Viva FIFA, This is Soccer for Americans

Here it is again, another four years have passed, and you know what that means, that's right the World Cup has come and gone without a hitch; with the exception of a few questionable calls. Ah yes, the World Cup, the premier soccer, or football, or futball, or however you want to pronounce it; tournament, a place, next to the Olympics, where states put issues behind and play a sport and have fun doing it. Though much of that could be considered true, some of it is very lose, one wonders if America really cares, come on there really is no big coverage for any soccer game except for certain places, most of which have to do with having a large concentration of Latin Americans, or if David Beckham has done something that America has never seen before, since this is soccer he has done alot that we have not seen. Despite the few that actually watch the sport, the big question is, should America care about a sport and put on a show that they actually do, in order to play the game in a competition that, you've guessed it never won. Why do we care is it because we want to be better than everyone else or do we want to put ourselves on the main stage so much that we are willing to do things we hate? Well to say the least this country should learn to somehow embrace Soccer not only because it is a sport, and man do us Americans love our sports, but as a possible means to even out the economy, although a few new sports might not help it might do something. These are just few suggestion but there are logical reasons for them.

World Issues

To begin Soccer is a world-wide sport unlike American Football, which is sad because, come on its football; not to mention Baseball, which, although is seen sporadically in Canada and Latin America has not garnered the same fan fare as Soccer and Basketball has, but Basketball is another story, then there is hockey which is mainly a Canadian and Russian sport, because of their harsh winters which make this sport perfect for them. The point of this is that like the Olympics, Soccer could be the joining force of many nations and for the weeks of the FIFA tournament could be peace enough to work out differences, case in point the conflict in Georgia, because of the Olympics the war was only temporary, although there is still little incidents there, the full-scale war was eventually ended. So are we seeing the possibilities yet, if not then look at the Olympics again; have not the summer games always been used as a propaganda push from every nation, case in point 1936 Olympics and the idea of German supermen. So taking this in to consideration, the U.S. recently has been looking really bad on a global scale so it is easier to say that by participating in Soccer games around the world, larger participation in FIFA, and actually training for it as an actual event, then we can somehow bring back a little of that respect that we had lost while also spreading the word of how good democracy is. This means that we would actually have to be good at the sport like the sports in the summer Olympics, which would also mean we as Americans would have to take Soccer a lot more serious than we do now.

The Economy

Okay this is a long shot but it is a who knows sort of thing, American Football and American Baseball each get millions a year in selling jerseys and their memorabilia, not to mention the fact that when their season ends it is a multi-million dollar affair with concerts, television spots for the athletes that won, and most importantly videogames. Soccer could be that next big thing that everybody wants. After all look at the sport teams all located in big cities, the selling of memorabilia from Soccer could generate a more of a consumerist feel in America, relocating the teams to big cities which can possibly raise the prestige of the sport and showing this sport to a new audience. Yes this is sort of a shot in the dark plan, but then again how many Americans know someone with a sport team related item, sports in America is big if not bigger than the entertainment industry, who almost rules America now, and so many do say to kick-start the economy we need to start buying, long shot but who knows.

Health

Since 2001 we have all been afraid that all Americans will be obese and die of some sort of disease caused by being, well obese, but like any American, we know, we all love our sports and will always love sports. Sadly though, the main sport is Football, and Basketball, now that is not enough to keep kids active, two sports will just not do. Taking in consideration that some sports are more popular in other seasons, you cannot really play hockey in the summer unless indoors. Giving Soccer a higher role in America could mean that more kids will play it, so instead of sitting at home, they could be playing any of those three sports giving them ambitions of being a great athlete, and when they have those ambitions then more kids will follow. If Soccer had a large following more kids would play it and stay active, in other words, if there were big Soccer stars then children would dream of being like them and the bigger the sport hero's the more children would want to do play that sport. When Bruce Lee came out, for example, everyone wanted to fight like him, the same goes for Alex Rodriguez, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Muhammed Ali, and Babe Ruth, all these figures gave awareness to their sports. By them showing that they were the best, made everyone want to follow them, now if this can be done for Soccer then people including children will want to play the sport. Though there will still be obesity but more than likely it will be less than before.

The Sport and After it Ends

Soccer as a whole is a pretty fun sport; being less complicated than American Football, but more complicated than Basketball and Baseball, Soccer is possibly the easiest sport to pick up. Not only is soccer easy, it is one of the only sports played worldwide and if it is taken seriously we can find common ground with other nations, except for those in the middle east, which does play the sport, but not played like it is in Europe. The sport itself is fun, but it is more fun to see the winning participant after the game is has been won, it is wild, and it is unlike anything seen in America, sure we have our Superbowl parties but those parties are pointless to the ones you see after the world cup or something else that ends a Soccer season. Soccer is a wild sport and if you look at the sport itself most of the funniest images we see are from Soccer games, from Zidanes headbutt to a random streaker, which is seen in a lot of other sports but originated in the Soccer fields. This sport is bound to always be wild, and unlike other sports, its funny, it's dramatic, it's fun, it's entertaining, but most of all it is soccer. A sport that all the world should get into, either that or American football but it is hard to see that happening just because of the name and where it originated, sorry America I don't see a European league ever occurring any time soon.