The last two are really amazing. I just don't understand why Americans don't like this sport. When I lived in Miami in the 1980's I had a lot of friends (and an ex-wife) from South America. That was the first time I ever saw proper football.
Steve,...They've been saying for decades that soccer is about to catch on in America. Well, it is now I believe. Granted, its not NFL, NBA or even MLB status. Arguably it's not even NHL status. But,...drive through suburban areas of American cities and you're guaranteed to see more kids (boys AND girls) kicking a round ball than you will throwing an oblong one or batting a small one covered in cow hide. The 10 year old kid across the street wears a ManU jersey every other day and he's kicking a ball on the street more than he rides his scooter or bike. When my daughter was in 7th grade a few years ago the kids in her class all said what they planned to be when they grew up. Several boys wanted to play for Real Madrid, Barcelona or ManU.
In the 1930s the main sports in the USA were Baseball, Boxing and Horse Racing. Football (American style) was a small sport and basketball was even smaller. Hockey was a thing the French-speaking foreigners to the north played.
Baseball is still affectionately called the American Pastime. It's not now, though. Today baseball, boxing and horse racing are much less important in American society. NFL and NBA rule.
Things change. I get to see more soccer on TV here than I probably would in UK. Not that long ago all I got to see was an hour or so of English or German football once a week. Or a Mexican League game. Now I have a choice of at least 6 EPL matches each Saturday and 2 on Sunday. Midweek EPL matches are broadcast, too, and UEFA Champions League matches take midweek priority over everything else in my house.
The World Cup is broadcast live and free of charge in the US--every game--and in English as well as Spanish, as is the European Championship.
Recently NBC Universal guaranteed themselves US broadcast rights to next season's English Premier League by paying 3 times again what Fox Sports had been paying for this season's broadcast rights. Fox and ESPN couldn't compete with what NBC offered. My guess is that NBC will pull out all the stops to make that investment pay off.
Sorry,...got carried away.
Uh,...so anyway,...some great soccer shots by Peter there, eh?
