Soccer Says Goodbye...Again.

The U.S had a decent showing in the World Cup. Again. And they lost to Ghana. Again. So what’s it all mean?

Not a whole hell of a lot, I’m afraid. The World Cup has risen in popularity here over the years, but three days after grabbing the headlines the team returns home after a ho-hum game which, quite honestly, they deserved to lose.

The problem is no one cares enough about the sport’s league (MLS) and teams for soccer to have much impact on America’s sport landscape. Soccer, unlike hockey, is trying to build a fan base in reverse, from the national to the local.

Hockey’s history here allowed it to build at least a reasonable amount of local fans before the craziness of the 1980 Olympics and the subsequent hoopla. Even now there are a substantial amount of people who will watch Olympic hockey and not a second of the NHL.

The same is true for soccer except it’s even worse. With little support for local teams (it is growing) the popularity of the sport seems to be on an eternal four year cycle. Most of the games aren’t on TV, and only occasionally will you see scores/highlights on SportsCenter.

[Oh good, there we go with another bad call in the England/Germany game. Replay anyone?]

Soccer is right on the heels of the NHL in terms of average attendance, and some of teams do quite well (Seattle is averaging over 36,000 per game, but if your alternative was the Mariners you might watch soccer too.) I think that’s going to be the critical mass for the sport - battling the NHL for fourth place - at least until Mexico invades.

Now back to our regularly scheduled sports.

WHITEY CHIMES IN:
How can one be expected to take a sport seriously when the coach is wearing a scarf? Whitey is sure there are people that will point to NFL Films to see Lombardi rocking a scarf, but that was due to the ice all around, and the 50 years of technology that has brought us warmth with thin layers. That was no fashion statement; that was survival. And they wore suits, hats, and ties also. And so did the people in the stands.

The only person Whitey has seen in a scarf besides the English coach was Mick, sitting with former President Clinton at the USA match. Whitey doesn't see Joe Torre rockin' a scarf, or the Zen Master going to ascot and top hat.

That said, England just got rocked by a spry young German squad. They got run off the pitch. Fortunately it's early Sunday, and the American soccer fans have no reason to be dragging on Monday. It's late evening in England, and there will be a smell of ‘still drunk’ if they show up to work at all. That's a bad defeat.

Sorry for the quality on this, but I couldn't resist. Be forewarned, if you double-click on the video you'll be directed to the site on YouTube where this was originally posted - and where there is quite lively commentary.