At 2:30pm Eastern time, the last semifinal match of the 2010 World Cup will commence. The match is between Germany and Spain. Both teams have highly skilled players. I have been trying to watch as much of the World Cup as I can, but I find it hard because I work all day Monday-Friday. I took today off because I am feeling some after effects of heat exhaustion that I acquired yesterday as a result of working in 100 degree+ heat all day. So due to all of this, I will finally be able to see one of the midweek Football (Soccer) matches. The one coming up today is shaping up to be a good one (according to ESPN). This got me thinking about how much I really cared about the sport. Just like many young children, I played when I was too young to make my own decisions. As the years passed by, I became very bored of it. I didn't understand why anyone would enjoy running up and down a field over and over again with a small possibility of touching the ball for a split second and even less of a possibility of scoring a goal.
Now with all the hype on TV, I have become infatuated with the sport as I was when I played it. It seems to me that many Americans share the same feelings towards soccer as I do. I know, I know, its not commonly called soccer in many places other than the USA, but I am American so that is what I will call it. By the way, I recently found out the origins of the word soccer is actually a "colloquial abbreviation" or a shortened version of Association Football (the more worldwide accepted title). Back to America though. Here, we have many athletes and fans of all different sport arenas. Baseball is considered our nation's pastime. Football (American) is another popular sport in the states right along with NASCAR. It seems to me that Americans don't care nearly as much about any one particular sport than the rest of the world collectively cares about soccer. I never understood why this phenomenon happened until I though more in depth about it.
Let's break it down a bit. According to FIFA.com, there are over 200 teams that participate in world class soccer. 202 to be exact. Many of these teams represent an entire country but not all of them do. This accounts for the majority of countries in the world. How many other countries participate in NASCAR? None. How many participate in American Football? None. How many participate in Baseball? A few, but nowhere close to 200. People play soccer in America but in my interpretation, it appears that we only do it because other countries around the world do it. It sounds silly but there is an amount of international peer pressure going on here. The United States is saying, "Hey if all these other places are playing soccer, we probably should to." It is not in our American nature to be left out. Some of you might be saying, "well maybe we play it because we are a country that has been created by mixing all these other soccer fueled cultures together and we do it because our ancestors used to." No. This is not the reason. If that were the case, we would be more enthralled in soccer all the time instead of the, once-every-four-years-when-the-world-cup-is-on fan, which most Americans are. Soccer sheds light on numerous foreign cultures that, for the most part, would not be seen by many Americans. What we know as foreign culture is formulated by things we consume from media and how our minds interpret them. Also Americans are businesspeople. Soccer is a business that is worth millions and is celebrated internationally. There is an inconceivable amount of money to be made. Merchandise sales and advertising sales make up only a fraction of the total soccer revenue. In relation to advertising sales, television and radio coverage takes up a good portion of the the respective markets (television more than radio).
I have deductively come up with 4 reasons why Americans jump on the soccer bandwagon during the World Cup. Number 1) Americans don't like to feel left out therefore there is the international peer pressure factor. Number 2) Americans are a intrigued and maybe a bit jealous when it comes to foreign cultures. Number 3) Merchandising and advertising. Number 4) ESPN and other sports news programs cover the World Cup more than entertainment news covered the death of Michael Jackson (humor ensues). It is impossible to avoid all the publicity.
Yes, we have a national team, and yes, they are fairly good in the international standings (currently 14th?), but that does not mean we, as a nation, care about it as England does for example. Our team isn't good because we have a whole nation supporting them. I never even know when they are playing unless it is World Cup season. Our team is good because we have a large and extremely talented bunch of athletes to draw from and we have great facilities to train and play in. We also have excellent sports medicine doctors that can treat injured players. Obviously we are going to better than places like Palestine and Papua New Guinea (no offense of course).
In the sporting world, the US has many things going for them that other places do not. I think we should fess up for misleading the rest of the world in thinking that we embody soccer as they do. We have a decent team because all of our soccer planets have aligned (for lack of a better phrase). We have a perfect environment for breeding soccer players. But I digress. When it comes time for the World Cup every four years, Americans jump on the soccer bandwagon. It happens every time the tournament does. No matter how well the USA team does, and no matter how little soccer matters to us individually, many of us still follow the tournament all the way through to the final whistle in the championship match. This is yet another day as an American who only follows soccer when the World Cup happens.
Now it is time for me to watch the Germany vs. Spain match. After the final match this Saturday we can all go back to our normal American lives without soccer being a part.
No comments:
Post a Comment