Like most American kids I instinctively respond to the sound of an ice cream truck and didn't grow up in a culture that was very friendly to Soccer. I played in the little kids league when it was basically 20 kids all crowded around the ball while each goalie (me) sat in the net picking their nose until the moment of sheer terror when a shot is fired and I hope it doesn't roll through my legs and make me look like an IDIOT!
Indoor soccer was another thing though. Most fun you can have in a gym with your pants on. Banking it off the walls, etc. Hitting parents "by accident" in the stands to the one side. If it wasn't for all the stoppage for those darn "High Kicks!" but I digress...
I don't know if Soccer will every really catch on in the US, but watching the US team in the World Cup was contagious before they got eliminated. My Patriotic side said, “Rah Rah America! Let’s win the whole damn thing!” Just like the Olympics, I don't care what sport it is, just beat everyone else even if it’s with a Triple Salchow (Lutz?). If they are communist then do it for democracy. If they are dictatorship, do it for Freedom. If they are France or the Middle east, just do it (Nike plug). People get together at bars and houses to cheer on our boys and crack on Ghana's lack of fashion sense with their uniforms...although their fans have carte blanche to dress like witch doctors. I think college basketball is the closest an analogy I can draw to World Cup soccer. There are qualifiers and then tournament style single elimination. People dress in their supporting colors and look extremely disappointed when their team loses, because they know they have to return to real life. On the World Stage of soccer we aren't Duke, UNC, Kentucky, Kansas. We aren’t even Butler who was a preseason top 15. We're more like Gonzaga. We have a good shot at making the Sweet 16, but no shot to win it all. I root for Gonzaga in the tourney because they are a bunch of undersized, not so athletic guys from Washington State that can't dunk, yet they find their way in every year. That’s just like the US. No real stars...Landon Donovan is good for an American but not World Class. He is Adam Morrison sans bad teenage moustache.
Then there's my pessimistic side. The side that says hockey has too many ties (shootouts not withstanding), but enough fights to get by. Whereas soccer is slower, and when they get hit they fall on the ground and stay down to try to draw a penalty. This kind of behavior is the antithesis of American Sport. We hate European "floppers" in the NBA, so I don't need to watch even lesser known guys (by American standards) do it every 4 years.
Soccer/Futbol/Footie will never be an epidemic in this country because it's not "our" sport. As a fairly young country (not even 250 years) we often use sport as cultural identification and pride. Baseball. Ours. Abner Doubleday. Sunday afternoons. Hot dogs. National Pastime. It may be slow at times on tv, but it is tied to our national identity. And Football. Cold, windy gridiron. Longball. Bone crushing hits. Tailgate parties. Betting and Fantasy are just the icing on the cake. Those are American sports.
Maybe the simple answer is we created the other sports so we would immediately be the best at them. Make new rules that suit your style. Instant home court advantage! Why work your way up the international ladder when you can just make a new ladder altogether?
After this year’s hype and advancement to the round of 16, the US might be gaining ground in the soccer world, but its not yet a major player. Whether we need an influx of international talent, a homegrown superstar, or just a monetary incentive it seems like soccer fever is more of the sniffles that a full blown epidemic.
