As an American soccer fan, I'm often frustrated with ESPN's efforts to promote the beautiful game. Despite being the home of MLS and the Champions League (for the time being), the network does little else than air the matches. Soccer's profile on ESPN has been all but nonexistent for years.

Slowly but surely, though, the game is becoming more a part of ESPN's sports portfolio. While MLS and American soccer still get minimal run, the network is now working highlights from around the into their nightly SportsCenter broadcasts.

ESPN is also the American home of the World Cup. This means, that despite the generally apathy they have towards soccer, every four years they have a vested interest in pushing the sport and the event. 2010 will be no exception, and the "Worldwide Leader" has announced that effort for South Africa 2010 will be their "biggest marketing campaign ever".

I guess this is good news, though I'm not quite sure what to make of it. The context of the statement is unclear: will it be ESPN's biggest marketing campaign ever as a network, or just for the sport of soccer?

Either way, the first thing ESPN needs to do is find a few SportsCenter anchors who won't ruin soccer highlights with snarky comments or horribly butchered pronunciations. I'll be interested to see if any of the World Cup buzz bleeds over to MLS, even just a little bit, especially if the network starts their campaign early enough in 2010 that the American league is the only game in town until the tournament.

I also expect a major backlash from the soccerphobes. That'll be fun.