]

Yeah the award votes were added 30 minutes before the incident.

By the way, I'm pretty impressed with the WC coverage this year and general acceptance:

-- each game televised live on either ABC or ESPN
-- NY Times media coverage, including front page(!) updates
-- increased televised viewings by 180% (compared to '02)
-- Being in NYC, watching it at the EPSN zone in Times Square, or seeing the crowds in Little Italy or Boston watching the final on the big screen

I think as the US team gets better, the crowds will come. There is potential. Perhaps the US team needs to play better teams in the "off season" instead of the usual carribean countries and wot not. They should venture out and play exhibition games against Ireland, Italy, South Korea, Sweden, etc especially where those migrants might also live in the USA...

 

[lizard]

and you soccer haters must HATE it that ESPN/ABCs ratings were like 180% higher for this world cup than four years ago. It means soccer is growing and growing, like a cancerous lump in your forehead, and you can pretend it doesn't exist but there's a reason why you no longer can wear a sun visor, and yet still get shade for your face!

IT'S ALIIIIIIIIIIVE!! and all the more startling considering the US was eliminated early.

 

[J.]

i blame bush

 

[lizard]

LOL

 

[dorian gray]

soccer has been huge here since i was a kid in the 80s. i dont know what you guys are talking about. our national team just sucks because players (ie, me) get tired of playing when theres almost no potential to go past high school (college soccer? come on, theres like 12 fans at every game) and the development leagues and MLS are a joke.
then again, i think we suck just because we well......suck.

 

[Reign in Acai]

When will you guys quit jabbing on like a bunch of maids over this pseudo sport? Espn's ratings may be on the rise, but Royal Carnage page views are plummeting by the hour.

 

[General Zod]

K. I saw there was a home run contest recently. Found that weird. How important is this?

Completely meaningless. It's just for shits and giggles.

Zod

 

[JayKeeley]

soccer has been huge here since i was a kid in the 80s. i dont know what you guys are talking about. our national team just sucks because players (ie, me) get tired of playing when theres almost no potential to go past high school (college soccer? come on, theres like 12 fans at every game) and the development leagues and MLS are a joke.

No joke, that's the most poignant thing you've said in all these world cup debates thus far.

then again, i think we suck just because we well......suck.

It will take generations to build that same level of "flare" that the argentinians or brazillians have....but I do believe that the US team could start competing with some of the European teams (by means of simple stamina, strength, speed).

Thing is, even if you have all those attributes, you still need HEART. And this year, the US team lacked heart, the desire to win. Maybe with a new coach this can change.

An ex-English player recently said that the England manager (Eriksson) was so lame in the half time speeches, where they needed a morale boost, they got silence. Where they needed Winston fucking Churchill, they got Ferris Beuller's teacher.

Beckham? Beckham?...... zzzzzzzzzzzz *snores*

 

[General Zod]

I think as the US team gets better, the crowds will come.

If you want to see the popularity of soccer rise in the US, you need the following three things to happen:

1. The US to to reach the semi-finals, if not the finals
2. The year the US reaches the semis or finals, you need for the games to be played in a timezone where we can watch the games. The fact that most of the games were played during work hours, hurt how many people watched in the US. Obviously, this isn't a huge concern for the international audience, but we're speculating on the rise of soccer in the US.
3. A player who is easily recognizable; a Mia Hamm, a Michael Jordan, a Tiger Woods, etc.

If all three of these things come together, in a perfect storm, I think you'll see the popularity rise 10 fold in the US.

There is potential. Perhaps the US team needs to play better teams in the "off season" instead of the usual carribean countries and wot not. They should venture out and play exhibition games against Ireland, Italy, South Korea, Sweden, etc especially where those migrants might also live in the USA...

I disagree on this point. Betting on soccer to gain in popularity, during a non-World Cup year, is not a bet I'd take. This needs on the world stage.

