With a unexpected (but wholly appreciated) lull in workload this last weekend and the weather being so fabulous and all, the roomie and I decided to blow the dust off the ol’ shin guards and kick the soccer ball around for the first time in… well, months. After ages without any physical activity more strenuous than say, walking, the realization that I was atrociously out of shape was painful indeed, but still, just having some fun and getting the blood moving was a good time anyway.
It also got me thinking about the amazing growth of soccer in this country. I remember when I first started playing soccer, in sixth grade or somewhere around there, soccer existed pretty much only as a one-day event in junior-high Physical Education classes. Today, my hometown of Boise has a huge network of soccer clubs, centered around a 20-field, 161-acre complex donated by J.R. Simplot to local soccer organizations.
And its not just Boise… just this last month the U.S. MNT scored a 2-0 victory against archrival Mexico in a completely sold out Columbus Arena, pushing our national team to a ranking of 6th in the world. Sure, Columbus Arena with its 35,000 or so seats is no Estadio Azteca, reigning over Mexico City’s soccer world with games attended by upwards of 114,000 of the faithful; but a sold out national arena for an American soccer game hasn’t been seen since the days of The Pele (and yes, he gets the definite article in front of his name).
Young Americans are swelling the ranks of youth soccer clubs all around the U.S., and the so-called “soccer mom” has a become common enough to establish itself as an American archetype. True, there are many who still say soccer is a sissy game beneath the manliness of American sport, and ESPN *did* drop the Ireland-Cyprus game for something called “baseball,” and I have to admit that football will never be unseated from the lion’s share of media broadcasting (because it stops every fifteen seconds to allow networks to make another hundred million off of commercials), but nay-sayers will have to face a growing truth within the decade: there’s a new American sport in the making, and as the tired, the poor, and the huddled masses yearning to be free come to America, the beautiful game’s world following will ultimately ensure its popular victory.
Soccer next weekend anyone?
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