America's Game

I’ve been going over this thing in my head about how all Americans are soccer fans…most just don't know it yet.

Its about how we only think that what we like are measurable and statistics...yards, receptions, hits, strikeouts, rebounds...etc. But really, after the game is a few weeks old, who remembers those things? What we REALLY like are memorable moments – moments that burn in your visual cortex and last for generations! Boise State’s hook-and-lateral, Montana to Clark for The Catch, The Broncos and The Drive, Jordan with is hand raised after hitting possibly his final winning shot, Tiger pumping his fists, the Immaculate Reception, Ali standing over Liston…

I moved to Seattle in ’97 and missed the '95 MLB playoffs. You can’t live here (hell, I’m not sure you could visit here!) and not feel the importance of Griffy rounding third at full speed and racing home off of Edgar’s linedrive. The statistics from winning 116 games will never come close to the power of that memorable moment and all that it represents. Having now adopted the city, and the Seahawks in particular, I still must admit (hate to admit!) that the Seahawks lost the Superbowl because Pittsburgh was able to create the more memorable moments and not just statistics.

Soccer strips away all the things that we as Americans pretend matter...and simply celebrates (or mourns) the most memorable moments!

I don’t just mean the big moments in the big games like Pele scoring at 17 or Maradona’s…take your pick: Hand of God goal or the one that followed? No, every single soccer game is an example of ignoring apparent progress, and accepting only those moments that actually change the outcome of the game! That's why every goal, so difficulty crafted, elicits such extreme celebration, and every miss is so agonizingly lamented .

Ask Spain or Barcelona if 'time of possession' really matters or if only the goals matter in the end. See if Italy and Brazil care about 'shots on goal' from ’94. Only one shot mattered, the one that went over the crossbar. Ask Messi how many Golden Boot awards he would trade for a World Cup trophy.

Americans are soccer fans, even if they don’t know it yet, because we do, in fact, value everything that soccer is about! All we need are some of those moments of our own to value.

We’ve got a couple now and we are adding to them all the time. We had one in 1950, we added to that in1994 versus Columbia. The women gave us one in ’95. Those who were paying attention remember Preki and Keller beating Brazil in ’98, a game that the great Romario called the greatest goalkeeping performance he had ever seen! We saw the men beat Spain in the confederations cup ending their unbeaten run. We saw the women again produce some amazing moments in the last word cup – from Abby’s goals to Solo’s saves. And we saw Donovan and Dempsey produce maybe our best moments yet in the last world cup.

We even have our fair share of bad moments. The women losing to Brazil in one world cup and Japan in a shootout four years later. The men being put in their place all too often by Rivals Mexico, or by some nation a fraction of our size and resources. The '94 injury to Tab Ramos or the recent snow game.

And yet I understand it’s a process. We need these moments to create memories. We need the memories as a foundation for the motivation to watch more often. We need to watch more often to grasp the subtly  of the game. We need to grasp the subtly in order to recognize that just like every pitch in baseball or every down in football, every pass and every dribble in soccer is just seconds away from the next most memorable moment ever!