Final Project

Cody Shannon                                                                                                       

1/21/14                                                                                                                        

Journalism F

Final Project         

Why is Soccer not big in America?

            Soccer is the world’s most popular sport on earth, yet Americans still have not expressed an interest in this exciting game. There are several reasons why American sports fans have not viewed soccer at the same caliber as the big four: football, basketball, baseball, and hockey. Though the game of soccer has not exploded in popularity with a majority of U.S. fan population, it has the potential to.  However, there may be underlining factors that may influence why Americans will never truly appreciate the beauty of this seemingly “boring”, yet complex sport that the rest of the world has embraced. In America, there are several reasons why soccer has not gained the same popularity as other major sports.

            One reason soccer is popular in other parts of the world is that it is an inexpensive youth sport that needs very little input from adults. Kids growing up in a third world country have limited resources. Soccer is often the most accessible and least expensive sport available to them.  All that is needed is a ball.  A ball can be purchased or it may be made from something as simple as rags tied together. Kids can quickly organize themselves into teams on make shift fields.  “Youth soccer” in other parts of the world, particularly in third world countries, is comprised of neighborhood children playing amongst themselves.  No formal league, spectators, coach, field or league championship.  They play for the sheer joy of competing and love of the game.  According to  Rinus Michels, who coached the "total soccer" Dutch national team of the early 1970, “Good coaches use the basic criteria of street soccer for their vision of grassroots development; they realize that these elements produce a natural process that gives the most efficient training for young kids." (Michels 1) Whereas in America, soccer and sports in general, are over organized through youth leagues, lack creative vision, may not be as fun for the kids and are less accessible to those who live in urban areas or have fewer financial resources   

Another reason soccer struggles to gain popularity is that there are many more sport options available to American children than in other parts of the world.  Many children are faced with the choice of playing football or soccer (both usually played in the fall) and choose football because it is more popular here in the states. One reason why soccer is not as popular as other sports is that children in America have options to play multiple sports. Then several others groups of kids will branch out to play basketball or baseball, diversifying American athletes by even more. On top off that, some of the more affluent families in America can afford for their children to pursue more expensive sports such as hockey and skiing. A boy in Kenya simply does not have these options or equipment to even pursue dreams of other sports. All that is needed to play soccer is a ball, an area of open space, and a couple sticks for goals. 

            The second reason why soccer has not matched the popularity of other sports here in America is the lack of media coverage. Soccer is hard to follow for the passionate fan if they are living in the United States. ESPN offers little to no coverage of soccer at ANY level on a daily basis. On one of Television’s top shows, “SportsCenter”, diving catches and dunks are often always placed as a lower (more difficult) number on the “Top 10” plays of the day when an amazing shot or bicycle kick in soccer will barely make an appearance on the list. Because ESPN and other American sports networks simply do not broadcast games, it does not give people the opportunity to follow a season or form a bond with a famous European soccer club such as Chelsea or Arsenal. The only way to follow your favorite team is to subscribe to special soccer cable packages to watch the games, costing extra money on your monthly bill. Also, games are played and broadcasted on Saturday and Sunday mornings, when all of lazy America is sleeping in on the weekend.

            The third reason why soccer lacks popularity in the United Sates is that it’s not our sport and we have no world-wide soccer stars. In a nutshell, Americans do not appreciate the sport of soccer because they are not personally good at it. Americans want to be the best at everything and since they do not have world dominance over soccer like they do baseball, basketball, and football, it is shut out and no room is left for it in our nation. Until we can compete at the highest level of play in soccer, the sport will always be pushed away by the people of this country. On top of that, the MLS (America’s sole professional league) has a very low level of play when compared to European leagues such as the Barclays Premier League of England or La Liga of Spain, meaning that we have no emerging superstars in our league to draw attention. Many European players go to the MLS at the end of their careers to allow them to play for an extra couple years at a high level, such as David Beckham.

            Another reason why soccer is not big in the states is its lack of physicality and action that many of America’s favorite sports offer plenty of such as the U.S.’s number one sport, football. Hockey (soccer on ice) also offers a lot of physical play and fights between the players. Too many American’s it seems agree with Mike Royko’s sentiment that, “Soccer is boring.  I've never seen a more boring sport.” (Royko 2)  Americans enjoy people battling to win in a competition, while soccer has non-stop play (two 45 minute halves) the build up to goals often has more of a finesse style that most American sports fans cannot appreciate. How baseball can be considered more fun to watch than soccer, I will never understand. Many Americans consider soccer boring to watch not only for the lack of action, but also for the fact that the match can end in a draw. People want to cheer on a team to win, but a game ending in a 1-1 tie can be a little bit of a buzzkill and a disappointment.

