Well, football as defined by 96% of the world's population. What Americans call soccer.
There's been more talk about why Americans don't get football recently. We're concerned about our lack of concern. And more people are tying America's poor interest, as well as play, with the larger social scene. One recent writer to the NY Times suggested that America's lousy showing at the World Cup reflected the decline of the U.S. globally. The only "world series" we can win is when only other Americans are playing.
Jon Stewart had the best commentary on the U.S. loss to Ghana: "No shame for the U.S. We lost to one of southwest Africa's LEAST malnourished nations."
A new book, Soccerheads, talks about the social implications. And another NYT letterwriter, Yu Jin Ko of Wellesley, Mass., observed, "Americans' sporting sensibilities have been molded by our industrial obsession with productivity." That's pretty NineShifty, isn't it? Two conclusions: * There's something to the relationship between society and football (soccer you say) worth exploring. * America's isolation from the rest of the world is both symbollically and literally exemplified by our lack of participation in the sport of the 21st century. The height of our ignorance - - the NPR reporter who interviewed someone from England and kept insisting and correcting the Brit when he referred to the sport as football. We can't even get the name of the sport correct. What are your thoughts on socc, I mean football....
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