BY DHEERAJ RAVI

In print | May 1, 2008

I’ve never really thought about why the world’s most popular sport never took off in this country. Having just watched the Manchester Utd. — Barcelona match, I feel like everyone could appreciate the beauty of the game. In fact, I truly pity those without a passion for this game. I’ve recently thought about this issue a lot, but still can’t come up with anything concrete. Below are some of my musings and the voice inside my head agrees.

SOCCER IS BORING! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that before. Ok, so I guess this is a relative statement as I’m sure many of you compare it with sports like American football, basketball, and … baseball (which is probably as boring as a 5-day cricket test match). Fine, I could see how basketball is intense because you’re constantly either attacking or defending and some of the passes, plays and dunks are so sick to watch. I could also see how American football is an attractive sport, but I’ve never really been much of a fan of stop-start sports (that’s why volleyball gets boring after a while, because there isn’t much room for individual creativity).

Another question I have is if soccer is considered “boring,” then why are sports like golf, tennis, NASCAR and bowling pretty popular? (ESPN devotes much more time to these sports than soccer … and the MLS doesn’t count.) No, soccer is definitely not boring. Before saying that, you should probably watch a game or two. If you are free/want to enjoy 90 minutes, watch a match between two entertaining sides (Man Utd vs. Barca, for instance). It is one of the hardest games to learn because it involves using your legs (come to think of it, not many sports that are popular in American use legs apart from running), which are much harder to control than your hands.

And it’s not like the effort isn’t there. Nike has spent piles of money trying to increase the popularity of the game, but have they been doing it right? Back in the 70s, Pelé played for the New York Cosmos in the National American Soccer League and pundits predicted that he would revolutionize the way Americans thought about soccer. He didn’t. People here don’t really know who he is or what he’s done for the game. Back to the present, we are repeating our mistake by naming David Beckham (not even close to as good as Pelé was) and people are predicting that he will change the game. How is one single person going to change conceptions when he is living big in Hollywood, especially if the American people don’t know about his background? He and his wife will definitely take up space in newspapers (why do I call them newspapers — more like hogwash mixed with drivel).

But honestly, the problem is with our culture. We are very individualistically oriented about many things (not that it’s a bad thing, just a different way of thinking about your place in this world). Having never lived in this country before I came for college, I’ve noticed Americans, or at least those most influenced by the consumerist machine that engulfs us all, have very different mentalities and thought processes as compared to more interdependent cultures (I know this is a very simplistic assessment but bear with me). In these cultures, family relationships are of primary importance. The ability to incorporate others around you in your self-definition is unheard of in many individualistic societies. This may be a reason why sports like rugby and soccer are much more appealing in other parts of the world (Latin America, Africa, Asia, okay, Europe’s an exception because it is fairly individualistic). Sure, there’s basketball, which is popular in America, but it’s also very popular around the world (there’s a reason why America didn’t get gold in Athens at the 2004 Olympics!). And some may claim that sports like American football and baseball are team sports, but are they really? Baseball usually involves two or three players at most in any play. The stop-start aspect of football undermines claims that it’s a team sport because much more strategy and precision is involved (i.e. setting up plays, time-outs, etc.) as opposed to the players having to control the movement and tempo of the game, not arbitrary rules.

As capitalists, we are obsessed with results and progress. American commentators for American sports make a much bigger deal about things like statistics. While these do serve to keep track of players’ performances and categorize them, it isn’t really as fun as the process. Claims about soccer being boring come from those who can’t relax and be patient and enjoy a spectacle in front of their eyes. I urge you all to watch the upcoming Champions League Final, but most importantly, the forthcoming Euros as I’m sure there’ll be plenty of emotions flying all over the place.

Dheeraj is a junior. He can be contacted at dravi1@swarthmore.edu.

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