The Drubbing

105 million viewers watched the Colts and the Saints go at it in Super Bowl 44.

116 million viewed the Yanks and Phillies during their 6 game battles in the World Series in 09.

About 120 million viewed the 7 games the Celts and Lakers played in 2010, with over 18 million viewing game 7.

700 million viewed the World Cup Final live worldwide in 2006.  700, and…Get this…

The 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany had a total cumulative television audience of 26.29 billion (24.2 billion in-home and 2.1 billion out-of-home viewers).

That’s a B as in Billion.

So when I’m asked why I’m a soccer guy, I honestly don’t really know why.  Just always have been.  Always will be.  My dad played basketball and swam in college and my mom can cook.  I don’t think they had competitive eating when my moms was a youngin’, you just always finished your plate.  I just had a knack for soccer.  I played other sports and excelled in them as well it was the game of soccer that had a spell on me.  So this is my time of year…well my time every 4 years.

The Beautiful Game.  Futbol. Football. Soccer.  Whatever you call it, it’s the sport of the world proven by the outrageous global stats of viewing and playing and now its time for it to shine during the World Cup.

An estimated 3.5 billion have some interest in football, either playing or watching it.

Again, that’s a B as in Billion.

Now in the United States that’s hard to grasp since you hear about soccer being popular but no one really believes it or sees it.  How many times have we heard that soccer is the fastest growing sport in the US?  But do we see it happening?  Not really.  It’s still left in the dust to football, baseball and basketball.  But all you have to do in the next few weeks is turn on the TV and you’ll see that it’s pretty popular.  Bigger than Yao Ming in China.  Bigger than LeBron in Akron.  And oh yes…bigger than Jordan in Chicago.

I have three reasons why football, yes the real football, is not popular in the US.  Now I have nothing against people thinking the way they want, just get your facts straight before you open your pie hole.

6'7" Jan Koller. If you couldn't figure it out, he's on the right.

1. Soccer is soft and not physical.
I’ve heard this my whole life and career from non-soccer players.  In part it’s true.  I was 5’9″, 150 in my playing days.  I’m pretty sure any NFL player would destroy me.  In THEIR sport.  We’re used to American football.  Barbarians on the gridiron and big, large men that can kill you with a single blow.  I’m not doubting their ability to do so, but comparing me and the beautiful game to these freakishly large men is a little below the belt.  Soccer is not made for short bursts of power every 3-4 seconds.  It’s not built for more weight and power the better.  Don’t get me wrong some soccer players are big men in their own right.  Sol Campbell, 6-3, 200. Oguchi Onyewu, 6-4, 215.  Jan Koller, 6-7, 225.  Now that’s not the same as Ray Lewis, 6-1, 250 or mighty mite Shaun Rodgers at 6-4, 350 but it’s a different goal of the sport.  A different training.  Soccer players don’t just do a 40m dash, play for 3-4 second bursts, get TV timeouts or get breaks for offense and defense.  They run multiple 30-40 yard dashes during a game while also maintaining 90 plus minutes of endurance while always playing offense and defense at all times.  Try just jogging for 90 minutes with a 10 minute break in between just one time.  Now put that into a game situation where you’re sprinting, tracking players of your same skill level and where one lapse in speed, endurance or mental accuracy can cost you a game.

The 6-3, 200, Campbell, a premier striker in his day, had one of his sprints clocked once at 22.50mph.  Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt’s record setting 100m was clocked at a top speed of 24.04mph.  And i’m pretty sure he had to keep running and playing.  Not just one sprint and you get a break for even 2 minutes.  Little English striker Michael Owen once ran a sub 10sec 100m but also run a 5k in under 16 minutes.  Speed. Endurance. Skill.

I think. I broke. My face.

