Remember when nobody cared about soccer?

"BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather" (bugeyedacura) 06/26/2014 at 12:16 • Filed to: None

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Or was that just my thinking growing up in a small town? Like seriously, football was a religion where I come from. Friday Night Lights was an actual thing for us. Now everyone's all excited over soccer? I don't even...

KirkyV > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather 06/26/2014 at 12:17

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I'm British... So no.

For Sweden > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather 06/26/2014 at 12:18

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It's almost like it's not football season right now.

macanamera > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather 06/26/2014 at 12:19

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I was never a huge soccer fan growing up, but this is a big deal. We are being represented on a national stage. That doesn't happen with football...soccer is one sport where we are considered underdogs, and I love the idea that the US can come out and do some work!

E92M3 > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather 06/26/2014 at 12:20

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It happens with every world cup.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather 06/26/2014 at 12:20

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snooooze

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > macanamera 06/26/2014 at 12:21

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Fair enough. I didn't realize how chronically bad we were.

Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather 06/26/2014 at 12:21

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I'll admit that I was skeptical about soccer, until I went to an MLS game. I thought hockey was rough with the taunts, man there are some good ones in soccer! It might help that there is a huge following here in Seattle, and the rivalries between the West coast teams are really good, but it was 90 minutes of on my feet screaming. I really wish I knew some of the chants the ECS guys were using.

ncasolowork2 > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather 06/26/2014 at 12:22

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My school had no football program. Soccer was popular though.

macanamera > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather 06/26/2014 at 12:22

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I'm sure you know, advancing to the next round would be a big deal, and this is the deciding game...

KnowsAboutCars > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather 06/26/2014 at 12:23

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I'm actually surprised. I thought soccer wasn't popular at all in North America.

I couldn't care less about soccer myself although it is kinda popular here despite that our team isn't very good.

mcseanerson > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather 06/26/2014 at 12:24

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I don't get why the US can get all riled up for a sport none of us cares about just because it's the world cup but nobody cares about motorsports no matter what series it is.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather 06/26/2014 at 12:28

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We'll go right back to it after the world cup.

But having grown up in the Netherlands from 4 to 18 (27 now), no, I don't remember :P

My god does that country go nuts in anticipation of the World cup, like on the order of years in advance.

Slave2anMG > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather 06/26/2014 at 12:29

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Once every four years since 1994, really. Otherwise....

crowmolly > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather 06/26/2014 at 12:34

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In my humble opinion:

USA- American Football

Canada- Hockey

Majority of the rest of the world (with a few exceptions)- Soccer/Football

In the USA a lot of us play Soccer when we are younger- probably much more so than American Football. Then when we get older we move on to other things.

I think that's a big reason why we tend to be weak on the international stage: A lot of our top soccer talent ends up in another more "murrican" sport and that's that.

I'm NOT saying soccer teams are just leftovers and I'm NOT saying we'd dominate on a global scale, just that our athletic talent tends to follow the dollars and as such great soccer players probably end up bulked out in an American Football or Baseball uniform.

cabarne4 > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather 06/26/2014 at 12:35

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American here. Haven't been following the world cup this year (which is a time-honored tradition in Americaland)...

That said, I've noticed that the world cup is HUGE this year in America. It's crazy, I've never seen Americans excited for soccer football before.

Mr. Ontop, No Strokes, No Smokes...Goes Fast. > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather 06/26/2014 at 12:36

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Mine too, and it still is that back there, but I was too small to play football, so I ended up playing futbol. I've been a fan ever since.Oddly though, I prefer watching the South American teams over Premiere League...but I'm kind of a weird guy anyway....

Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather 06/26/2014 at 12:36

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I think this was the last time the US really cared about Soccer:

thebigbossyboss > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather 06/26/2014 at 12:37

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No.

ColoradoTaco > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather 06/26/2014 at 12:56

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This is just like saying "remember how no one cared about the 100m dash?" during the Olympics. International competition is great regardless of the sport.

jariten1781 > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather 06/26/2014 at 13:12

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My town went through a shift during growing up there. It was all football with a bit of baseball when I went through middle and highschool. Soccer wasn't even contested statewide at a varsity level I don't believe (could be wrong). When my youngest brother (5 years in between) went through soccer had picked up dramatically. There were traveling select teams starting in 6th grade and competition for the good athletes between soccer and football coaches was fierce at the high school level.

I saw a couple things I attributed it to. The town became much more affluent and a suburban hub of OKC rather than the smaller college/farming town I grew up in. The newer, richer kids parents were much more protective and didn't like the possibility of injuries that football had so those guys played soccer. The folks who had been around longer, made a bit less, and lived on the outskirts of town stuck with football. Haven't been back in a few years, but apparently soccer has completely taken over and the football team is now a joke.

T5Killer > Slave2anMG 06/26/2014 at 14:10

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The Same could be said of American Football. Being raised by a single mother I was not exposed to professional football until I was older. To be honest NFL is boring and incomprehensible rules wise to an outsider.

DipodomysDeserti > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole 06/26/2014 at 14:24

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I like how they're trying to act like European firm hooligans, but if you look at the crowd it's a bunch of fat desk jockies that probably work at Amazon.

Slave2anMG > T5Killer 06/26/2014 at 14:51

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I understand that. US Football is reputed to be the most complicated team game on the planet in terms of rules. But watching athletes run around for 90 minutes only to have the game end in a 0-0 tie or, even worse, get decided in penalty kicks seems...seems like a lot of effort. The penalty kick shoot out in, what 1994?, seemed like having the Super Bowl decided by having the quarterbacks throw the ball thru a moving target. I started watching some FA soccer earlier this year and find myself enjoying it...but am perplexed by the 'offsides' rule (trying to understand what is/isn't offsides) and utterly scornful of the flopping...guys writhing like they've been speared by a harpoon who then hop up and run away when they don't get the call. A guy got a red card yesterday in the Ecuador-France game for spiking the other player...and his spikes didn't even leave a dirty spot on the other player's white socks. Huh?

I guess it's what you're used to. I grew up heavily on baseball...and can watch it all day long. Others call baseball slow and boring. Go figure :)

T5Killer > Slave2anMG 06/26/2014 at 14:58

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I agree on the baseball part. I grew up playing it and watching it (my mom is a big Yankees fan) so its fun to me and I cannot understand how someone can say its boring.

ZiptieMcBumper > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather 06/26/2014 at 16:47

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Don't worry. Things will be back to normal after the elimination game.

wiffleballtony > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather 06/26/2014 at 23:54

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I think its almost like the Olympics. I couldn't care less about most of those sports until then. As far as which ones are fun to watch, I think it varies on being watched in person or on television. The only sports I watch on TV are American Football and F1. I like basketball in person as well as hockey. Baseball and golf are just too slow.