Zod

 

[JayKeeley]

If you want to see the popularity of soccer rise in the US, you need the following three things to happen:

1. The US to to reach the semi-finals, if not the finals
2. The year the US reaches the semis or finals, you need for the games to be played in a timezone where we can watch the games. The fact that most of the games were played during work hours, hurt how many people watched in the US. Obviously, this isn't a huge concern for the international audience, but we're speculating on the rise of soccer in the US.

Yep.

3. A player who is easily recognizable; a Mia Hamm, a Michael Jordan, a Tiger Woods, etc.

This is tricky. In a nutshell, the MLS sucks. There's no incentive to play in that league. So all the best players play in European leagues. Therefore they do become recognizable, just not to the US general public.

If there was a US player with the same status potential as Beckham, Zidane, Ronaldo, etc, he'd be playing overseas.

I disagree on this point. Betting on soccer to gain in popularity, during a non-World Cup year, is not a bet I'd take. This needs on the world stage.

Right, but the US team will improve once they start playing against the bigger teams (regardless of who's watching). I think this is a benefit for the team more so than the viewing audience. Does that make sense?

 

[cthulufhtagn]

I think he got bonus points for that headbut well from me anyway

word

fuckin italians

 

[dorian gray]

32 stars for JayKeeley on this page. I agree with everything he said.

But, hey, I don't think anyone's mentioned the women's US team yet. Dont they have 2 WC championships under their belt, as well as the worlds all-time leading scorer (mens OR womens)? Not that this has any effect on fanship overall but just something to discuss

(in fact, i recall a couple years ago some folks pointing out that the womens team lost a huge number of potential fans by ignoring the tween and teen set)

 

[lizard]

really? I thought the whole appeal of the womens' team was to girls...I mean, there must have been 500032345252224557 poster of Mia Hamm sold, am i rite.

but it proves one thing, americans might get it up for the world cup, but they need viagra for the intervening three years. Remember all the hype about how the womens professional soccer league was going to empower young girls and blah blah blah until it collapsed.

 

[General Zod]

This is tricky. In a nutshell, the MLS sucks. There's no incentive to play in that league. So all the best players play in European leagues. Therefore they do become recognizable, just not to the US general public. If there was a US player with the same status potential as Beckham, Zidane, Ronaldo, etc, he'd be playing overseas.

Agreed. However, since his celebrity would need to transcend soccer, it wouldn't be necessary that his fame be built on accomplishments in MLS (no one watches it anyway). I'm talking about someone who is clearly an elite talent, attractive, controversial, and banging JLo or some such silly pop celebrity.

Zod

 

[dorian gray]

where do i get an application?

 

[JayKeeley]

We saw Field of Dreams last night. The wife was sniffling and I was definitely choked up a little.

You don't even have to like baseball to appreciate that film. Or perhaps if you do like baseball, you appreciate the film even more? My goodness, that film can make grown men weep like kittens burning in a potato sack.

If you build it, they will come

go the distance

ease his pain

 

[J.]

Field of Dreams is amazing.

did you know that ESPN voted for the best sports movies of all time, and that the winner was............HOOSIERS!

Football - Friday Night Lights; Any Given Sunday; Rudy
Baseball - Field of Dreams; Major League; For the Love of the Game; The Natural
Basketball - Hoosiers
Soccer - Bend it like Beckham; Ladybugs

 

[JayKeeley]

Bend it Like Beckham was more about dirty hindus than it was football.

But seriously, Field of Dreams totally increases my respect for Kevin Costner. I had him pegged for shit like robin hood, the postman and waterworld...he was great in this.

 

[Dark One]

But seriously, Field of Dreams totally increases my respect for Kevin Costner. I had him pegged for shit like robin hood, the postman and waterworld...he was great in this.

The Untouchables was fantastic as well.

 

[Doom]

The only good film I can think of about football was that film about WWII and the guys trying to escape from a POW camp, the one with fucken Sly Stallone in it, hahaha. I remember liking that when I was very young so in reality it's probably really shit.