That conversion chart had me nearly falling out of my chair laughing. Good stuff.

I became a soccer fan in late 2003, thanks to a new boyfriend who was a big soccer fan, both domestic and foreign (though, as for most of us, “foreign” mostly meant “England”). At first, I was like “O YAY SOCCER PFFFT” like most Americans would do. But you know - I wanted to be a cool new girlfriend and give his interests a chance. The first couple of games I watched on TV were random Prem matches, and I admit that I didn’t pay much attention - I didn’t understand the rules, I didn’t know the players…and I was holding on to my dumbass seemingly-innate American aversion to soccer.

But then we watched a game between Chelsea and I Can’t Remember Who, and something about it was different. There were a couple of amazing goals, amazing saves…and I found myself absolutely getting caught up in the excitement. And I realized…..fucking hell, this game is so insanely more exciting than The Big Three in America. I never really gave a shit about basketball, but I did grow up watching baseball and American football, and I couldn’t help but compare - I mean, holy shit, some baseball games are less exciting than clipping your toenails. And American football was so stop-and-start, stand around, three-minutes-left-which-means-the-game-will-be-over-in-an-hour…

But wow - yeah, once you let yourself get into soccer, I really think for the majority of people, you can’t help but stay there. I fucking love this game now (at the moment, I’m having a series of mini-heart-attacks waiting for tomorrow’s US v Mexico game), and I’m so glad I do. The other day, I even sent an email to my now-ex-boyfriend, thanking him for getting me into the sport back then.

I try to convince people to watch a game, and especially to go to a game, even an MLS game - because I really think when you’re there in front of it, it’s infectious. But people are still so anti-soccer, and it can be so hard to break through that.

I’ve long had a theory that, at least for Americans, any sport that had perceived complicated rules, it would have a difficult time finding a reasonable foothold here.

Now, footie doesn’t have too many complicated rules, but there are two things against it to the American eye: a (somewhat) confusing offsides rule and the inability for any player to pick up and run with the ball. (By that token, you’d think Rugby would be more accepted, but then you can’t throw the ball forward and that just conflicts with American Football.)

I absolutely hated my local sports coverage of the World Cup in ‘94. It irritates me even 15 years later.

alisonrose - You’re definitely right about there being a knee-jerk reaction against soccer from most sports fans.

It’s funny, people who love to cook don’t do it just because they enjoy eating great food at the end.  Marathon runners don’t gut out 26 miles just to cross the finish line.  It’s about loving the process.  And I think that’s also a key to loving soccer - getting into the process of building towards an attack.  Sometimes that build will be foiled, sometimes it’ll come to fruition, sometimes teams will blow it themselves, but one side is always building towards something, and once you get into that element of the game, it’s breathless.

Santa - So true about American coverage of the game.  Fox Soccer Channel still talks to its audience like we have a nail in our heads as opposed to people who’ve had to go out of our way to pay money to watch the game on their station, so perhaps we aren’t all that dumb about it. 

One other thing I think that helps soccer in the US: less of a macho-bullshit barrier to entry [again, in the US not the UK].  Anecdotally, I’ve noticed a lot of women getting into the game, and I have to wonder if it’s partly because
a) its obscurity means there are fewer jackholes telling women they can’t be “real fans” because those jackholes also had to go about discovering the game on their own without tons of male-only socialization at a young age
b) and thus they welcome anyone else who does the same, even if they’d be unwitting dicks about american football or baseball or basketball.

If the nascent American int’l soccer culture is genuinely welcoming to women as much as men, then that’ll give it a big boost.  I hope that’s how it develops.

As a soccer fan with ladyparts, I can say you are definitely right. I never felt it that much from baseball, but absolutely American football and basketball, and usually what happens with those crowds is hot chicks are ok, but if you don’t look like a supermodel/Playboy bunny/Boobzilla then they don’t want you around.

But at soccer games - and yeah, my experience is only in the US - I never felt a drop of annoyance or disdain from the male fans. In fact, when I saw the USMNT play Japan in a friendly in San Francisco (my only time seeing the MNT and damn, was it fun!) there were a lot of women in the stands and it seemed that the guys didn’t even look at it as something to remark upon - like….they just saw them as fans, like themselves. Maybe that’s because we’ll take what we can get as far as cheering supporters Come one, come all!

I don’t know, I think a lack of macho bullshit in footie is a major part of the barrier. Unless Italians are playing, the game is graceful and it flows and there is usually never a dull moment. The fact that games usually never last longer than 2 hours and 15 minutes has to be enticing somewhere in a market used to 3hr+ sporting events.

And yet, it’s a ‘pussy’ sport filled with pampered beauty queens (Well, there are some effete drama queens sure, but aren’t there some in all sports?) and it’s overall ‘boring’ because the game might end up with 1-nil scores… It’s just not a game that Americans can attach themselves to.

It also doesn’t help that that national team doesn’t really inspire much jingoistic passion. Let’s face it, they’re really not that good. I’d doubt that even if the US steals a win today that it’ll inspire much passion. (And given how blind some countries can be to their own strengths, this could be a good thing.) Obviously, you can’t force people to find enjoyment, but a second rate national effort and a third or fourth rate professional league is simply not going to do anything for the image of the sport in this country.

And it shows you how much I pay attention, I didn’t really know women were a significantly growing segment of the sport’s fanbase in the US. I can’t think of anything to say other than ‘that’s a good thing’ without likely sounding like I’m just spouting platitues. But I can’t leave any silver lining alone without pointing out the dark cloud:

The US Women’s team won the inaugural Women’s World Cup. Then they won the third one held here in the US. They’ve never finished worse than third in any of the competitions. The US Women’s National team has had more success than the men’s team and no one cares. I don’t really want to suggest that its a part of a general ‘women aren’t good at sports so we’ll ignore it when they are’ sort of thing, but it wasn’t any help in increasing awareness in the sport overall.

It’s a fine sport. It’s just not an American sport. Success on the international stage would be like the sugar rush of consuming candy bars on an empty stomach. Only, I’m still willing to bet the US Men’s team still won’t make it out of the Group Stage next year…