I read this article, 7 Reasons Why America Will Never Embrace Soccer, long ago. Go ahead and read it, the author is pretty reasonable and thoughtful (this isn't another why soccer sucks/is gay article). Funny enough, some of the reasons listed are also the same reasons I don't embrace the american sports (or at least the way it's organized, viewed and worshipped in America). Reasons like:
Americans Don't Have The Attention Span and Low Scores - just too bad, it's their loss. Especially when it comes to low scores, how American Football artificially inflates its score by awarding a touchdown by 6 points. bah.
Lack of Statistics - The author mentioned that "Being able to rattle off batting, FG, or QB ratings bring joy to millions of Americans. In soccer, the only real stats are passes, tackles, goals, and saves ... the stats simply aren’t as meaningful nor interesting as other mainstream American sports." This is the same thing that frightens me whenever I tried to take a look at a popular american sport. I mean turnover rates, rushed yards - what the fuck is that? It's like every single player is measured by the statistics of their performance, it's scary. That's why I love Soccer because the statistics don't matter. Heck the only numbers that matter is the number of goals and who win or lose, that's it, simple.So instead of statistics, I can enjoy the performance and artistry of players like Messi, Kaka, Ronaldo, etc. That's why it's called the beautiful game. But I guess many typical american sports fans can't appreciate the beauty of the sports, confuses it with "gay" and would rather spend their time obsessing over meaningless statistics.
But other than that I'd also like to add a few more on why it's hard for me to embrace the american sports.
Franchise - the dreaded, ugly F-word by many soccer fans everywhere. There's a good reason why many soccer teams are called Club, that's because most soccer club are indeed started as community, local based sports club. With that, it brings a sense of loyalty and belonging for many local communities. Even big clubs like Barcelona and Bayern Munich are owned by fans. In america, most sports teams in NBA, NFL, MLB are owned by some rich billionaires or corporations and they are always operated as a money making machine first and a sports team second.
While most of them are rooted in their host city long enough to form strong local attachments and identity, it's possible and perfectly acceptable to see teams move around from one part of the country to another, as can be seen from the recent move of Seattle Supersonics to Oklahoma or even the fact that SF Giants were originally from NY, just because the Franchise or its owner needs it (usually for monetary reasons). Just to illustrate the difference, recently English club Everton FC which is based in Liverpool had a very hard time convincing its supporters to move to a new stadium to just outskirt of the city even though the move is necessary for the club growth; that's how strong the local attachment is to the club. Attachment is important, I know people who have been supporting Liverpool non-stop since their 70s/80s glory days even if they have never been there. How could that happen? That's because Liverpool has a long and glorious history and part of that history is always rooted locally in Liverpool even as the name grows more and more global. Could you imagine Liverpool FC moving out of city of Liverpool and taking their history with them? It would be unthinkable and would cause a great uproar. Speaking of Liverpool FC, it's owned by 2 american owners who have tried to operate it like a franchise and look at how they're treated by the fans.
That's why it's so hard for me to root for any sports team in America. Last time I supported a team was The Chicago Bulls during the Michael Jordan era and once he's gone, I'm gone too (and so does many other s0-called "fans"). The only team I can support is my college teams (Go Bears) because that's where I went to school and I have attachment and I know that Cal has been around for 140 years or so and won't move anywhere, that's probably the closest to a US sports team that I can support.
But other than that I'd also like to add a few more on why it's hard for me to embrace the american sports.
Franchise - the dreaded, ugly F-word by many soccer fans everywhere. There's a good reason why many soccer teams are called Club, that's because most soccer club are indeed started as community, local based sports club. With that, it brings a sense of loyalty and belonging for many local communities. Even big clubs like Barcelona and Bayern Munich are owned by fans. In america, most sports teams in NBA, NFL, MLB are owned by some rich billionaires or corporations and they are always operated as a money making machine first and a sports team second.
