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In Sports Commentary

By Dave Begel Special to OnMilwaukee.com E-mail author | Author bio More articles by Dave Begel

Published Jan. 20, 2009 at 5:24 a.m.

Tags: soccer, wave

Recently, I went to a Wave game with my son-in-law, Brian, and my almost 3-year-old grandson, Charlie.

They had a great time, full of hot dogs, Dippin' Dots and soccer.

I know what you're thinking. Here he comes again, with his annual "Why don't people love soccer?" column.

You're right. However, I also think it's about time we stopped wasting our time and breath on this argument. The evidence, as they say, is in. And, as they also say, the prosecution rests.

David Beckham has come and gone and come again and left again. He created barely a blip on the success measurements of soccer.

Attendance around the Major Soccer League is down. Dallas, one of the hallmark franchises, saw a 14 percent drop. The explanation was that they had stopped giving out so many complimentary tickets. Huh?

Television ratings continue to plummet. ESPN, which -- for some odd reason -- paid $64 million for an eight-year deal, televised more games than ever. And ratings, which were miniscule to start with, dropped by 30,000 per telecast.

I don't know how else you measure this game.

I actually have friends who like soccer. Some of them love it. And they are quick to tell you that television doesn't matter. Soccer isn't made for television.

Well, they're crazy. Television does matter. That's where professional sports make the money to keep the business afloat. Without television money, you're badminton. Or rhythmic dancing.

And I disagree with them. In the rare instances when there have been no "M*A*S*H" reruns on television, I've actually watched soccer. It's plenty good on television. You can see the ball, the players move with speed and grace. The only thing that's a problem is the same thing that afflicts television hockey: you can't always see the scoring shot.

As good a game as soccer is -- and I used to coach my kids when they played very competitive soccer -- the sport just isn't able to make that leap into our mainstream consciousness.

For example, the morning after Brian and Charlie went to a soccer game, I was reading the soccer roundups in The New York Times, maybe the best newspaper in the world. The following sentence led off one item.

"Zico, the former coach of Japan and Fenerbahce who left Uzbek champion Bunyodkor last month, has signed a three-year contract with CSKA Moscow, the Russian club said."

They might as well have been speaking Farsi or Punjabi. I mean this was probably big news in the world of soccer, but what a weird world it must be when a sentence like that can be understood by someone reading it.

That's the problem with soccer. It's just too weird. In some places, fans actually kill each other rooting for their favorite team. So many of the players go by only one name. Athletes don't have names like that. That's reserved for singers, like Cher or Bono or Charo.

I should never have to write this column again. And I think we should vow never to expend another breath on this discussion. Let's relegate soccer to the place it belongs, something that foreigners seem to like but something that doesn't really make the grade in America.

Like blood pudding, ostrich carpaccio or confettura di zucca.

13 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review.

Recent Talkbacks ...

Posted by patrickm1964 on Jan. 21, 2009 at 5:59 p.m. (report)

Take your meds, 2953UWM. Please take your meds.

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Posted by 2953UWM on Jan. 21, 2009 at 4:04 p.m. (report)

Soccer is a combination of being constipated on the toliet without a newspaper. You need no skill whatsoever, you just sit there and push forever. I don't care that you can juggle a ball with your shoulders, off your head, with your heels, like a little "girlyman". Soccer players are tough, I'll give you that. They can run, run from the fans that throw flares at them. They say it is a game of chess, but when was the last time you saw a chess player "dive" to get a penalty called on them. They call that "gamesmanship". I call it "girlyman" games. Pro soccer players think they are so cool because they put gel in their hair and wear "cute" wristbands, but I think they are just so "into" how they look that it actually makes them look retarded. I've been to soccer games here in MKE and everyone sucks. I have been to pro games in Europe, now those guys got skillz. US soccer will always suck. No matter how far they have been in the World Cup, we will always blowass. Oh yeah, why don't you guys go to the cool MKE bar and watch some more soccer till the point you fall asleep with a nil-nil score. The only good thing about watching soccer is being able to play the "soccer drinking game", which goes like this; take a drink from your beer everytime you hear the annoucer say "lovely" or whenever there is an offside or whenever you see a tool take a dive. Love you all!

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Posted by HometownSC on Jan. 21, 2009 at 3:19 p.m. (report)

On top of all the wonderful comments, soccer in the US outside of MLS is growing at a much more rapid rate that one might think. The National Premier Soccer League (in which the Milwaukee Bavarians play) expanded to new regions of the country in 2008 with more expansion planned for 2009 (including I believe a Canadian division). Women's Professional Soccer will begin in 2009 with a better business model than WUSA and better buy-in from the soccer community, the W-League and Premier Developmental League are both expanding this year, and the Women's Premier Soccer League (mother league of the NPSL and with a team currently in the Madison area) continues to provide a first-rate experience for current and former college players to stay in the game.

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Posted by D_Wreck1 on Jan. 21, 2009 at 8:34 a.m. (report)

Is this a serious piece about soccer? While attendance in the MLS is down, it isn't down for every team. While MLS viewership is down, ESPN itself admits that the schedule they had for games was not a good one--not adequately marketed and coming on after taped shows. And while MLS viewership is down, the rating for United States Men's team matches is up, as are subscriptions to Gol TV, Setanta, and the Fox Soccer Network. More Americans than ever watch foriegn club futbol these days. It may be difficult for many of them, like it was for me, to go from watching two exceptional English teams battle it out, to watching two mediocre MLS teams. Your lines about players with single names and fans killing each others is so cliche you just had to squeeze them in there I suppose. If you let the fact that a player has only one name stop you from watching soccer than you must be an ignorant fool--especially since, for the most part, only players from Brazil and Portugal have one name. The rest have two just like all of us good ol' Americans. I just wanted to write to let you know how silly and amatuer your article was. Maybe if you don't know "how to measure the game" you should try asking someone who does.

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Posted by Zizou10 on Jan. 20, 2009 at 4:41 p.m. (report)

Dave - If soccer is that red-headed step-sister you are implying it is on the American sports scene, please explain this: Why on SportsCenter, in its bottomline ticker, are soccer scores from foreign leagues being shown now? Why on ESPN.com is the soccer section, 4th in the menu - only behind NFL, MLB, and NBA but before the college sports pages? Because ESPN will be bidding on the rights to the English Premier League and you can bet that next season soccer matches will be shown on ESPN channels on Saturday mornings. ESPN might even turn ESPN Classic into a soccer specific channel - OMG the horror of that!!! You say attendance for the MLS decreased, I agree...in total. However, the LA Galaxy saw 7% increase. New England saw 5%. Houston 6.5% increase. Some teams like in Kansas City played at a stadium with less capacity than the season before - obviously attendance would drop. Finally, if things are so bad then why are MLS owners investing in Soccer Specific Stadiums and a new franchise in Seattle has sold out all its season tickets for the 2009 season? Sorry - but this article would have been more useful say 10 years ago. All you are is a sportswriter that doesn't "get" the world's most popular sport. Stick to what you know and stay away from assumptions because soon you will see much more soccer on ESPN.

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