tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post4241001996582898761..comments2023-10-16T07:13:12.123-05:00Comments on A plain blog about politics: Oh, Gosh, A World Cup PostJonathan Bernsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15931039630306253241noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-47321225371266338332010-06-30T11:35:20.106-05:002010-06-30T11:35:20.106-05:00Great post. I prefer to define sport as something...Great post. I prefer to define sport as something you do. Professional sport is entertainment, people sit and watch. By my definition, soccer, just like softball, are major sports in this country because of participation. All the noise is over the potential success of soccer as a source of entertainment, or more correctly, a source of income for some wealthy team owner.Blakenatornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-48614766673686170162010-06-19T15:45:07.895-05:002010-06-19T15:45:07.895-05:00People care about the extent of support for soccer...People care about the extent of support for soccer for precisely the reasons you state here. We'd like to be able to regularly watch games and not have to purchase complicated packages to do so. We'd like to be able to chat with our friends about significant events and for them to have opinions. We'd like to be able to go to a bar and have the sport we want to watch on the TV. The World Cup is great because it's a time when friends that normally don't seem to care about my second favorite sport suddenly want to talk to me about it, or watch it with me.<br /><br />There's another factor, too. For those of us who care a lot about the success of the national team, we'd like to see top-quality athletes consider soccer to be a viable career path. We'd like to see them imagining themselves at the World Cup rather than the Super Bowl. Not quite the same as horse racing because I don't think horses have many other sporting opportunities.<br /><br />Finally, I'd really really love for the US to host the World Cup again. the chances of this happening are better if support in the country is higher.Charleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09161915792608176267noreply@blogger.com