Has soccer taken hold as a “hip” sport to like?
Posted on June 11th, 2008 – 3:10 PMBy Michael Rand
We’re quite sure soccer will never be the USA’s sport; at the same time, we can’t help but feel the attitude toward “the beautiful game” has changed for the better — and in a way the sport should embrace and build on. See, for the past 20-30 years, soccer enthusiasts in this country have so desperately wanted the sport to be a mainstream success. What they’ve found is that people don’t like being told what to like. Combined with average fans’ short attention spans and a thirst for more direct violence, soccer never became “the sport of the future,” no matter how indefinite the timetable became.
Our take is that soccer was going about it all wrong. Instead of diving into the middle, the sport should have been working the corners. Instead of courting families and Joe Sixpack, soccer should have been embracing the hipsters, “misfits” and wandering 20-somethings who are finding their way into watching the sport because it’s trendy to like something that the “establishment” dislikes. Once the underground takes hold of something — which has happened now, based on the swelling Euro 2008 chatter we hear, just as one example — the mainstream wants a piece of it. In other words, don’t tell a 40-year-old he needs a pair of Chuck Taylor’s. Instead, sell them to his kid and make his dad feel uncool for missing out.
That’s what soccer seems to be doing now, and doing well. The sport is, well, trendy in its own way. That’s a powerful thing.
(Does this make sense?)
Your thoughts.
21 Responses to "Has soccer taken hold as a “hip” sport to like?"
I bet S.U. Perrookie tucks it in his waistband at the mere sight of the headline.* I admit I have gotten a little excited with Euro2k8 going on. I even pulled out Fifa 07 or 360 and started playing it again. By again, I mean for the first time since I bought it used. It probably helps that Bristol has decided to show all the games.
* Thank you Brandon for using this term on a regular basis. That should be incorporated into the Wolves new season to get fans excited.
Timberwolves 08-09: Tuck it in the wasitband.
Now are you talking about the people who like bands who play crappy music**, just because no one’s heard of them and because they’ll never “sell out”? Is this the demographic being courted? The problem is, that demographic doesn’t want to spend money. And they don’t want the things they like to make money, because that equals “selling out”.
**I’m not talking about music that I just don’t like. I mean, poorly played instruments, poorly sung and written songs. You know, like The Hives or…dare I say it?…Bright Eyes.
“I don’t want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don’t want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don’t want to do that.”
- Lloyd Dobler, Ultimate Unhip Hipster
[Dave will pay for throwing elbows at Conor Oberst.]
I’m also totally okay with soccer becoming a large “fringe sport” in the U.S. Now all of the people wearing the jerseys of European clubs can finally get jerseys of teams that they can actually watch play on a regular basis. Then again, that’s not quite as “hip”. It’s more hip to wear the European club’s jersey and reminisce about your time in Europe…
From what I remember that’s something white people like
I have a long attention span and no thirst for violence whatsoever, and I still find soccer boring.
(@Roughkat - my pleasure, sir!)
I will say, despite my disinterest in soccer, I am definitely not a soccerphobe
Soccer has never caught on in the US for many reasons, but the main one is that in the televised games, you can’t break for commercial every 15 seconds of play like baseball or “football”.
As a huge soccer fanatic and player I feel like US soccerphiles need to just deal with the fact that it’ll never be as good or as popular here as it is in the rest of the world (except Canada).
The establishment
Isn’t always good, but it beats
The hipster D-Bag
Hipster D-Bag likes
Soccer? Whatever, he also likes
Belle and Sebastian
Authenticity
Is not the antithesis
Of that which is cool
Your vintage clothing
Makes you look like a sad and
Color-blind hobo
I don’t want soccer
If I have to share it with
The hipster D-bag
Interesting points, but I don’t like soccer because nobody else does. I like it because (blasphemy alert) I actually find it exciting.
And beyond having the games on TV, I don’t particularly care whether anyone likes it or not. (Of course, a few people have to like it for it to get on TV, but I don’t care if it ever becomes “mainstream”.)
Hipster D-Bag likes
Soccer? Whatever, he also likes
Belle and Sebastian
Rocket +1
I second the +1
Compound haiku? Good heavens, Rocket, now you’re just showing off.
That said, “Piazza New York Catcher” by Belle & Sebastian is a great song.
For the record, it should be noted that RandBall wears the Adidas kicks pictured above when he plays golf. It’s the lamest thing ever.
AND SPEAKING OF GOLF …
Check out the hole-by-hole preview of the Bastards Invitational Golf Tournament — featuring RandBall and Linnemann — on kirschtopia.tumblr.com
Sassbottom
Hole #8 was certainly entertaining…
And I wear retro New Balances when I golf. That has to be just as lame as Rand’s Adidas
My dad always has an extra pair of golf shoes in his car though, so when I tee it up with him, I’m a little more acceptable.
Not to harp on the old the glorious days of the NASL and MN Kicks, but the hipster/fringe angle was the marketing plan - at least in Minny. While the Vikes and Kicks both promoted the tailgating fun, the party outside the Vikes games resembled a Charlie Daniels audience, while the party outside the Kicks games were more like a Wilco or My Morning Glory crowd. Minus the Hackey Sacks.
The question is, why were soccer and the Kicks the second-best draw in town for that (really one) glorious year and then nada? And, in conjunction with that period and leading up to it, adult mens’ soccer leagues (and not hack leagues - players from these teams were good enough to be chosen to fill out the Kick’s roster every home game) were plentiful and numerous.
Fad? Maybe, except soccer is still one of the most popular after-school sports for kids.
IMHO, I think soccer is just too non-American. Which, of course, makes it un-American. It’s about Old Glory and apple pie. You can market to the all the skatepunks and Vans wearers (or whatever’s hip these days - Addidas?) you want, but they’re gonna get their thrills from the half-pipe. You can market to all the Phish and Wilco folks you want, but they’re not that into organized team sports. (The last organized team I played on consisted mainly of Deadheads. We would’ve taken the league championship but the Dead were playing a couple weeks in WI and IL and we couldn’t field a team).
Radiohead fans would get winded just watching the Thunder. Maybe Landon Donovan should hook up with Sheryl Crow or something. That might help. Oh, and allow fistfights. On the field too.
Ramon: for the record, it’s My Morning Jacket, and their new album is what the kids call “a zesty thrill ride.”
The shoe pictured is what I remember Rand wearing on the course the year they supposedly “..put it all together out there..” and claimed to have the lowest score of the golf tourney. Yeah right!!! To this day it’s still in question as they just happened to be playing as a lone twosome on the course… The whole thing smells as fishy as a ..
Looking forward to Saturday boys…
Did I just say all that?
I meant to cast no aspersions on My Morning Jacket or their facial hair. I picture them more as the roadside whiffle-baller types.
And I agree with Rocket’s haiku. But I do like to share my love of FC Barcelona with the beautiful women that are FC BCN fans.
I just went from 6 to 12midnight!
(Go Thunder)
