Just a summary on my thoughts about the 2010 cup.
The single biggest surprise to me was the depth and even more importantly the breadth of support for the US MNT. The crowds at all the venues I was at, in Baltimore, at the Arlington Draft House and even at the Showboat Casino in Atlantic City were enthusiastic, knowledgeable, supportive and excited. The television ratings for viewership has to be revised to account for the people who are not at home when they watch the games. Advertisers should be ecstatic because you can't fast forward through the commercials when you are in a bar, movie theater, or casino.
FIFA is an old and decrepit institution that needs to be replaced. The sport deserves better and would do a lot better without it than it does with it. Wouldn't it be nice if some 21st Century company like Google or Yahoo! took over the game the way the television networks took over the NFL in the 20th century. The world wide viewership fits the world wide web. Having said that I thought the Disney channels did a fine job of televising the games.
Why Germany stopped playing after they beat Argentina will remain a profound mystery. But also congrats to Spain who seem to have overcome their predilection to lose games at the worst possible moment. This world cup they reserved their loss for a preliminary round game. In the final, I was supporting the Dutch for historical reasons but they did not distinguish themselves. A lot fewer Dutch players should have been on the field at the end of the game then were there.
South American soccer is faltering.
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Well said Dad. The ratings may be skewed, but ESPN did an excellent job, basically fixing all of the viewing issues we cited in previous world cups. BTW, our local NBC affiliate reported last week that Univision was the second most watched network in June (behind Fox). I thought it was cool that happened and even more cool another news company thought it was news.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's my biggest takeway for this world cup, the overwhelming support for the USMNT, and to a lesser extent, soccer in general. The shear passion for the US games was phenominal, and those you-tube shots are something I will never forget. This was a busy time in my life, having a two year-old and three-month old, but I'm making a personal commitment to watching at least one US game with you guys in 2014. I'm fortunate to have some great friends in Denver who are just as passionate as we are. And singing the national anthem with 100 strong at the British Bulldog brings tears to my eye. But family is family.
In closing, I truly enjoyed how upset some Americans got at all the attention this got. It was a runaway bandwagon that obviously upset a lot of people. Catie Prince said it best on Facebook, less than an hour after Spain beat the Dutch, "world cup is over! basically everyone can stop pretending to like soccer now."
We are closing off blocks,
and gathering in your street,
singing anthems in bars,
using new places to meet
Now if it upsets you,
well that's just to be bad,
because we're not pretending,
and this ain't no fad
Can't say it better than that, Mark.
ReplyDeleteOn Friday and Saturday night I hung out with two separate groups of friends. Without my or the one other soccer fan guidance, the convo went to the World Cup Final- who was everyone pulling for and what were people's plans. Everyone seemed to have an educated, if not enthusiastic, opinion.
I have a feeling the sport just made a huge move along the coolness scale this year. In 2010, it was cool to be hip to the competition, to the teams, to the players, to who Paul the Octopus is.
While I disagreed with Catie's post, it was never-the-less funny.
ReplyDeleteThe USMNT support is very cult-like. And that's fine with me. I don't mind that its not a mainstream thing because those who do support it, do so with fervor. I liken it to the grateful dead or phish. It's not mainstream and won't be on the radio, but those that do support them, do so with unparralled passion.
Not sure I totally agree with the South Americans faltering though. While the top 2 teams happened to be European, I would still pit the top 5 SA teams against the top 5 Euro teams and take my chances with our neighbors from the South. Like we've seen before, Euro teams are generally better 'teams' and have better coaches which is huge in tournament play.