            Americans cannot truly comprehend all that soccer has to offer. They are too caught up in the flashy touchdown celebrations or the amazing dunks put down by seven footers. The rest of the world loves soccer.  Tom Weir states this about America’s love-hate  relationship with soccer,  “Surely we must be missing something…There's a good reason why you don't care about soccer - it's because you are an American and hating soccer is more American than mom's apple pie, driving a pick-up and spending Saturday afternoon channel-surfing with the remote control.” (Weir 3) Perhaps if the men’s team can experience some success in this summer’s World Cup American’s opinion of soccer will shift and the sport will be embraced. Unfortunately, because of the men’s U.S. national teams’ recent struggles in international play, Americans have seemed to lose interest in a team that represents our country to the entire world every four years. Also, the fact that the women’s national team is better than the men’s upsets American fans (the majority of them being males). Each world cup is an opportunity to change history and America’s mind. The United States does not realize the impact or importance that other international teams represent for their home country. Soccer and the World Cup bind many other countries of the world together with the hope, however distant, that their home country may somehow win. This summer in Brazil, people will put aside their differences and come together as one nation to cheer on their home team. If our team had the fan support that other countries offer, things may be very different.  The United States was dealt a tough hand in their group matches in the 2014, and will have to most likely face powerhouse Germany if they make it out of the first round. I do believe that someday, with the passage of time, American soccer will be one of our major sports and embraced by fans across the country with as much pride as they have toward the big four. 

                                       

Sources

1.      Michels, Rinus. Youthsoccerfun.com.

2.      Royko, Mike. Quote Garden, http://www.quotegarden.com/soccer.html.

3.      Wier, Tom. Quote Garden, http://www.quotegarden.com/soccer.html.

Pet Peeves

Pet Peeves

In no specific order

1.      Skinny jeans on guys- Leave it to the girls to wear tight fit jeans. Skinny jeans on guys look weird and just plain wrong on guys. If I can see your “package”, they are too tight.

2.      People who drive trucks obnoxiously- for some reason I really do not like people who drive trucks. They act like they own the road and because their car is bigger than mine, they are “superior”. They often refuse to let other people go in front of them or have common driver courtesy.

3.      People who are never wrong- It is difficult for everyone to admit they are wrong, even for myself. Some people will never admit that they made a mistake or accept there wrong doing. Instead they blame it on something else and cannot accept responsibility.

4.      Country music- I like almost all genres of music except for country music. For some reason I really hate what all the songs are about and think they all sound the same: “summer time, beer, fires, and the beach”.

5.      Girls who live in the Boston area who think they are cowgirls- for some reason all the girls in these suburban areas think they are cowgirls. Girls in our school wear boots and act like they are from the south…no you are not.

6.      Body odor- there is nothing worse than a person who carries a noticeable body odor. It is so easy to prevent: shower, deodorant, cologne. If a person smells very bad, I automatically assume other worse things about their hygiene.

7.      Parking a car across two spaces- I find that most vehicles that tend to take up two spaces are trucks (furthering my point from #2). There is no reason to take up two spots. Also, as the parking lot becomes crowded, that extra spot may be crucial!

8.      When someone with a full cart of groceries gets into the “10 items or less” line- This annoys me from two different aspects. I work at Roche bros and nothing annoys me more than when I am cashiering and someone comes through the express with a huge cart. The register is built for speed not quantity so I have to scan and bag all the items myself. From the amount of time taken to check out this one person, a long line of grumpy customers usually appear behind them. It is also annoying when you are one of those grumpy people.

9.      People who ride their bikes on the road when a sidewalk is available- sidewalks are put there for a reason, use them! If I’m driving on the road I should not have to worry about hitting a biker on my side of the road.

1     Girls who wear too much makeup- makeup is a useful tool for girls and when used appropriately, can be a very nice look. However, using too much makeup can disguise what your actual face looks like. 

Article Response

"The Case Against Summer Vacation" offers some good information, but I do not agree with all of it. The three months of summer that our school system offers has its pros and cons. Many suffer from "summer learning loss" after not focusing on school for a quarter of the year. The academic slide varies between students but all fail to retain at least a month of what they learned. In my opinion however, these three months of summer is completely needed. Students need a break! The system is not as flawed as  the article is making it out to be. Students can seek extra academic help over the summer months if they feel it is needed. Waking up very early in  the morning and having five days in a row of school per week is not ideal for high school students, but it is working. Until a realistic alternative to our school system schedule is offered, I think nothing should change.

