I have a hard time getting interested in professional sports anymore. I don't know whether it's because of the hypocrisy of the owners and league officials who have instilled the “win at all costs” attitude in their players, and then are the first ones to crucify the guy caught for using steroids, or the cynicism of the players who mouth platitudes about the fans being important, but will ditch his former team for some extra money.
More than likely it's a combination of both. It doesn't matter which league or which sport, all the big ones seem the same. To make matters worse, the American college system shows symptoms of the same sort of illness — young men and women encouraged to sacrifice their bodies at a young age with no thought of what's going to happen to them in the future.
I don't mind that it's run like a business as that makes sense to a degree. But due to the astronomical amounts of money required to run a professional sports team, a lot of them end up being the personal playthings of wealthy men who don't necessarily have the interests of the fan base at heart. Even worse, as is the case with the Toronto Raptors and The Toronto Maple Leafs, is having ownership to which the bottom line is more important than winning.
They expect their players to play at almost any cost, but aren't willing to make the same commitment where it matters most for ownership. What should the fan who fills the seats game after game feel if he knows the hundreds of dollars he shelled out for tickets are being considered the return on an investment for a pension fund instead of a means to upgrade the team in the hopes of winning a championship?
As a typical Canadian boy, I played hockey and dearly loved the game. I used to live and die with the Montreal Canadians dating back to the days when the winner of the established Eastern division would play the helpless patsy from the West for the Stanley Cup. By the time the 1970s were wearing down and the Canadians were winning their fourth cup in a row before handing the reigns over to the New York Islanders, it had become more a reflex to cheer for them than out of any real interest.
For some reason though, there were still two sporting events at the time that managed to hold my interest and could keep me glued to a television screen: The Winter Olympics and The World Cup of Soccer. In recent years, even the Winter Olympics have begun to lose their appeal as they have become tainted with the same stains of corruption as the Summer games.
Article comments
1 - Douglas Mays
Yeah, the whole thing about the USA is getting it in the bloodline. I did some bitchin' in a comment on the article 'Unlike the Scoring, World Cup TV Ratings Are Way Up'. I mention, being from the Northwest USA, we have been playing the game on an organized level since the 50s. So kids have grandparents that have played the game around here (if they didn't move out due to Boeing layoffs or something).
You mention 'dives'. I have always hated that. One thing that USA soccer I hope will change in the sport. Oh man, I wish I had $25,000,000 to purchase an MLS team for the area. I definately have a system of play that would be as innovative as the Dutch coming up with 'total soccer' in the 70s.
Anyway, I crave the game deep. I just have to comment on any World Cup article here on Blogcritics. And hey, there seem to be quite a few. That says something about it's growing popularity in this country, eh?
2 - Richard Marcus
All well and goodbut I 'm a Canuck. Although we have a simillar problem whithe the bloodlines thing. But like I said in an earlier piece, the second generation kids of famlies from Italy, Portugal, and other European and South American countries have made soccer a big sport in urban centres in Eastern Canada for a while.
Now that the cost of hockey has gone through the roof there are actually more young kids playing soccer then hockey. Canada will be hosting the under twenty males World Cup soon, and just hosted the under twenty woman's world cup. (or was it the Woman's world cup I can't remember.) Our problem is that we have only one professional soccer team in the whole country so any of our good players have to play abroad and aren't available for practice with a national team.
Unlike Hockey and Baseball where we have national associations with some power, soccer is still a poor relation. Althought the governments are finally waking up to its potential as all levels have contributed sizably to the construction of a new stadium in Toronto for the above mentioned Under twenty world cup (it must be 2010 or around then anyway)
Hey at least America's team goes to the world cup and occasionaly wins a game or two. The last time we were in, we couldn't even score a goal, let alone win a game. Oh well maybe 2014.
3 - Douglas Mays
Damn! Gotcha. I remember being here in Seattle and the Vancouver B.C. area had it going on as much as we did. True, Canada has 3 USL teams (the league below the MLS). Toronto, Monteal and Vancouver. Good teams that can compete against MLS teams.
Canada has put out some great players like Tony Chursky, Ian Bridge, the Lenarduzi brothers, etc. and sometimes the national team plays great matches against other countries....BUT, I see what you mean about needing more national support and developement, etc....
hhhmmm...I'm not sure what the answer is. I went to bed late and need coffee realy bad...
OK, I'm with you on that Canadian dilemma.