Its not just the endurance and speed though, its physical.  It’s not the full on baby calf like tackling we’re used to in American football but you have physical play in soccer.  Tackling, grabbing, pushing, shoving and shoulder to shoulder on the ball play.  It’s tears apart your core and lower body since its all done with your feet but if you’re not strong up top you’ll get pushed right off the ball.  Keep the ball in possession while keeping balanced and moving while you’re pushed and kicked by opponents.  If you go down and the whistle doesn’t blow you keep playing.  You don’t go into a huddle or get subbed out.  You keep going.

I also think the growing problem with diving gives soccer a rep that it is soft.  Players go down holding their leg as if it was just broken and their up running on it after 20 seconds.  A player gets hit in the leg with a cleat and he holds his face while having a seizure on the ground.  These players are showing disrespect to the game just like the same actors in American football and basketball.  I’ve seen Kobe get hit and it looks like he’s dying from the foul or Derek Fisher flop on a charge.  I’ve seen Peyton Manning go down on his own for a sack so he wouldn’t get hit.  It’s a problem in every sport just on different levels, except for you Aussie Rules Football guys.  You’re real men *cough*and psychos*cough*.

See? Awkward.

2. Feet.
We’re not born doing things with our feet unless we’re Christy Brown.  We learn to crawl on our hands before we walk on our feet.  We play with rattles and suck on our hands as infants.  We throw things before we kick things.  It’s awkward for us to do.  Soccer is probably the only sport where 99% of play is done by your feet.  Basketball, baseball and football are all played 99% of the time with our hands.  Tennis (big and small) and hockey are an extension of our hands. Horseshoes, disc golf (my new guilty pleasure), bowling, darts, checkers, chess, rowing, gymnastics, curling and boxing. Hands, hands, hands…well you get the point.

It’s hard for those brought up in America, where soccer isn’t very big, to get used to doing something that is the exact opposite of what Dad may have taught us.  Throw and catch the ball.  Don’t kick it because kickers aren’t football players.  That’s for you Mark Schlereth.

3. We’re America. We’re always the best.
We have this mindset in America that we’re the best.  The most powerful nation.  The richest.  The best.  Now in some ways that may be true and in other ways it’s a bit ego driven.  In the MLB, NFL and NBA they call their champions the “World Champions”.  Isn’t that a little ego driven?  Are they really the world champs or just the champs of the US made league?

Did the USA win the World Baseball Classic last year?   Nope. Or in 2006? No.

Do we win the Ryder Cup every time?   Nada.  Actually since it went to the Europe vs. US format in ’79, Europe has one more title than we.

Did we win the gold in the 2004 Olympics or the 2006 World Championship of basketball?  Not close and the 2008 Gold medal basketball game wasn’t a cakewalk either considering Spain had only 4 NBA players on their roster and it was a 4 point game with 2 minutes left.

I actually reread articles about the 2008 Olympic Gold medal win by the US men’s basketball team and many writers stated that, “Order was restored in international basketball.”  Huh? Order?

Right in front of global power Serbia

The simple fact is the US soccer team is not on par with the rest of the world and honestly, that pisses us off.  We don’t like that.  We don’t like being second best.  We have to win.  I love the Olympics but the US has to win the most medals in all Olympic Games.  We love seeing the medal count of the US having more total medals even though in 2008 China had 15 more golds than we did.  All we saw was total medals.  We have to be the best at everything.  Well we’re not in soccer.  We’re 14^th in the world according to FIFA rankings.  Not 2^nd.  Not 4^th.  Not even top 10.

So when you’re watching the World Cup in all its glory for the next couple weeks don’t nitpick the diving or acting on the field, don’t think its wimpy or soft, don’t think it’s stupid not to use your hands and don’t think we’re the best and get your hopes up that the US will go far.  Soccer IS the world’s game and billions of people from every nation and country are watching just like you.  You have something in common with almost half the people on earth.  That’s pretty amazing when you think about it.

We’re one of the 3 plus billion and we’re all watching the same game.

That’s a B as in Beautiful.