Soccer is broken. Not the kicking-of-the-ball-can’t-use-your-hands part; that’s beautiful, always has been. Ok, maybe not always; early versions of soccer were brutal and ugly, an expression of pent-up male anxiety in a culture that that frowned upon self-expression, masturbation, etc. Um, where was I?
I feel this so deeply. I love soccer. I loved watching the U.S. vs. Trinidad on a crap field (even though I hated the result). I love watching the Argentine league. But the game at the highest-level is just not about "us"—the soccer fan. Maybe it never was, or hasn't been in a long time. Now it's for the consumer. I don't have grand ideas for how we fix it. But I have started to take greater pleasure in watching kids on a field in my town kicking a ball than professionals on TV.
I feel this so deeply. I love soccer. I loved watching the U.S. vs. Trinidad on a crap field (even though I hated the result). I love watching the Argentine league. But the game at the highest-level is just not about "us"—the soccer fan. Maybe it never was, or hasn't been in a long time. Now it's for the consumer. I don't have grand ideas for how we fix it. But I have started to take greater pleasure in watching kids on a field in my town kicking a ball than professionals on TV.