Mr. Wright
The greatest international competition in the World is coming and guess what. USA and England are in the same group! Don't worry England are going to destroy US of A, why? because we need to punish you yanks for revolting against the English. The biggest stage in the World we will show you how inferior you are.
However, I can't shake the feeling that USA are going to cause an upset. After beating Spain 2-0 and going 2 up in the first half against Brazil I'm hard pressed to be overly arrogant... given I'm an arrogant Englishmen that's saying a lot. At least if USA do beat England no Americans will be gloating the fact because I've noticed Americans don't really care.
Why don't Americans care? It's a cultural thing, there's not enough advertising in the s
port. American football and Baseball have enough breaks were you can hear all the beer and chip commercials you want or in my case don't want to hear. Money is a great motivator. I recommend people who are interested in the history of sports to watch the story of the NY Cosmos. At one time America had the most exciting players in the world and Football (aka soccer) was the most popular sport for spectators in America. At it's height 70,000 plus a game. Then why did it fail? why did the sport die in America? Money. No network wanted to show games because as I mentioned before not enough advertising.
Hopefully the MLS (Major League Soccer(aka Football)) will bring the sport to America. We shall see, but first get ready for an ass kicking in the FIFA or not. Exciting isn't it?
Saw "The story of the NY Cosmos" at E Street and loved it! As a DON (Dullest Old Nothing), I had the good fortune of being around to see those very same Cosmos (Pele, Chinaglia, Beckenbauer, et al.) beat the pants off of my beloved Diplomats on a semi-regular basis at RFK. My all-time favorite, Johan Cruyff, played for us for a while. Great memories!
ReplyDelete1. Every team's kit has a company splayed across its chest. All stadia have a huge rectangle of advertisements around the pitch. That's a lot of advertising in a different way than American sports culture.
ReplyDelete2. FWIW, the MLS is expanding and some teams are, gasp, making money, unlike most of the bigger football clubs in the world. A lot of good a billionaire did Portsmouth, btw.
3. Soccer didn't "fail" in America. It's more like a seed that germinated quickly, but is taking quite a while to root itself. Since Americans have a massive, MASSIVE interest in various sports, then it's hard for a newcomer (soccer) to come into the scene and establish a significant presence. To boot, our best athletes don't concentrate on soccer, so it's difficult to get excited by a watered down crop of players.
4. Lastly, the USofA will finish top of its group :P
1. True we do advertise in different ways but it's a side thing. As soon as the match begins there is no advertising for 45mins then at half time there is a little advertising blah but then second half is another 45mins without advertising. My point was simply in American football, TV stations can advertise more in when the game is on due to the breaks and stoppages in the game. In English Football that isn't the case. I can watch 45mins without being bombarded with crap that doesn't contain the game.
ReplyDelete2. It's not about making money. Damn Americans a lot of good the Redskins money did for them. Biggest sporting franchise in the World and they suck. You should think about teams like Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Barcelona, etc it's not about money it's about entertainment. Many clubs are brought by supporters of the game and invest not for profit but for the entertainment of players they bring to the club.
3. Ugh, the league went bankrupt and English Football fell out of existence in America. I would consider and many others a big fail :)
4. We'll see, the joy of the game is you don't know who's going to win. England and the USA are playing great football so it's should be close. PS I'm putting a bet on USA winning the World Cup.