Soccer

The conservative columnist Ann Coulter, for one,has been busymaking a
spectacle of herself with hertweets aboutsoccerbeing a game forsissies
andimmigrants. “Ipromise you: No Americanwhosegreat-grandfather was
born here is watchingsoccer,”sheopined at onepoint. On this, as onmuch
else, we can be assured that Coulter ismistaken. Tuesday’s elimination
matchbetween the United States and Belgiumrecorded a 9.6
rating,according to Nielsen, the highestever for a World Cup game on
ESPN. Americans aren’t just watching ontelevision and large outdoor
screens. Viewers watching ESPN’slivestreamhave already loggedmore than
thirty million hours,making thisthe moststreamed sportingevent yet in
the United States.You didn’t read that wrong. According to this metric, at
least, the World Cuphas outdone the Olympics, the Super Bowl, and the NBA
playoffs. Doubtless, that’s largelybecause many ofthe games are taking
place during the American workday, and people are watchingfrom their
officecomputers rather than ontelevision at home. But it’s animpressive
statistic, nonetheless, and it augurswell for the future. As long as Team
U.S.A.continues to qualify on a regular basis,which ispretty likely
given the relative weakness ofits qualifyinggroup, the World Cup will
surely remain a massive sportingevent.On that one, I’m with thesoccer
optimists. Now that many Americanshave discovered thejoys of cheering on
their team, painting theirfaces red,white, andblue and saying derogatory
things about their opponentsfromaround the worldevery four years, they
won’t easily forget it. In thearea ofjingoism,soccerhas abigadvantage
over football,baseball, basketball, and hockey—gameswhich, at thevery
top level, are largely confined to North America. (Hockey is aslightly
morecomplicatedcase.) None of thesesportshas the regular meetings
between fiercelycompetitivenational teams thatsoccerhas, with a long
history of rivalries,prejudices, andepic matches. And the World Cup is
thefocalpoint of all this.