While most of them are rooted in their host city long enough to form strong local attachments and identity, it's possible and perfectly acceptable to see teams move around from one part of the country to another, as can be seen from the recent move of Seattle Supersonics to Oklahoma or even the fact that SF Giants were originally from NY, just because the Franchise or its owner needs it (usually for monetary reasons). Just to illustrate the difference, recently English club Everton FC which is based in Liverpool had a very hard time convincing its supporters to move to a new stadium to just outskirt of the city even though the move is necessary for the club growth; that's how strong the local attachment is to the club. Attachment is important, I know people who have been supporting Liverpool non-stop since their 70s/80s glory days even if they have never been there. How could that happen? That's because Liverpool has a long and glorious history and part of that history is always rooted locally in Liverpool even as the name grows more and more global. Could you imagine Liverpool FC moving out of city of Liverpool and taking their history with them? It would be unthinkable and would cause a great uproar. Speaking of Liverpool FC, it's owned by 2 american owners who have tried to operate it like a franchise and look at how they're treated by the fans.
That's why it's so hard for me to root for any sports team in America. Last time I supported a team was The Chicago Bulls during the Michael Jordan era and once he's gone, I'm gone too (and so does many other s0-called "fans"). The only team I can support is my college teams (Go Bears) because that's where I went to school and I have attachment and I know that Cal has been around for 140 years or so and won't move anywhere, that's probably the closest to a US sports team that I can support.
Salary Cap and Draft - Two things that stereotypical americans love about their country is 1) it's a Free country and 2) Football. Yet, ironically, the rules of players transfers and salaries in NFL (and NBA, MLB, MLS) are designed to make each franchises in the league more or less "balanced" to prevent a dominant team and to prevent players salary from spiralling out of control. The way they do that is by making a needlessly confusing draft and salary cap system that would impress Communists (and americans who love statistics). In soccer leagues in europe, it's more like a free market capitalism where the richest clubs can buy whatever talents it wants and therefore we always see the same group of clubs win the trophies each year. Now of course, as I mentioned earlier, there are pros and cons of both systems which are almost opposite of each other. But I just find it ironic that the current transfer rules and regulations in NFL etc is far less "free" than the soccer ones in europe. But hey, don't take my word for it, in 2007, Nick Saban, then head coach of Miami Dolphins in NFL moved to coach University of Alabama in college football. One reason for his switch (besides being made the highest paid college football coach) is that the recruiting system is more free in college. In a recent Forbes magazine article, he's quoted as saying: "You were almost penalized for success," he says. A good year meant lower draft picks and a more difficult schedule. "In the NFL you get one first-round draft pick if you're lucky," says Saban. "You couldn't really outwork anybody else. In college I could recruit ten players with first-round talent every year." Again another plus points for college sports system.
Now, I'm not saying that soccer leagues are always better. There's a lot of grey areas. There are fan owned sports team in US too like Green Bay Packers. Given the recent takeovers of English Premier Leagues clubs by rich peoples like Roman Abramovich (Chelsea), Abu Dhabi Group (Manchester City), Gillet and Hicks (Liverpool FC) and given the spiralling wages of many top football players, the top soccer clubs start to look more and more like american style Franchise as well. But I still can't embrace the US sports after living there for over 6 years. I guess it's just down to the way the world thinks vs the way americans think. I still refuse to change from Metric system to US measurement units (miles, yard, foot, pound etc). As long as this differences in thinking exist, I probably will not embrace the american sports and americans will never embrace Football.
Now, I'm not saying that soccer leagues are always better. There's a lot of grey areas. There are fan owned sports team in US too like Green Bay Packers. Given the recent takeovers of English Premier Leagues clubs by rich peoples like Roman Abramovich (Chelsea), Abu Dhabi Group (Manchester City), Gillet and Hicks (Liverpool FC) and given the spiralling wages of many top football players, the top soccer clubs start to look more and more like american style Franchise as well. But I still can't embrace the US sports after living there for over 6 years. I guess it's just down to the way the world thinks vs the way americans think. I still refuse to change from Metric system to US measurement units (miles, yard, foot, pound etc). As long as this differences in thinking exist, I probably will not embrace the american sports and americans will never embrace Football.
