Even though Belgium’s 2-1 victory in extra time yesterday knocked USA out of the World Cup, Kornhaber celebrates our goalie Tim Howard, whose record 16 saves put an American mark on the tournament:
After watching America lose to Belgium in agonizing and thrilling fashion on Tuesday, it’s impossible to deny what I (and I suspect even Coulter) realize, deep down: If you have a problem enjoying soccer or any other popular athletic contest, that’s on you, not the sport.
Exhibits a, b, and c to that effect were Tim Howard, who nuked the notion that soccer is boring, random, and devoid of true stars (Coulter: “Do they even have MVPs in soccer?”). On the page, the fact that the U.S. keeper set a World Cup record for saves in a game (16) is just another statistic that just makes my eyes glaze over. But when I watched the process by which that statistic was achieved—really watch, beer in hand, surrounded by fans, aware of what’s riding on the outcome—the feeling was entirely different.
A compilation of Howard’s saves after the jump:
But Henry D. Fetter, prior to the game this week, tempered any excitement that soccer is finally becoming a major American sport:
Even before the World Cup got underway, soccer historian David Goldblatt told The Economist “football is taking off in America.” And even before that, writers were making predictions:
- “U.S. soccer on the brink.”
- “Now everyone believes in soccer’s future, a general belief that soccer has all the irresistibility of a sport whose moment has come.”
- “Within 10 years ‘soccer will not only be the No. 1 sport in the U.S. but also the major soccer center in the world.’”
- “Father used to take their kids to the football game. Now the kids, they take their father to the soccer game.”
- “Soccer is on the verge of exploding.”
An impressive compilation of concurring opinions, to be sure. But, not to spoil the current celebration, those quotes are from 1968, 1975, 1977, 1980, and 1993, respectively. And even in those years, it was hardly a novelty to be bullish about the prospects for the sport in this country. “Soccer in America is gaining in popularity … the game is established on a firm foundation and the future of the sport in the United States is assured” the New York Times recorded—in 1924.
And Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in a less Coulterish way than Coulter, says the sport will never really catch on:
[S]occer doesn’t fully express the American ethos as powerfully as our other popular sports. We are a country of pioneers, explorers, and contrarians who only need someone to say it can’t be done to fire us up to prove otherwise. As a result, we like to see extraordinary effort rewarded. The low scoring in soccer frustrates this American impulse.
We also celebrate rugged individualism, the democratic ideal that anybody from any background can become a sports hero. We like to see heroes rise, buoyed by their teammates, but still expressing their own supreme individual skills. Certainly soccer has its celebrated stars, from Pele to Beckham, but those skills seem muted on TV where we’re often looking at small figures on a large field and therefore these feats appear less impressive than they really are.
Could Howard change that? Dunno. But he sure can grow a sweet beard.
The Dish 