Hype pushers

Next weekend begins the 13th season of American Major League Soccer!\nWhat, no hoots and hollers? Where is the excitement? I guess not a lot of Americans really care, and you know what? \nThat’s perfectly OK.\nEver since I can remember first kicking a ball, there seemed to be this unhealthy obsession within the soccer community to get the American public psyched on soccer. Last year, the Los Angeles Galaxy took a major step to try to further popularize American soccer by signing English superstar David Beckham to the team, attracting more media attention to the sport than ever before.\nBeckham brought a massive wave of publicity and hype with him to America. Last year, when Beckham first signed with the Galaxy, there was a tidal wave of publicity that made me feel like the Second Coming had arrived. \nNever before have I seen such an attempt to persuade the minds of a population with so much inundation. Advertisers and the news media were telling us that Beckham was here! You probably don’t know who he is, but you should be excited! Do it! Be excited! Why are you not excited? What is wrong with you?\nNow, I love soccer. I’ve played it my whole life, and I try to catch as many La Liga and Champion’s League games as my schedule allows. I purposely chose to live for more than a year next to one of the most famous – and perhaps noisiest – soccer stadiums in the world, the Santiago Bernabeu (Beckham’s former home field). The game is not only great to play, but it’s also exciting to watch, and I am glad to see it grow in popularity here. \nBut this does not mean that there is something “wrong” that we need to “remedy” simply because the United States does not appreciate soccer on the same level as the rest of the world. And no amount of Beckhams or media hype will change that. \nI don’t think any less of the Italians because they don’t care about Peyton Manning, and I resent it when the media and advertisers tell us we need to get hyped up for a person or sport that the majority of Americans really don’t care about. There’s no mystery illness infecting Americans that makes them less interested in soccer and the media should stop treating our lack of interest as one. \nI really hope Major League Soccer continues to grow. It is a great sport that deserves our respect. But trying to make America love the sport by blitzing it with loads of fake hype will probably do more to hurt the sport than help it. \nMuch of the world follows soccer religiously, but that does not mean there is something wrong with America because we don’t.