Sports

I'm beginning to enjoy soccer more than American football. I suppose this isn't anything particularly noteworthy in that this seems to be the prevailing opinion of most people in the world, however for me it is significant. I grew up to football and basketball, I played basketball throughout middle school, and I played football since middle school and into high school.

In Texas American football almost ranks as important as your mom or dad. Even in mere high school regular season games there would be around 5,000-10,000 fans watching a division 5A (highest division) football. Not to mention that most games are broadcast on major radio stations and some are even broadcast on television! Practices are held 3 times a day, for 2 hours each in the summers and springs. During the football season, there are again 3 time a day practices, and in the offseason there are 2 a day practices. That is to say that football as a teenager in Texas is a year round full time job.

Once you get into state playoff high school games, they're broadcast on local ABC/FOX networks, radio stations and many tens thousands of fans flock to NFL sized stadiums (see Jerry World) to see mere TEENAGERS play.

When it gets to the college level, there's a 100+ YEAR history of football tradition in this state. The Texas Longhorns have a stadium that can seat over 100,000 people, there are perhaps only 10 or so such stadiums in the world with this type of capacity. It easily trumps any major soccer stadium in Europe. Televised games are broadcast throughout the country, and millions of people watch.

Football is beyond fathoming in its importance to Texans.

And yet, for me - I'm beginning to enjoy watching soccer more. Yes soccer has its downsides with player behavior and lack of video review, but the drama associated with goals as well as the insane strategy, finess, and skill required make them makes the sport so enjoyable to watch. I'm sad that the world cup is over, but USA has shown a lot of promise and I believe that there is a large upside to this sport that can't be neglected forever in this country.