Soccer and the USA

A recent New York Daily News article entitled "USA's World Cup run is over: Ghana goal in extra-time breaks fans' hearts" includes a poll that asks whether or not Soccer can ever become as popular in the US as other big sports. Personally, I don't believe that it will as americans are generally unwilling to pour their support and interest into something with which they are not immediately familiar with, and for generations now the only sports common to most americans have been Baseball, Basketball, and American Football. Even other major sports that have been heavily covered in the US, are considered by most to be niche sports or amusing distractions between seasons.

That said, I do think it would be good if Soccer did become popular in the US. The only time that americans in general really rally behind a team is during the Olympics, and that's assuming that they even watch it. It would be nice to see americans rally behind a team annually; to come together every year in the way that other nations do during Soccer, or Football, season.

Sadly, I don't expect to be able to see that during my lifetime.