Wynalda tell hime Rome to suck his ****!

Well put and true, I remember as a kid being fed the perception that liking soccer was somehow un-american and unmanly, and I think a lot of insecure slow witted men feign contempt for soccer just because that's what they think American "men" are supposed to do. Ironically, the exact same type guys in Britain worship soccer and try to pad their masculinity resume by despising baseball and basketball.

 

No, I can't agree with that. Kids don't go because kids think baseball is boring. I can't remember who, but someone on here said that there were more people going out for lacrosse in the summer rather than little league.

 

Just wait until La Reconquista!

Soccer will be made the official sport of Nueva America. Also, it will be called football, and football will be called throwcatchblockandrun ball.

Mwuhahahahahhahahahahahah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Not in any part of the world I've lived in. Keep stretching Chuck.

 

So because you and your 10 or 15 friends didn't play baseball, QED, America hates baseball? You have to bring a better argument than that, C~T.

 

Somewhere, in some rich area of the East Coast, that is probably true. Again, tho, you tend to generalize from a very narrow specific.

 

Bad teams have had trouble filling stadiums. But bad teams in any sport have trouble filling stadiums. The Twins and Wolves have toruble filling thier stadiums a lot of the times as well but it doesn't neccesarily reflect on the sport as a whole.

Aside from that here are things we have seen for soccer in the US in the last five years:
Three new teams (plus one relocated)
Toronto FC sells 14,000 season tickets before the team even kicks a ball, and would have sold more if they hadn't capped it off
Sponsors paying over 1 million a year for shirt rights
A PAYING TV deal with ESPN
The influx of "name" talent like Claudio Reyna, Chuatemoc Blanco, and David Beckham
Soccer specific stadiums owned by the teams
And most importantly, teams making a profit.

I can't make the argument that the MLS will instantly usurp "more American" sports over night, but the league is now 12 years old and continuing its slow build. The leagues below it (USL1, USL2, PDL) are following a similar slow climb. I think that this could lead to something in the future, but that alot of people, soccer fans and non-soccer fans alike, either want this jump to happen overnight or use the lack of a quick rise to point out that the sport is unpopular. No sport has instantly taken a foothold in the United States. Remember that it took nearly 100 years for football to become the most popular sportin this country, why should we expect soccer to do that in just over ten years?

 

And even if your viewpoint were close to accurate -- and it isn't -- then why isn't soccer the most popular sport in America? Registration numbers for youth soccer dwarf any other sport, even football. Lacrosse is and has been a popular regional sport. Same with hockey. That doesn't make professional lacrosse popular in Kentucky or professional hockey popular in New Mexico.

 

Well, you should never expect it to become the most popular sport, and I suspect you don't, your statement notwithstanding. And MLS doesn't expect it either; it operates as if it's a niche sport. Which is fine. What isn't fine is actually thinking it can be more.

 

I won't dispute anything else you posted here but last time I checked Toronto was in Canada.

 

Fair enough, but they play in the US domestic league. As do Vancouver, Montreal and the Toronto Lynx

 

Why can't people think it can be more? NASCAR was a nothing sport 15-years ago. Where is that now? Why can't soccer, with proper marketing and push, be brought up to a legitimate level?

I wouldn't say that it will overtake MLB or NFL, because those two machinese just run smooth. But, I don't see a reason why soccer cannot usurp a number 3 or 4 position from the NHL or NBA.