Head go boom.
I find myself regularly saying something like "You'll know soccer is big in American when..." with various endings to the statement. Some of them relate to the media, others to the general public's view of soccer, and every now and then I'll have one specifically on MLS or the USMNT.
Why I never thought to write a post with all of the "You'll know it when" thoughts, I have no idea. But here I am, so let's do this.
All of these, if and when they happen, will be indicators that soccer, our league, and our National Team are at a previously unreached level. Or they're just mildly amusing.
I put this out on Twitter as well, so I'm including responses from there with proper credit given.
You'll know soccer is in America big when...
...MLS players other than David Beckham are hounded by TMZ (this is stolen directly from @jrodius).
...Sportscenter anchors narrate highlights without any hint of snarkiness.
...those same guys avoid hockey terms when talking about soccer.
...sports talk radio hosts discuss soccer stories regularly.
...Jim Rome's head explodes because of the previous.
...the ranks of the biggest sports star in the US include Europeans who aren't over 30.
...rappers are sporting the latest soccer jerseys.
...MLS no longer needs single-entity.
...Dan Shaughnessy writes a book on the Revs called "Curse of the Bachelor" (courtesy of Ginge)
...Google sponsors an MLS club (@wvhooligan)
...people refer to it as football. (@mellows)
...it's big in Canada. (@RWhittall)
...high schools start focusing more on Soccer in the athletics than Football. (@Bruno43)
...an Italian shuns the Azzuri to play for the USMNT. (@Eric_Howell)
...Budweiser redoes its age-old Bud Bowl for the MLS Cup, renaming it the Bud Cup. (@stoehrst)
...'Arry Redknapp makes an MLS club financially implode. (@stoehrst again)
...the national obesity rate goes down by a few percentage points. (@SoccerMontreal)
...there is a goal setup on the white house lawn. (@jasonseas) (apparently this has happened at least once)
...Americans decide to watch the champions league final instead of the Yankees-Mets game. (@mattpricewc2010)
...you can see more than one MLS game a week on basic cable. (@benuski)
...fans are making videos like this about MLS teams.
...Americans in top 5 European leagues are getting left off USMNT rosters.
...the MLS draft moves to Radio City Music Hall. (@jasongatties)
...our best centerback can actually get paid to play in Italy. (@MHaaskivi)
...there's a daily soccer radio show hosted by people with American accents.
...atheletes like Kobe Bryant, Lebron James and Michael Vick choose it as a career. (@jrodius)
...American kids dream about the MLS Cup as much as they do the Super Bowl or World Series.
...the average MLS salary reaches mid-six figures.
I could do this all day, and Twitter was certainly blowing up with responses. Can't take them all though, right? Let's go people...give it your best shot.
