Endangered Species: Crazy American Soccer Fans

Jen Sala over at Orkut Media has an interesting article about why Americans are generally not interested in soccer.

American sport enthusiasts are the poster children for attention deficit disorder. We like big numbers; we like clear-cut winners; we like action and aggression marked by runs, touchdowns, baskets, and goals, peppered perhaps with the occasional fistfight. We like tangible action that we can read about in the box scores the next day. We don't appreciate the drama and struggle of a zero-zero game. [...]

I personally think that American soccer fans aren't nearly dedicated enough as Latin American or European fans. We need more painted people, more people dressed up like complete freaks. I would like to see more fans covered in greasy head to toe red, white, and blue. We need more people in giant wigs.

What Americans like about soccer is that it is what I call "a hype sport." Basically, it is a sport that, like basketball, a player can do a lot of cool tricks, have fun and use their skills to out smart the opponent.

Unfortunately unless those tricks are giving your team a massive lead (or showing up early on the score board) then the game loses interest, making the Golf channel much more appealing.