"Is America on the verge of an athletic revolution?"

No, and more kids playing means nothing. Millions of americans play youth soccer. They just can't stand to watch it later in life.

I can't believe you are not seeing the OBVIOUS reason ratings are up. Let me point it out with a question:

In considering the ratings jump from World Cup '02 to World Cup '06, did you consider how many immigrants have come to America in that time period?

I seriously doubt Americans born here (unless they are born in immigrant families) and stereotypical white americans are watching the World Cup.

(P.S. This is not a racist rant, I am not white, black, or latino)

My point is that we have more and more immigration, and people all over the world love soccer, so it is no surprise ratings are up, but who is watching? Soccer fans, of course.

The casual American sports fan will never watch soccer, including the World Cup. I personally will shoot anyone who does so BEFORE putting in a casual interest in the NHL.

It is sick that immigration has led to soccer being more popular than NHL hockey in this country.

It's not fair to just say "Ratings went up" without considering immigration between 2002 and 2006. It makes a HUGE difference and goes to show that there is not even a seedling of a soccer revolution here.

Hmm..no...for the record I do not believe, at all, that immigration patterns in the last four years are responsible for World Cup ratings on American television. According to the ratings, even a good number of the viewers on Univision--Spanish-languange television--are American, English-speaking viewers.

It's not fair to say "immigration went up" and having that account for everything that's not typically American.

Ty, you are so far off base. You say that you are not white black or latino. How about moron? Awe, that comes in any color...

OK, soccer, or futbol is MY #1 sport. OK. You are just so far behind the times. OK. If you have read any of my other comments you will realize I have been playing for quite a while like thousands and thousands have around here. Seattle WA.

I move here from Chicago IL in 1965, I was 7 years old. I didn't know what the hell soccer was. But out here it had been in full swing on a highly organized level for at least a generation before I ever arrived. So I join a team. Everyone played. During elementary school at recess we would pick 2 teams at the beginning of the school year. Every day we run on the field and play 15 minutes in the morning and 1/2 hour after lunch. Basically we would keep score for the whole week. Start a new game the following Monday. Pick new teams after Christmas break. Add to this our regular league games and practices. Including excursions to Canada in an exchange program of us going up there and them coming down here which, i guess was one of the largest internationational youth sports programs on the planet.

By age 14 I or many thousand kids around here could smoke any USA college soccer player. I have 3 nearby public soccer fields complete with nets and pro-turf near my house (and I am within city limits). I hit the field the other day for the first time in months. Ugh, out of shape, I am 48 now, but I was still able to dump in nice goals that would be unstopable with a defense a step offline.

Kids around here that have families native to the area have GRANDPARENTS that can play a mean game. Back in the 70s this area fed the NASL pretty well with the quota of USA players required for each team. Jeff Durgan of the NY Cosmos for example.

You cannot peal MY MOM away from the TV with World Cup action. She is probably running around her high end neighborhood with torches being a hooligan. Smashing cars or something. OK, maybe not that bad. Leave that to the English Boeing engineers around here.

I am so white, my family has been in this country since the late 1600s. I don't have any foriegn family influence in my soccer interest. And I speak for thousands and thousands that got their kicks up here.

OK, the talent pool has been diluted a bit due to assholes that come here from other places to work for Microsoft or Boeing. But hell, they will catch up. Seattle University and Seattle Pacific University always rank high nationally in their college rankings. Both teams carry a high percentage of local players.

My point is that I don't care what excuses you may try to come up with, they are sure not applicable here. Pele said about Seattle on his first visit to Seattle in 1975 "these people know their soccer". True, I would watch nationally televised games from NY (they just bought Pele) and the crowds just made alot of noise, not having a clue what was going on-on the field. Seattle, people knew offsides rules, attractive play, etc. and responded accordingly. Not just making a bunch of noise cuz Pele was on the field. The Seattle Sounders had the top draw in the NASL for many years. Outdrawing the NY Cosmos easy.

Anyway Ty, all I'm saying is that I can drag my 48 year old carcass onto the field right now and toast your ass easy. So can thousands of other old carcasses around here. You have alot of catching up to do. You mention the NHL. Funny, soccer and hockey are strategically the same sport.

OK, I'm done bitchin'

I prefer soccer to ice hockey any day, if only because you can see a goal being scored in soccer, unlike hockey, where even on the action replay it's not easy to see some goals, the puck moves way too fast!!

