Time for some measured changes to soccer
The popularity here in the US of the Soccer World Cup Finals in Brazil last month taught us a lot about the 'beautiful game', as it's known in the United Kingdom of Britain and Wales.
We have seen the world's best soccerists score some amazing footkicker penalties; the goaltending has been superb, and the quality of throw-ons has been truly first class. We have all been impressed at the passion and skill on display; even tiny countries like Argentina have a core of dedicated supporters - futboladores - who will travel all the way to Brazil to cheer on their national team. The Germans even have a word for blood sausage eaten in celebration of World Cup victories.
However, there's one thing that even the most fanatical American soccer fan finds a little too weird to embrace: metric scoring. Since the metric system requires all numbers to be divisible by ten, most soccer games end in a tie. This tie-ball lockdown situation is what puts many US spectators off: we Americans expect a result - a winner and a loser, not a political coalition.
As long as foot-soccer remains metricated, it will always retain a whiff of ethno-Marxism to the regular guy stateside. If soccer were to break free from its liberal metric shackles (let us not forget that the the "FI" in FIFA stands for Fidel Castro), it would prove to ordinary Americans that it is more than capable of reflecting the values of freedom and choice we cherish so much on this side of the pond.
We have seen the world's best soccerists score some amazing footkicker penalties; the goaltending has been superb, and the quality of throw-ons has been truly first class. We have all been impressed at the passion and skill on display; even tiny countries like Argentina have a core of dedicated supporters - futboladores - who will travel all the way to Brazil to cheer on their national team. The Germans even have a word for blood sausage eaten in celebration of World Cup victories.
However, there's one thing that even the most fanatical American soccer fan finds a little too weird to embrace: metric scoring. Since the metric system requires all numbers to be divisible by ten, most soccer games end in a tie. This tie-ball lockdown situation is what puts many US spectators off: we Americans expect a result - a winner and a loser, not a political coalition.
As long as foot-soccer remains metricated, it will always retain a whiff of ethno-Marxism to the regular guy stateside. If soccer were to break free from its liberal metric shackles (let us not forget that the the "FI" in FIFA stands for Fidel Castro), it would prove to ordinary Americans that it is more than capable of reflecting the values of freedom and choice we cherish so much on this side of the pond.
