From the sidelines
The first sport I ever played was soccer.
I was five and playing for the navy blue YMCA team. That season would be my only one because as my mom said, "You hated to run."
That still proves true today. It's why I love baseball so much, and would rather sit on the couch with a remote and some chips than subject my body to a jog everyday.
I know, sad.
Nonetheless, soccer is a great game, yet misunderstood in America.
We as Americans have short attention spans, like high-scoring sports, and don't like to be restricted in any way.
This doesn't bode well for soccer considering there are rarely time outs, 0-0 is a common score, and the use of hands (unless you are the goalie) is not permissible.
But the beauty of a bicycle kick, diving save, or hip-breaking juke are all unique to the sport the rest of the world calls "football."
If you can appreciate athleticism, close games, and stellar defense, you will like soccer.
It's too bad there isn't much of it around here. Of course, until 10 or 15 years ago there wasn't much of it anywhere in the United States.
Invented in 1863, the sport is "widely considered to be the most popular sport in the world," according to Wikipedia.org.
Still, America doesn't think so. Yes, we have Major League Soccer, but I wouldn't be surprised if reruns of Barney were watched more than those games.
Most Americans just don't see the beauty in the game.
They don't appreciate that a team can fight for 90 minutes, blood, tooth, and nail for that one shot that goes in the net and determines the outcome.
Of course when we have the World Cup once every four years, all of a sudden we love the sport because we are able to flex our muscles and egos to the rest of the world.
The only problem is the American team has a history of stinking it up on the world stage with a career record of 6-13-3.
With the popularity of football (or American football to the rest of the world), soccer has as much of a chance to succeed here as half of the major networks' fall television shows — none.
Right now the City of Marion doesn't have a soccer team, but the county does, and the youth should take advantage of the opportunity to play.
If anything, it will get the remote and the bag of chips out of their hands.
