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ESPN dumping MLS Thursday night

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by poindexter, Jan 20, 2009.

  1. Shoeless Joe

    Shoeless Joe Active Member

    I have no idea how that connects with what is more popular nationwide NBA or NCAA basketball.

    As for soccer coverage, both boys and girls high school soccer draws far more people than baseball or softball. U.S. win over Mexico was our lead story Thursday, but we never run anything on MLS really except agate.
     
  2. cougargirl

    cougargirl Active Member

    Yet football remains king in our country. American football, mind you.
     
  3. Shoeless Joe

    Shoeless Joe Active Member

  4. Boomer7

    Boomer7 Active Member

    Thanks, Captain Obvious.
     
  5. Angola!

    Angola! Guest

    It's not the end, just the end of Thursday nights. ESPN is still going to show some MLS games.
     
  6. forever_town

    forever_town Well-Known Member

    Never let the facts get in the way of a good dig!
     
  7. Pastor

    Pastor Active Member

    By this logic, nobody should ever watch a Pittsburgh Pirates game live or on television. Nobody should pay attention to the Nationals.

    I’m sorry, but this logic is absurd. How do you expect a league to grow and become better if it isn’t fed?

    I always wonder how people can sit around and watch the dreck known as the Oklahoma City Thunder and then complain that MLS exists and is second rate.

    Hell Nascar isn’t the best racing league in the world and Americans pack those tracks.
     
  8. NoOneLikesUs

    NoOneLikesUs Active Member



    I always treasured Eric Wynalda's brief exchange in Simon Kuper's wonderful 1994 book "Football Against the Enemy".

    I'm not sure it applies so much to today, but you have to wonder. If women's college basketball and WNBA can get a healthy amount of airtime on ESPN and networks, I don't see why our first division soccer league in this country can't be accommodated.
     
  9. Piotr Rasputin

    Piotr Rasputin New Member

    Simple, NoOneLikesUs:

    Because there is still a legion of U.S. soccer fans who think "knowledge!!!!!" means badmouthing our domestic league in favor of supporting some uberpopular - but not too powerful, of course - team from overseas (ever notice how many say "I like ARSENAL!!!!!" and how few say "Shit, I like West Ham").

    There are people who love soccer, but brand MLS "an inferior brand of football!!!!!" (which, OK, it is inferior . . .like the World League of American Football, the Italian Basketball League or the Japanese Baseball League are inferior to our well-established sports). That feeling is so ingrained that even if MLS were to fulfill Beckham's kind assessment that it's a decade away from being "important," many of these wannabes - who often have no relatives less than two generations removed from said country or city, and who have barely visited the place that houses the club they love oh so much, they feel close because they learn the words to the team's song ("You'll Never Walk Alone!!!") - will still scoff at MLS.

    I don't blame the old-guard soccer haters. I don't blame the old-guard columnists. I blame the soccer fans who think they're smart because they know Brazil has a good national team. "They play like a samba!!!!"

    What the f%$# does that MEAN?
     
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