I tried to force myself to watch futbol this morning, but 10 minutes of ARG vs NGA was all I could stand. Maybe if I were a fan of hockey or lacrosse I would get the point of soccer. I just don’t get the point of all that running for very little scoring. Like baseball.
That’s the reason why I prefer real football.
Mary McGrory wrote “Baseball is what we were. Football is what we have become.” Perhaps the pace of the game explains why pro football popularity reached new heights in America in the years after World War II.
Football is the projection of power choreographed for dominance to impose your will over other strong teams in the face of adversity for the ultimate win. It’s an impatient sport. Isn’t that is how Americans see ourselves in the era? Until that changes, football, not futbol, rules.
I can just hear Sarah Palin say something like real Americans don’t play soccer.
That’s not to say that football, or America, will rule forever. Every playground baseball field in my neighborhood is being used for impromptu soccer games played by people not born here. I read somewhere that more high school athletes participate in soccer than in football. It’s a matter of time, a few decades at most, when interest in pro soccer in America will surpass football and baseball.
With any luck and good timing, I’ll be dead by then.
Extra Points: one thing I liked about ARG vs. NGA was that the fans were constantly engaged with non-stop horn blowing, noise making and cheering. It’s the kind of spontaneity we used to see in pro football before the NFL became too corporate. I miss those old days at old RFK.
To see my collection of other football quotes go to Football Quotes: Famous, Funny and Otherwise.
Xtra Point Football: Soccer vs. Football
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