Most of you are unaware, but something unique happened. There were few reports in the paper and even less on television. Yet, such an occurrence has only happened eight times in history.
On Sept. 3, at Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team secured a spot in the 2006 World Cup in Germany -- after beating Mexico 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier. It is the eighth time they have done so since the first World Cup in 1930.
Unfortunately, nobody here cares.
While figures from the Soccer Industry Council of America show participation of American youth in soccer exceeds that of Little League and Pop Warner, there is still a general apathy-- even hatred -- in this country toward the professional aspect of the world's most popular game.
Scott Weiss, a producer from Los Angeles, is currently working on a film documentary that dissects American disdain for soccer.
"Americans believe in 'bigger is better,'" Weiss stated in a telephone interview. "Being the superpower that we are today, Americans view other countries as weaker and inferior. Soccer is a widely popular foreign game. We see our sports as better."
In addition, the ideal American athlete follows the bigger is better image -- the athlete, himself, is large and strong.
Contrast this to professional soccer players, whose average height is between 5 feet 7 inches and 5 feet 9 inches.
"In a sense, the American view of soccer is feminizing and therefore marginalized," Weiss added.
Size alone cannot explain the natural abhorrence held by many Americans for soccer. Weiss believes much of the disgust towards soccer stems from its popularity in other countries -- a reflection of non-capitalistic ideals.
Weiss's claim is also held by author Frank Foer who wrote "How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization."
Foer says that as Congress passed a 1986 bill supporting a U.S. bid to host the 1994 World Cup, former Rep. Jack Kemp -- a former football player for the American Football League -- was deeply opposed.
Kemp argued that, "A distinction should be made that [American] football is democratic capitalism, whereas soccer is a European socialist [sport]."
In actuality, this could not be further from the truth. Professional soccer leagues in other countries are actually more capitalistic than American professional sports.
For example, professional soccer in England is broken down into divisions.
The highest and most prestigious division is the Premiership, followed by the first division, second division, etc. Each season the Premiership contains 20 teams.
At the end of the season, the three teams with the worst record from the Premiership are 'relegated' to the first division, while the three highest-placed teams in the first division are promoted to the Premiership.
Thus, as Weiss's claim goes, teams are rewarded for success and harshly punished for poor play. In addition, anybody with enough money can start up a team and begin league play.
The American professional sports leagues do not punish teams that have under performed. In fact, they help them by providing higher draft picks for bottom-tier teams.
In addition, one cannot simply create a new basketball or baseball franchise and compete in the MLB or NBA.
The U.S. sports system, which allows teams to be part of the league regardless of performance, is certainly more socialistic than it is capitalistic.
Yet, even though professional soccer supports capitalism, one cannot channel surf and stumble upon a soccer game.
And it is true that a majority of soccer games only have one or two goals scored throughout the entire 90-minute event. Yet, imagine bottling up the excitement of every basket scored during an NBA game and then suddenly releasing all that energy.
That is what soccer fans experience when their favorite team finally places the ball in the back of the net. It is pure euphoria.
Soccer may be boring, but so is golf. And yet ESPN is willing to show PGA tournaments every weekend.
Next summer, the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team heads to Germany to better the quarterfinal finish it received in Korea/Japan during the 2002 World Cup. But few Americans will care. The U.S. already has three highly popular sports (football, basketball and baseball) -- seemingly designed for the American psyche.
This leaves little room for a soccer culture to emerge. Perhaps if soccer was more socialistic, it could join the playing field.
Noah Lewkowitz is an architecture graduate student. You can reach him at noah.lewkowitz@asu.edu.
