MAN_1777s (Photo credit: GO MANLY UNITED)
It’s been a question and two of Manifest Destiny‘s heavyweights are trying to answer it. However, Tyler Greever (@Greevz52) and Megan Armstrong (@MeganKArmstrong) have different explanations. We recorded podcasts with both of them on The Big Three (@BigThreeKCOU) this week to discuss.
Tyler’s Argument GreeverSoccerArgument
- Soccer is definitely getting more exposure than ever. With outlets like ESPN, Fox, and other networks, Americans now have more opportunities to watch soccer than ever.
- The ratings are growing. Ratings for this year’s European tournament have tripled since the last one, with over a million viewers watching the bigger matches. That is a huge step.
- Perhaps the best part of all of this: Americans have a vested interest in something their country has no stake in. They want to watch the best teams in Europe battle it out in the 2nd greatest international soccer tournament, even if the U.S. will have nothing to do with it.
- While Americans may want to get more involved with soccer, Europeans may not. Europeans love the sport of soccer, and don’t care if we are finally coming around to it. They may hold some resentment towards us for disparaging it for so long, and now embracing it.
Megan’s Argument MeganSoccerArgument
The concept of Europeans’ unparalleled devotion to the Beautiful Game is as foreign to the United States as the languages they respectively speak, but why? There are numerous culprits responsible for soccer’s dwarfed popularity in the United States: America’s fast-paced lifestyle is not compatible with soccer’s patient and artistic nature; America has too many sports to fully devote itself to soccer as European countries do; American-brand athletes generally aren’t protocol for the physique of the world-class soccer players. The land of opportunity is anything but opportunistic for soccer to get the full respect it deserves.