Never mind the moron (Ty) at the top of this blog, that type attitude persists with many meatheads.

The reason soccer has been slow in gaining popularity here is the fact that it is a "commercial-unfriendly" sport. Thus networks have refused to promote it much. In soccer "10 minutes left" means just that, 10 minutes (give or take a minute or two). In an NFL or NBA game 10 minutes could take over an hour, bombarding the masses with commercials. And MLB is even worse, it's not just the commercials between half innings, but also the deadly slow pace of the game as between each pitch, and the times where the manager goes up to the mound, and when they change pitchers, and so on. Soccer is by far the most truly sporting event/activity of the major sports. When a soccer fan watches his/her sport they are doing just that, and not having to absorb sales pitches on everything from trucks to beer, to whatever else, most of which the viewer has no interest/use for. That has been one refreshingly noble thing I noticed, while watching my first full World Cup. The other complaint I hear a lot from my All-American buddies is soccer is boring because it is low scoring (I'll admit I had always thought that as well). But with soccer it really is the action that takes you, the dribbling, passing, saves by the goalie, etc. Some of the best matches could end in a 0-0 tie! Same way a 1-0 MLB game could be labled as a "Great pitching duel". It's all in understanding the game and having a feel for it.

The fact that a soccer game is usually done in 2 hours or less due to a lack of timeouts, no commercials, its phsically demanding nature (only 3 subs for the entire game), and the global nature where teams participate from the poorest to the richest countries in the world, makes this sport a true joy to watch. The world cup champion is much more of a true world champion than the "world champion Pittsburgh Steelers".

Max, you ROCK. Your words are precise. commercial unfriendly is so true. In Europe the pay for view aspect is one method used, but they have the foundation of an already developed sport. If US TV would promote pay for view, uh, maybe....

Many European teams have heavy corporate sponsorships. Some of those uniforms look like a NASCAR with all the different sponsors plastered all over a jersey.

Then, NHL on TV doesn't rate too good. NFL does. It comes back to the grass roots. Kids, keep playing! Get everyone into it. My mom, for instance was so hardcore about the World Cup it was nuts. Man, the folks cable signal went out for a minute during the shootout today. She was on the phone to me in a second while I described the next kick. Cable back on, she is off the phone. Then she calls back and we discuss the shootout system. she had to go thru that agony when I was a kid (11y.o.) in our first state championship (1969) that ended in a tie after overtime. we win state decided by the fact we took more corner kicks during the game.

Point being, mom got heavy into the game cuz of me. All I'm trying to say is that it will take getting it in the bloodline in this country to get it to take off.

OK, I'm done yammering....

Good match today. It was fitting for it to go to shootout.

whether you like or not you have a right to know about the real sport and a real sport,a real tournament where you can see real champions battling for the trophy of the game every body around the world would like to watch and to get involved with.So many people are comparing football(world game) with the other types of games and ,nfl with nba, mlb with the beutiful game.
Any way this is craziness,why becouse who is the ane who campares rap with rock music and raga with pop and still ignores them,nobody.So please if you are sports fans standup and fight for those gaddem presses that are creating such big unremovable gaps in the world of sports.If football grows in the US surely it will overtake the success of hollywood specially in the international enviroment and this is success for every sport that is shadowed by bunch of hollywood controlled medias.And this is still good for NBA,NFL,NHL,MLB.Remember the only american sports players that are recognized around the world are Jordan,ALI,Tyson and may be lance armstrong and No other.Don't get missed up by ABC, becouse it stated that SUPERBOWL is watched by 100 millions of people around the world,but this is big lie,just pioner around the world and you will realize that even there are still billions of people around the world that don't even know that there is sport called Aerican football or baseball.So what is that by NBC,ABC,FOX and other american tv networks doing in that they prefer to introduce a new actress or singer in stead of supporting the growth of american sports still they say that they are supportig the growth of the games.That is why they fear the reign of the world game from affecting their habit of talking about brad pitt and other only hollywod people,in stead of providing their people about the usefullness of whether it is soccer football,amer.football,basketball or baseball.please every sports fan stand for the reign of sports.

