You, my dear friend, are being begrudged your passion. While you were doing your psychic beast to will the United States to a victory on Saturday, while you reveled in the match-ups of Sunday, and even while you sit in a cubicle surreptitiously monitoring streaming videos of Monday's matches, you're being begrudged your soccer. ESPN is bringing you the Cup, but several of their personalities would prefer that weren't the case. Millions are watching the games, but millions more reject it. The U.S.-England match made headlines, and Bob Bradley's team started their World Cup with a half-step towards their goals. Still, the tone from certain quarters is the ridiculous and predictable, like tantrums thrown by toddlers when forced to take a bath.
Waaah, soccer is different and people that don't look or talk like me play it.
As Soccer Politics rightly points out, this dance is neither new nor will it end any differently than it has before. Those of us who appreciate the game will continue to do so, and those with entrenched viewpoints in opposition to a sport will continue to use it as an anti-immigrant, anti-socialist, anti-American straw man. The best thing to do is sigh and move on.
Because this segmentation of the American view of the greater world, of which soccer is an intrinsic part, is hardly notable. This is a big country we live in, with 350 million people sharing the title "American" despite stark differences in cultural upbringing, worldly sensibilities, and our understanding of just what makes any of us "American" to begin with. To believe that there won't always be hold outs, "entrenched" as Soccer Politics labels them, is fantasy. It's equally delusional to think that the entrenched won't always have their champions.
The fight, if we're being honest, is already won. The televisions ratings for this World Cup are justifying ESPN's financial commitment. Our domestic league continues to grow, and even with bumps in the road certain to appear, shouldn't be going anywhere. Our TVs are packed with North American, South American, and European versions of the sport on a weekly basis. None of those things are likely to change.
Which means that the only reason for us to harbor hard feelings when the Glenn Becks and Mike Florios spew forth with nonsensical criticisms is if we're intent on soccer "taking over". If you dream of the day that a soccer match out draws the NFL for television viewers or MLS is dominating headlines in places like ESPN and Sports Illustrated, then perhaps you're angered by the usual suspects taking to their soapboxes and lashing out at your game. If you self-identify as a soccer evangelist, or feel deep down as though you're a member of the Righteous Soccer Army taking on the clueless rubes who deny the sport's brilliance, then Beck, Florio, and the rest probably boil your blood. I suppose it's understandable.
But while you're doing that, letting people whose opinions matter little in the grand scheme or won't have any bearing the future prospects of soccer in America get your proverbial goat, I'll be over here enjoying the games. Fighting that "battle" is not only tilting at windmills, it only leads to maddening frustration. I for one, have taken leave of the proceedings, having learned that soccer's state is solidly one of constant advancement; the only reason to fret is if we believe it's not moving forward fast enough. Considering the environment and the variables, it just as easy to argue the opposite. To be sure, loss of ground simply isn't happening.
Militancy is rarely the answer, and inevitably draws backlash. Not constructive, but destructive.
Soccer's history is rich. Its past is rife with political shadings and cultural significance almost everywhere but here. For some, the game isn't just a sport, but a symbol, its image easily manipulated by those whose sit on both sides of the divide. In America, soccer is often less sport than it is scapegoat or idol.
But try to remember, everyone, that is just a sport. One that isn't going anywhere.