Album Review

Album title: Nothing Was the Same                                                                                                         

Artist: Drake

Release Date: 24 September 2013

Genre: Hip-Hop, Rap

                Nothing Was the Same was Drake’s third studio album. The album did more sales in the first week (658,179), than his previous and also extremely successful Take Care. Drake returns to his “old self” on this album and raps in almost every song unlike his unique choice to sing a majority of the time on his previous album. Fans were pleased to have his old sound back and so was I. Drake also blends in his R&B style on the album. The song order and flow of the album is well chosen and creative. In the opening six-minute “Tuscan Leather” intro, Drake is all verse and no hooks as his bragging lyrics start immediately ("This is nothing for the radio/ But they'll still play it though/ Cuz it's the new Drizzy Drake, that's just the way it go") but his rhymes have a lot more bite to them. Drake knows this is the best rap album of the year (and his career) and is not afraid to express it. NWTS is a perfect blend between the rap of his first album and the singing/R&B of his second album.

 “Hold On, We’re Going Home” featuring Majid Jordan, which serves as the second official single from NWTS, finds Drake doing his best to please is singing radio fans. “Started from the Bottom was also released several months before as a catchy radio rap song to create hype for the album. In “Worst Behavior” and “Wu-Tang Forever” Drake is in top solo form as his intense lyrics and tailored beat have Drake in his best form yet. Drakes has few features on the album and chooses wisely who goes on his tracks. Jay-Z is featured on “Pound Cake” as Drake matches one of the all-time greats of rap bar for bar while still throwing in his own style. He also provides another track with fan favorites 2 Chainz and Big Sean on the song “All Me” as all three toss in credible verses as Drake seals up the song with the hook.

Drake’s audience ranges anywhere from young teens to people in the mid 20’s, but many of his songs off of NWTS are timeless. As an unbiased opinion, anyone can appreciate the talent and passion Drake has for music, shown through his creative lyrics and storytelling.

Rating- 9/10

Overall balance- well balanced between singing and rapping

Criticism- Have some more featured artists

Holiday Spending

Holiday spending has grown to be a huge expenditure in the U.S. and the crazy thing is that numbers are still increasing each year. In recent years, we have spent as a whole 200+ billion dollars from all the major holidays combined. The amount of money spent on holidays, especially Christmas, is very disturbing to me for a few reasons. Many people, almost all of America, have lost the real meaning of Christmas and why it is celebrated. If you look at it from that perspective, the amount of money spent on presents should not even exist. Also, imagine if instead of spending money on things that we want and do not necessarily need, the money (125+ billion) was used to eliminate hunger in the U.S. or provide education for those who cannot afford it. Christmas in the U.S. has exploded into a hectic time of gift buying instead of spending time with family and celebrating what it is all about, the birth of Jesus. I am not complaining about all the presents I will receive on the 25th, but rather that this is all people care about and it is clearly shown through the enormous amount of money spent each year. Holiday spending provides us with happiness and satisfaction but ironically only for a season, the joy is only temporary. Each year, we will spend the same amount of money to again never be fully satisfied. The money could be used for a better purpose or simply not spent at all. The money saved would be put into the economy slowly instead of in a small period. Do not get me wrong, I love the holidays, its just the insane amount of money spent on them seems unnecessary to me.

Journal Presentations

•   In Australia, a man decided to run around on the freeway and head-butt oncoming cars. Now police and others aren’t positive if he was on some sort of drug, but he was taken in for a mentally distressed evaluation. The man who filmed this event happening, Gawker, say that this is the start to a zombie apocalypse. But in reality the man is either insane or drugged up beyond belief. Although the man’s name has yet to been released, we do know that he is fairly young at age 34. From watching the footage it clearly shows that he deliberately trying to injure himself. The man congested traffic for hours and was head-butting cars for 10 minutes straight without stopping.    

• Two twins who grew up separately have an unbelievable amount of similarities and coincidences when comparing their lives. Ohio resident James Edward Lewis, who married a woman named Linda, but divorced her and married a woman named Betty, with whom he had a son named James Alan. Lewis had been adopted as a baby, he tracked down and met for the very first time his twin brother, James Arthur Springer, who also married a woman named Linda, but divorced her and married a woman named Betty, with whom he had a son named James Allan. When the men met in 1979, they were both in their 30’s and had no specific knowledge of their twin brother. Twins are capable of having very similar traits even if they grow up separately. It turns out the twins had even more similarities: They both liked math and carpentry in school but hated spelling. They both had jobs in law enforcement and suffer from headaches at the same time of day. 
• In the Czech Republic, a man was just eating his pudding at a restaurant near closing time and when closing time came around, it was time to go. The manager made him leave with his pudding on the table and unfinished. The man wasn’t pleased so he then decided to take it a step further than just eating his pudding or taking it home with him. During cleanup, the man came back… this time, with a chainsaw.  He sliced a hole in the door and climbed inside where he then continued to grab his unfinished pudding to eat peacefully. After he was finished he went on to attack some restaurant workers and threatened them with his chain saw. He was eventually stopped when he was tackled and overpowered by the waiter who then brought him to the station. The man will serve some jail time.
  
  
  
  

High Interest Question

Should all students be required to use laptops to take notes and the whole education system go digital (more use of blogs, similar style to our journalism class).