Here’s a question… Why is it when soccer fans try to discuss soccer in various forums, they attract an army of soccer hating trolls? What is it about soccer that makes people feel they have to shout out ‘I Hate Soccer’ if they don’t enjoy the sport? During the World Series, NBA Finals, or Stanley Cup, forums and blogs generally are alive with people discussing the games, players, tournament, etc. No trolls screaming ‘Baseball sucks!’. But start to discuss soccer and *poof* the trolls appear screaming ‘Soccer Is Boring’ or ‘Soccer Is For Pansies’
Why is that? What is it about soccer that makes nonfans feel they have to tell everyone how bad the sport is? The only time I see basketball, football, and baseball being belittled is usually soccer fans responding to soccer trolls. I don’t care for baseball, never have. But I don’t feel some uncontrollable urge to post to baseball forums how much I hate the game during the World Series. I just don’t watch it and go on with my life.
Perfect case in point was a recent blog post by Kevin Drum at the Washington Monthly where he was bemoaning the England-Portugal match ending in PKs (only to followup with a note saying "OK, I have to admit that was pretty nerve wracking. Good stuff, even though it brings my winning streak to an end.") The comment thread ended up being mostly soccer bashing. Very odd. Even over at The News Blog where Steve is an avid soccer fan with daily open threads for the World Cup matches, some early threads had trolls going on and on (though the recent threads have been a lot of fun). Weird. I don’t recall that happening in the many Super Bowl or World Series open threads I’ve read.
Why is that?
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July 2nd, 2006 at 12:44 am
Sometimes I wonder if it really does mean that a lot of people in the US are xenophobic, inward-looking, and resistant to change–you know, the Euros’ usual allegations against us. Yet I would think that the percentage of people who have traveled &/or lived abroad is higher than ever and most people do accept the necessity of free trade–we do have an open economy, despite resistance from some segments of society. Maybe the sports reactionaries (knee-jerk soccer bashers), are resisting globalization in their own way. I suppose that’s my theory. I would like to see some demographic research that analyzes the soccer bashers by age, income, education, etc.
Sorry to ramble, but you do raise a good question. I really dislike basketball but would never waste my time trying to convince others that they shouldn’t like it. Why would I care? So why do the soccer bashers care? OK, let’s get someone to conduct that study and find out.
July 2nd, 2006 at 1:45 am
I’ve always been struck by the ‘shrillness’ of the reactionaries as you call them and can’t help but feel that it is driven by fear. Fear of what is less clear. It could be a backlash/fear of globalization like you mention or perhaps even a fear that if soccer got popular it might somehow displace their favorite sport. Which is silly. But maybe some people think ‘Well if its THE most popular sport everywhere else, I need to fight against it when it shows up here to keep it form being the top sport here’
Which is silly – nobody expects that to happen.
But whatever the reason, the nature of the trolls does make it seem to be somewhat fear driven. But maybe that’s just me.
July 3rd, 2006 at 5:25 pm
Well, it’s interesting you mention globalization. There have been several editorials/columns in the past few weeks about how soccer is this grand metaphor for globalization. I found the comparison really bizarre, but maybe that’s just because I hate the effects of globalization but love soccer.
July 3rd, 2006 at 6:26 pm
Yeah, I’m not sure I see the whole connection to globalization. To me it’s a sport that most of the world loves and enjoys playing. I’m not sure how a world competition is part of globalization.