A penalty kick to decide the champion? Soccer is boring, they hype the brotherly love then the worlds best player head butts someone in the most important game of the tournament. ESPN and ABC gloss over the fact that English and German fans tried to refight WW2 a few weeks ago becoause it does not fit into the image they are hyping. Glad it's over. If soccer is so good then why are more and more latino's playing baseball, football and basketball after they immigrate? Oh and don't forget Scott Gomez of the New Jersey Devils!

every time the world cup comes around, with the associated internet and radio banter, i'm reminded of a funny (to me) bit i heard on a sports call-in show. the topic was the usual "soccer, sport of the future" thing. the caller said: "that's exactly right. soccer is the 'sport of the future', and it always will be."

p.s. ending on penalty kicks? isn't that like ending a chess match by playing rock/paper/scissors?

Immigrants to America are playing baseball, football and basketball IN America because America PAYS the big bucks to athletes in those sports which are much easier and carry a much longer career than soccer. American soccer players make pennies on the dollar compared to baseball players. You can't make that comparison. On the other hand, the best pure athletes in the world play in European leagues. I challenge any American athlete to run the 100-yard dash for two consecutive hours with no timeouts. That's only half the battle in Soccer.

I get a kick (pardon the pun) out of soccer fans who think, "we unwashed" simply cannot appreciate the nuance of soccer. Guys, it's a simplistic, dull game. Kick the ball in the goal. Dump it into the corner and try to get a cross, or bum-rush it up the middle and try to draw defenders to you. Sounds like a little league basketball game.

There is no game away from the ball, no specialization, little strategy and only half your team plays offense...dull....boring. I watched about ten minutes of World Cup, total, and it became too painful. No screens, no picks and a bunch of drama queens flopping around the field, trying to gain the referee's attention.

Don't compare it to other games, but judge it on it's own merits. If you do, you have a game that's simply too simple.

Don't tell us how great the athletes are. Frankly, I'd rather watch those guys play basketball.

It's a dull, simpleton game and will never gain anything more than a niche auidence until you can pick up the rock and run with it, or throw it to your teammate. Dull...boring...simplistic.

If soccer was a video game, kids would probably drop the controllers and go outside to play...anything.

Dull, simplistic and boring. The ratings don't lie.

Highest American ratings ever. One billion people watched the final.

I would guess that most americans can't handle soccer because it is too much of a stratigic game. People want to talk about boring sports what about baseball, basketball, football, tennis, golf? all your commercials in between for starters. Just because most of these players don't deliver hits like in american football its not a sport worth mentioning in the USA. If ratings is what you wanna talk about you can also point out that the USA was probably one of the lowest ratings of the World Cup because it is something new to them. All around the world this sport is not just a sport but a way of life, a religion for most. Now, i must admit that it has changed, too many players are trying to cheat and dive...but what about the other sports? if you want to talk about that what about the steriods that people take in baseball and football? its almost the same thing, trying to get an advantage over the other team... but at least soccer players are not injecting themselves with these steriods. Like i said USA still has to see the true sport of soccer... just because its not popular in the US doesn't mean its not popular in the world... just for the drawings in the begining of the cup to see what team was gonna be in what group, around (roughly) 150 million people watched the drawing if not more... when true soccer hits the US then you will see what people all around the world are talk about... its not just kicking a ball and putting it in goal. You still have to take into consideration the other 11 players in the opposing team. Like in football, i could just say its a bunch of no talent, overweight, steriod taking people that run into each other trying to reach the end of the field... its just being naive and ignorant not to mention close-minded. Grow up USA. Learn some real football!

Yes America may pay good money in the USA but i can show you some people that make alot more money than most athletes do in 10 years... take Andriy Shevchenko for instance. The best striker in Europe was sold for 85 million EUROS! and he is gonna get paid roughly 175,000 to 225,000 a week! Two other players from the same team are estimated to get around this much starting next season... John Terry around 200,000 a week and if im not mistaken Frank Lampard 250,000 a week!

soccer is the only sport in the world that can stop wars and united countries it has more leeagues around the world than football and more players besides football is the whitemans sport its pointless because someone always has to win there are no draws and the rules are lame fukyou football fans that aint a sport i would rather watch tennis than football soccer has no timeout,no 2 min warninigs, no commercialbreaks just 22 player 2 half and they ae each 45min without braks or tim out soccer is a world sport that actually has a world tournement the nfl is just a domestic league thats why it level is so under than soccer so fuck football there is only one futbol its called soccer

sooooooccccceeeerrrrrrrrrr is priceless but more piceless is that ur bitchassfootball fan is reading this messege