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Uphill battle U.S. soccer struggles against hostile media
Updated: Sunday February 18, 2001 5:44 PM
In a belated Valentine's Day gift to our readers, CNNSI.com's Michael Lewis tries to figure out why members of the media hate soccer. In another column, Lewis explores what makes soccer so special to him. LONDON -- Does the U.S. media hate soccer? That certainly does sound like a tantalizing topic that would spark a discussion and debate among soccer fans in pubs and in message boards such as BigSoccer.com. It is a subject that I have embraced on at least two occasions. When I was the editor of Soccer Magazine, I assigned the topic to a writer. Two years ago, I suggested the subject for a seminar at the Long Island Junior Soccer League's convention. Officials decided to tackle the controversial subject last year. Unfortunately, I could not attend as one of the invited members of the seminar. Ironically, was absorbed in my first passion -- covering the very first 2002 World Cup qualifier in Trinidad & Tobago, and I could not attend. I've even touched on the subject for CNNSI.com.
So, this is the first time I get to pontificate on this particular question: Does the U.S. media hate soccer? Well, yes and no. It would be unfair to indict the entire American media with such a broad stroke. After all, there are a lot of soccer writers out there who work for daily newspapers, Web sites and magazines who not only understand the game, but have a unique love and passion for it. There are, like it or not, pockets of soccer bashers and haters out there as well. Some have a great dislike for the sport. Others find it amusing to make fun of soccer riots and disasters because they are probably ignorant of the game and rules, so they take the easy and lazy way out. Still others don't know any better because it is a trend. Call it pack bashing journalism. Doug Chapman, who recently resigned from the Providence Journal after he was reassigned from sports to the news side, claims his editors didn't care about soccer, and they let him know. There have been other city newspapers who haven't exactly had the greatest love for the sport as well. It's easy to bash and make fun of soccer. There's a riot a minute out there, isn't there? Besides, it's low-scoring and boring. There's no action out there on the field, right? There is no defense for soccer ignorance among the U.S. sport media anymore. Beyond the millions of children who are playing the game, the U.S. has made great leaps and bounds in the past dozen years. Since qualifying for the World Cup for the first time in 40 years in 1990, the U.S. has done it three consecutive times. Major League Soccer was established in 1996, the first top-flight soccer league in this country in 12 years. We all know about the incredible success of the U.S. women's national team since 1991. This sport ain't going away so quickly. Now don't get me wrong. While the U.S. has made significant progress in the past decade or so, it still has a long way to go to earn respect from much of the media and general public. And there is room to criticize and comment about the game when we delve deeper into the sport and MLS. But it's incredible to think what a successful pro league, a creative player who can capture the public's imagination or a superb showing in the World Cup (quarterfinals would do nicely in 2002, thank you, if we qualify) could do for a sport. While this is an unscientific thought, my gut feeling is that many of the soccer bashers out there tend to be decision makers, usually sports editors, columnists or TV sports directors. WFAN, an all-sports radio station in New York City virtually ignores soccer (but it certainly took plenty of soccer ads during the 1994 World Cup), and traditionally doesn't even give MetroStars scores during its updates every 20 minutes. Heck, fans aren't asking for much -- not a feature, but just the score. I know because I have been there myself. I vividly remember one game from 1982 when I covered the Rochester Flash for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. It was a riveting and dramatic U.S. soccer game as I have seen. Goalkeeper Scott Manning of the defending American Soccer League champion Carolina Lightnin' (yes folks, Carolina's nickname ended with an apostrophe) returned to his hometown and literally stood on his head against the Flash, which threw just about everything it had at him. Manning was credited with something like a dozen saves, nine of them legit, some of them spectacular. It was an entertaining nil-nil draw as you'll ever see. Great Scott! That darn goalkeeper from Webster did in the Rochester Flash once again, I wrote as the lead to my story. I talked about how Manning stonewalled the Flash, how Rochester coach Don Lalka praised the goalkeeper, saying that somehow he had God on his shoulder. I thought it was a pretty decent story. No Pulitzer Prize winner, but I felt it had conveyed what transpired. The next day I spoke with then sports editor Rudy Martzke, who is now a USA Today sports television columnist. "I read your story," Martzke said as he feigned a yawn. "It was boring." Boring? Astonished, I asked why. Martzke said it was boring because there were no goals. Forget about the goalmouth scrambles and the last-second saves. Forget about coaches claiming heaven had something to do with the result. The game and story was boring because it had no goals. He could not get it through his thick skull that a soccer game didn't necessarily need to have goals to be exciting. This is the prejudice and stereotyping that the sport has had to fight. Again, I will allow you, the reader, to make a judgment on this closed-minded person. But don't fret, the tide might be changing. A few years ago I spoke to several second and third grade classes at a local grade school about sportswriting. I asked the students if they played for a soccer team in a league. About two-thirds of the hands went up. I asked them if they played soccer. Everyone's hands went up. Soccer is starting to become the sport of choice of the youth, not only because mommy and daddy need a babysitter for several hours a week. During recess I noticed one class. Every child -- boys mixed with girls -- played in a soccer game. Nobody forced them. They did it on their own. So, I ask once again: Does the U.S. media hate soccer? Some of the time. But the times are changing, maybe even faster than we think. Michael Lewis covers soccer for the New York Daily News. He was recently honored by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America in the college division of its writing contest for Life is Beautiful, a column on University of San Francisco coach Steve Negoesco.
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