I was listening to the Fan 590 in Toronto the other day and Bob McCown was discussing the MLS All-Star game held at BMO field in Toronto. Before even beginning the segment, he referred to soccer fans as Suckers & Saps, and then went on to ask how it is possible for so many people to love such a boring game. Then he inferred that those who do love the sport (4 Billion people incidentally) are idiots.
First off, watching any sport in which you are uneducated will be a less than exciting experience. Rugby looks like an amazing game, but I don’t get it, so it’s terribly boring to me. Many North Americans (including myself and Bob McCown) are in love with Baseball, but it is quite possibly the slowest sport on earth and anyone who doesn’t understand it would compare it to watching paint dry. However, that doesn’t make us who are fans of Baseball, Suckers & Saps.
I’ll admit, I’m not the biggest Soccer fan in the world, although I would say that I’m one of the more educated North American born followers of the sport. However, i just attended my first live soccer game last week and other than Euro and World Cup, I don’t watch alot of it on TV. But when you watch enough of it and understand the game for more than just the # of goals, it is a very exciting sport to watch. It’s also fun seeing the true fans of the sport get so worked up over every game and goal.
Let’s look at why it is so popular. Soccer, obviously, is the most embraced sport in the World by a landslide. Every single country in the World plays it and even Canada has a higher registration level in Soccer than it does for Hockey. No joke! Why is this so? First, most team sports require a specialized venue and a heap of equipment to play. Soccer requires nothing but a ball and a little open space. Hockey requires expensive equipment, a specific season, and a patch of clean ice. Not easy. Baseball requires some equipment, level ground and atleast 10 people to make it even remotely enjoyable. Not easy. Basketball requires only a ball, but you need a court and a net. Not always easy. Football only requires some open space, but you need some serious body armour to keep from getting hurt. Even if you’re playing flag football, you still need a handful of people to make it work. Not easy
Soccer on the other hand, requires only one spherical object of a number of different materials or sizes, and some sort of open space, whether that be indoors or outdoors. Plus, you really only need two people. There is not a simpler game in the world to just pick up and play, and certainly not a cheaper one. Plus, kicking a ball around is just a natural thing people do. Even if you were born on a desert island and didn’t even know soccer existed, I’ll bet you would be playing some version of soccer with a coconut. It’s just natural. Fottball on the other hand; Having someone bend over, moving your crotch up to them and having them pass you a ball between your legs is just not natural.
Because of the simplicity and the low cost nature of soccer, it is the #1 played sport in almost every country around the World. With that many people playing the sport, naturally alot of people are going to watch the sport. What other sport can you watch an African team and a Eurpoean team play to a draw.
Now, I think that, like many things Bob does, he does to get a reaction. And, I’m playing right in to his hands by spending my time writing this Blog. But, in case he really does believe that he’s smarter than 4 Billion people, I say thumbs down to Bob.
Tags: Bob McCown, MLS, Soccer
