I'm not sure when it happened exactly, but sometime in the past few years I transitioned from being a sports fan with an appreciation for soccer to being a soccer fan with an appreciation for other sports. I don't know when the transition happened, but I can put a specific date on when I realized it had.
It was last Friday night, August 20, 2010. I was watching a PawSox game at McCoy Stadium with some friends when it suddenly dawned on me that I was watching a baseball game through a soccer lens. Things I had never disliked about baseball before were suddenly woefully inadequate. That's not to say that baseball's inadequate. It's a fine sport. But I was approaching it as a native of a totally different sports culture.
Let's start with the atmosphere:
-A baseball game, especially a minor league baseball game, is a family-friendly event. Dora the Explorer came out onto the field between the second and third innings, and was available for photos for the rest of the game. When I got up to get a doughboy and a Del's (this is Rhode Island after all) the line for Dora was nearly half the length of the concourse. With so many children around, I felt the need to watch my language, which wouldn't have been a problem, except that the soccer fan in me wanted to shout "You suck, asshole!" every time a batter swung and missed.
-Baseball games are also patriotic. I can't imagine stopping a soccer game halfway through in order to sing "God Bless America," not even an international match, although that would be more plausible. Of course, I can't imagine singing "Take Me Out To the Ballgame" either.
-I think these are all just symptoms of the larger issue here: As a soccer fan first and a sports fan second, I find it incredibly strange that all of the organized cheering at a baseball game (except the occasional wave or "let's go [home team]" chant) comes from the PA announcer. It's not just the songs, but every little between-pitch piece of call-and-response. As a soccer fan, those things are screaming out for a supporters' group to organize. Think about it: rather than sporadic heckling of opposing batters, we could have an entire section behind home plate standing and chanting. "You suck asshole!" when a batter swings and misses, "Sweet Caroline" whenever they felt like it, a call-and-response "Oh when the Sox go marching in ..." Baseball fans might not take to this kind of stuff because it's not part of the culture, but as a soccer fan, I find its absence unsettling.
OK, now let's consider the league system:
-There are thousands of professional and semi-professional baseball teams in the United States and around the world. Which team is the best? Well, probably whichever one of the 30 major league teams in the USA wins the World Series.
-OK, could we hold a tournament to test that theory out? Maybe, except that MLB teams already play 162 games a year (not including playoffs and spring training) and don't have the time or desire to play more. And even if they could be coaxed into joining such a competition, what rules would we use? AL? NL? Japanese? College? The game of baseball changes from league-to-league and country-to-country, making the possibility of an international club tournament highly unlikely.
-Why do we need such a tournament? Baseball fans don't. But as a soccer fan, I find a sport for which the American top-flight league is unquestioned in its dominance incredibly boring. In soccer, nearly every country has its own league, and the rules don't change at all from one to another. Furthermore, not one of these leagues can make the claim that it's the best in the world without causing heated debate. For this very reason, tournaments exist that pit teams from different countries against each other, and they run concurrently with the domestic season. Champions Leagues, coupled with domestic cups, lesser international tournaments, league play, and sometimes playoffs, mean that there is always another soccer competition about to begin, and it makes one 30-team league in the USA look small and unexciting.
Finally, people say soccer is boring?
-The PawSox lost the game 7-6 in 10 innings. Was it exciting? Not in the least. The game took three and a half hours -- which isn't even excessively long for a baseball game -- the vast majority of which involved no movement by anyone except pitcher and catcher. The PawSox jumped out to a 6-0 lead by the fourth inning, and then proceeded to squander it, one run at a time, in a way that didn't even seem dramatic so much as inevitable. At no point did I feel compelled to pay close attention lest I miss some important piece of action.
-Now, obviously, I had no vested interest in the game. I suppose you could argue it would have been more interesting under different circumstances: major league teams, competing for a playoff spot, a generally higher standard of play, etc. That's probably true. But as a soccer fan, what I couldn't get over was all the down-time.
-A soccer game takes 90 minutes, plus stoppage-time. Even with a break for halftime, the whole event is unlikely to take longer than 2 hours. During at least three quarters of those two hours, the ball and the players are constantly moving. Chances are created. Saves are made. Goals are scored. And the whole time, win or lose, the supporters are standing and singing, so even if you are bored, there's at least some weird people to watch.
Seriously, I used to be a sports fan first, so I get the appeal of baseball. But now, as a soccer fan first, I find it laughably inferior.
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