the World Cup
The World Cup starts today..this weekend...maybe next week...anyway, soon. For those of you that don't know, it has something to do with soccer.
I was reading the paper this morning, and the sports page is all over it. There are articles about how World Cup Soccer has turned the corner in the U.S. People care now. It's turning into the big deal the rest of the world thinks it is.
Did something just blow by me? Did we have a soccer revolution revelation and I just missed it? Did the important soccer tour bus just skip J'ville or something? I'm not buying it for a second. America simply doesn't give a rat's patootie about the World Cup. I'm not saying that's right. I'm not saying soccer isn't a cool sport. The youngster loved playing it before he ran into baseball, and he still likes to kick a ball around. It certainly takes a helluva lot more athleticism and skill than driving NASCAR, or playing golf. Note to Tony Stewart: You certainly can't get through a quarter of a soccer game with a broken shoulder. Note to John Daly and Lumpy Herron: oh never mind. Stand either of them next to a soccer player...any soccer player and you can get that picture without the note. For whatever reason though, soccer just doesn't grab our attention, no matter how the marketers and media moguls of the world keep pushing it at us. All that said, I won't debate the percentage of Americans watching the World Cup will grow from the last time it was held. The increase might be more than 100%, up from 2% to...oh at least 5. Holding an impromptu poll in my workplace. Three of twenty people (and I cheated...I asked the Indians) knew the World Cup was being played and two of them knew where. None of the twenty knew who the U.S. was playing first. Even the Indian guys were no help there. When I asked any of them to name a player on the U.S. team, the closest guess I got was Mia Hamm.
So, what corner did we turn? I don't think it was a very significant one.
I was reading the paper this morning, and the sports page is all over it. There are articles about how World Cup Soccer has turned the corner in the U.S. People care now. It's turning into the big deal the rest of the world thinks it is.
Did something just blow by me? Did we have a soccer revolution revelation and I just missed it? Did the important soccer tour bus just skip J'ville or something? I'm not buying it for a second. America simply doesn't give a rat's patootie about the World Cup. I'm not saying that's right. I'm not saying soccer isn't a cool sport. The youngster loved playing it before he ran into baseball, and he still likes to kick a ball around. It certainly takes a helluva lot more athleticism and skill than driving NASCAR, or playing golf. Note to Tony Stewart: You certainly can't get through a quarter of a soccer game with a broken shoulder. Note to John Daly and Lumpy Herron: oh never mind. Stand either of them next to a soccer player...any soccer player and you can get that picture without the note. For whatever reason though, soccer just doesn't grab our attention, no matter how the marketers and media moguls of the world keep pushing it at us. All that said, I won't debate the percentage of Americans watching the World Cup will grow from the last time it was held. The increase might be more than 100%, up from 2% to...oh at least 5. Holding an impromptu poll in my workplace. Three of twenty people (and I cheated...I asked the Indians) knew the World Cup was being played and two of them knew where. None of the twenty knew who the U.S. was playing first. Even the Indian guys were no help there. When I asked any of them to name a player on the U.S. team, the closest guess I got was Mia Hamm.
So, what corner did we turn? I don't think it was a very significant one.
John put this out here at 10:10 AM
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