Nick Against the World (100 Viewers)

[Bjerknes]

I agree, but the United States is like a huge orgy of people from all over the world, there is no one who's really "American". I think because most of fans in the US are young; most are probably 2nd generation Americans of other origin, so I can understand why they wouldn't support the United States.

I thought you lived here.

Personally I have lived here all my life and the closest non-American relative I have is perhaps my great great grandfather. How exactly am I not American? Soccer fans in this country range from people just like me who fell in love with the sport while playing it to people such as yourself who are living here temporarely. There is no set generalization and almost anybody can find a passion for this sport. I know I'm not the only kid in this country who has had the same experiances I've had with this sport, however you could say I'm rather unique when it comes to how I follow the European game.

But now we're falling off the track here. Most soccer fans in this country are not necessarily second generation Americans, and most, in my eyes, fail to have a valid reason not to support the US National Team.

 

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[KB824]

Sergio, I loved the NASL. Great league, it was.

Yeah, that was fun.


The New England Tea Men.

 

[Bjerknes]

Keywords: Foot, Ball. nuff said

But still, fussing about the word soccer just makes no sense to me. Whether you call it football, calcio, soccer, al shakiri, whatever, it's still the same thing.

Well, good, next step, get slots for football on ESPN Another key problem is that football will never get it's share of broadcasting because it has to be comercial free (Thank you God!), and we all know American TV can not live without comercials

Well of course I have several problems with how ESPN controls soccer within this country, however let's not forget we have Fox Soccer Channel and Gol TV who give us loads of good coverage. These channels do not interupt matches with lousy commercials.

 

[Zé Tahir]

I thought you lived here.

I do live here, what I meant was that most people here are different backgrounds. There's always an Irish, German, Scandinavian, Eastern European, etc.

Personally I have lived here all my life and the closest non-American relative I have is perhaps my great great grandfather. How exactly am I not American? Soccer fans in this country range from people just like me who fell in love with the sport while playing it to people such as yourself who are living here temporarely. There is no set generalization and almost anybody can find a passion for this sport. I know I'm not the only kid in this country who has had the same experiances I've had with this sport, however you could say I'm rather unique when it comes to how I follow the European game.

Indeed, you are :thumbs:

But now we're falling off the track here. Most soccer fans in this country are not necessarily second generation Americans, and most, in my eyes, fail to have a valid reason not to support the US National Team.

I guess you know better than I do. The football fans I've met here haven't been here for that many generations, heck most were 2nd generation americans.

 

[Zé Tahir]

And that's exactly why the MLS will never be bigger than what it already is in comparison to the 4 major sports in the US.

I'm not sure if you're old enough to remember the North American Soccer Leage, or NASL, as it was called. This league truly had a chance to become the 3rd most popular sport in the US back in the late 70's. Before the advent of sports television as we know it, baseball was far and away the most popular sport, with football (NFL) a distant second. Basketball was unbearable to watch during this time, before Magic Johnson and Larry Bird came into the league, and hockey was as it is now, the 4th major sport.

During this time, the NASL, most notably the New York Cosmos, started bringing in top flight talent from around the world (Beckenbauer, Chinaglia, coaxing Pele out of retirement, nearly missing out on George Best), to bring nationwide interest to the sport.

And it worked.


Until.......................................


Other teams who did not have the financial backing such as the Cosmos did back then (I believe Universal Entertainment owned them), started spending well beyond their means in order to procure players of equal caliber. This led the league into financial ruin.


Now, the MLS is slowly starting to gain more popularity as the years go on, as young homegrown players who are starting to feature for the National team are getting more exposure (BTW, I was at the US-Latvia match on Sunday, and there was about 85% capacity. Excellent Crowd, especially for a friendly). But I can see the road ahead, and if New York Red Bull starts throwing around 10 year, 120 million dollar contracts (Yes, you read that correctly) at the likes of Ronaldo, there are going to be serious problems in the forseeable future.

Oh thanx for that, I always wondered why that whole thing went flop.

I have a question, what attracts the likes of Beckham, Ronaldo, Del Piero (considering all this media hype is true) to come and play here? Surely it can't be the money, they have enough to buy an island and retire forever... So what is it?

 

[Bjerknes]

By the way, Sergio, who was the owner of the Cosmos?

Now, the MLS is slowly starting to gain more popularity as the years go on, as young homegrown players who are starting to feature for the National team are getting more exposure (BTW, I was at the US-Latvia match on Sunday, and there was about 85% capacity. Excellent Crowd, especially for a friendly). But I can see the road ahead, and if New York Red Bull starts throwing around 10 year, 120 million dollar contracts (Yes, you read that correctly) at the likes of Ronaldo, there are going to be serious problems in the forseeable future.

Indeed. Our league is not ready for such massive contracts at the moment, however having the likes of Ronaldo and Beckham play in the MLS is only good for the game here. Having European spotlights shining towards this league because of these players would ignite much more interest, not only from people here but also people in Europe. Sponsorship deals and tv coverage is what the MLS needs to grow...it's just a matter of attracting some of these stars without offering bank-breaking salaries.

 

[IncuboRossonero]

Shevchenko has been sold to Chelsea for what they call a "record amount" ..nothing released.


GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK SHEVA

Thanks for the memories...and

Grow some ballz otherwise the Misses will step all over you

 

[3pac]

Andy, does your argument apply to those with immigrant parents? It's hard to grow up supporting the USA when you were raised watching games where everyone goes crazy if Czech Rep. or England scores. I was raised supporting them, not the USA, though I still want the USA to do well just because it's my country, though I see nothing wrong with supporting the teams I was raised to like as well.

 

[KB824]

Keywords: Foot, Ball. nuff said

Umm, for what its worth "Football", as we know it, was originally known as "Association Football" in the 1860's in England, and then it was changed to "Soccer" in the 1880's , which is a type of colloquial abbrevation of the word "Association".

 

[3pac]

I have a question, what attracts the likes of Beckham, Ronaldo, Del Piero (considering all this media hype is true) to come and play here? Surely it can't be the money, they have enough to buy an island and retire forever... So what is it?

The Bitches.

 

[KB824]

Shevchenko has been sold to Chelsea for what they call a "record amount" ..nothing released.


GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK SHEVA

Thanks for the memories...and

Grow some ballz otherwise the Misses will step all over you

Seriously Nick, he's coming up on 30 years old, Milan is going to get in excess of 35 million pounds for him to rejuvenate a severly aging defense, and Milan already has other options at striker with Gilardino, Pippo, and most likely Suazo.


Not "That" big of a loss, when you think about it, despite his major contributions to the squad.

Its not as if the cupboard is totally bare.

 

[KB824]

By the way, Sergio, who was the owner of the Cosmos?

Actually, it was Warner Communications. I was close

 

[Bjerknes]

I do live here, what I meant was that most people here are different backgrounds. There's always an Irish, German, Scandinavian, Eastern European, etc.

But you have to ask yourself, if you have never been a part of that influence because you never even met your grandfather or have family in that respective country, what tangible connections do you have to said country? I might have German ancestry, however I'm no German.

Indeed, you are :thumbs:

And I wouldn't change that for a thing. I love being different.

I guess you know better than I do. The football fans I've met here haven't been here for that many generations, heck most were 2nd generation americans.

I have met many like you have, however I have also spent 15 years playing the game in this country, meeting all sorts of people with different backgrounds who enjoy this sport. They don't call soccer the world's game for nothing..

 

[Bjerknes]

Andy, does your argument apply to those with immigrant parents? It's hard to grow up supporting the USA when you were raised watching games where everyone goes crazy if Czech Rep. or England scores. I was raised supporting them, not the USA, though I still want the USA to do well just because it's my country, though I see nothing wrong with supporting the teams I was raised to like as well.

Obviously if you grew up living under the influence of your father, you're not subject to this criticism of mine. My entire family lives in the suburbs of Detroit, and through my youth I have always loved Detroit sports because that is what my dad enjoyed as well. I haven't lived around Detroit for most of my life, however I still call that area my real home. I can easily see why you would favor your "father" over your country in this discussion.

 

[KB824]

Oh thanx for that, I always wondered why that whole thing went flop.

I have a question, what attracts the likes of Beckham, Ronaldo, Del Piero (considering all this media hype is true) to come and play here? Surely it can't be the money, they have enough to buy an island and retire forever... So what is it?

Well, besides the more than decent contracts they would get(if the Ronaldo offer is any indication), the other reasons I could see them wanting to play here are the shorter schedules, the fact that they play in the summertime, so obviously the weather is nicer, and the endorsement opportunities that could come their way.

Little known fact here, boys and girls. Kobe Bryant and Alessandro Del Piero actually know each other very well, and are quite friendly, so when Alex made that off-the-cuff remark about joing the Los Angeles Galaxy, well, don't exactly take that with a grain of salt. There may be more truth behind that than you would be led to believe.

Someone of Del Piero's charm, looks, and charisma could go over very well in Los Angeles.

 

[Bjerknes]

Umm, for what its worth "Football", as we know it, was originally known as "Association Football" in the 1860's in England, and then it was changed to "Soccer" in the 1880's , which is a type of colloquial abbrevation of the word "Association".

Not to mention both were coined by the British, so those imbeciles who say Americans taint the game by naming it soccer are obviously misinformed.

 

[KB824]

Not to mention both were coined by the British, so those imbeciles who say Americans taint the game by naming it soccer are obviously misinformed.

And apparently Canada, Australia, and South Africa taint the game as well, because that is exactly what they call it.


But I digress...............................................




On to something else, I guess

 

[Azzurri7]

Bingo!!!!!

 

[Zé Tahir]

But you have to ask yourself, if you have never been a part of that influence because you never even met your grandfather or have family in that respective country, what tangible connections do you have to said country? I might have German ancestry, however I'm no German.

I agree with you, because my grandparents are from India but I have no connection with India what so ever and I like to keep that way too Tell me something though, it seems to me there are a lot of players of Hispanic and Carribean origin, I might be wrong though. I haven't really looked into it too much.

 

[Slagathor]

Sergio

Andy: for the sake of your reputation I think you should stress out your Dutch ancestry rather than your German... Just a thought