Football, NASCAR, and GASP ...Soccer do it right?

Raise your hand if you care about the NBA, NHL, or MLB regular season. In fact, do you even really care about any one of these three sports? Have you ever stopped to think about why you don't care for these sports or at the very least, don't watch till they reach the postseason? As I've settled in to watch a couple NBA & NHL playoff games, I've pondered the same question. What has happened to these three sports, the ones that coupled with football had come to represent the major 4 sports in American soceity. In addition, what has caused the rise of NASCAR? Why does Europe and the rest of the world love soccer so much and why is it slowly gaining popularity here?

The simple answer is that their respective regular seasons are far too long and have come to mean absolutely nothing. The NBA & NHL regular seasons are especially useless as half of both leagues make the playoffs. Couple that with the fact that the NBA players don't really seem to try in the regular season (don't watch enough NHL to even say for sure) and you have almost zero reason to tune in before playoff time. You want to talk about watered down, try 82 regular season games. MLB's season is an even more preposterous 162 games! The only saving grace about Major League Baseball is the fact that only 4 teams from each league make the playoffs. However, let me repeat, 162 games! I'll tune in when it's August. In the meantime, NFL and college football regular seasons consist of anywhere from 12-16 games. NASCAR has 30 some odd races a year including the all important 10 that consist of the chase for the championship. In addition, MLS and soccer leagues worldwide play only 20-30 games before deciding their championships. The simple fact is that Americans don't tune in to ordinary sporting events without the possibility of something amazing, tragic, or simply bizarre happening. How else do you explain the fascination with Mike Tyson long after he was washed up. But I digress. However, there is another missing component that these sports don't have that soccer, football, and NASCAR all do.

That missing component is TAILGATING! The only thing Americans love more than the sporting events themselves is the social aspect of tailgating. Not to mention the fine food and drinks that often adorn the tailgate. However, except for the outragious partiers, one cannot tailgate 162 games a year or for that matter, even 82. Therefore, a reduced regular season lends itself to tailgating and that lends its fans to enjoy the sport even more.

Football is obviously king of the American sports universe. You could make a sound argument that a large portion of that success is due to tailgating. It is the now the event that makes the sport more than anything else, and two great examples of that are the Super Bowl and the NFL Draft. What else could explain the throngs of people that flock to New York City for the annual snooze fest that is the NFL Draft. In addition, the tailgating or partying makes the Super Bowl. Every year, tons of people who have no interest in football tune in only for the social aspect of the sport. Finally, the fact that every single game matters in the NFL season makes it a must watch.

NASCAR is very similar to football in that the event makes the sport. Hours before any NASCAR race there are tons of fans setting up shop in a nearby parking lot grilling, drinking, and discussing the varied possibilities for that day's race. To someone who views NASCAR as "drive fast, turn left", tailgating, coupled with zero meaningless races, is the only possible reason for the sudden and steady rise in it's popularity.

Finally, that brings me to soccer. As a fan of soccer, I could never quite understand why it hasn't caught on in the U.S.. It has all the qualities I just talked about that seems to make Americans gravitate towards a sport. It's regular season isn't watered down and tailgating is encouraged. While I've never been to Europe for a soccer match, I can guarentee that if Americans tailgate for soccer (as Sam's army parties long before and after any U.S. national team game) that Europeans are far wilder in their "preparation" for a soccer match. I realize that soccer is considered a sissy game, but anyone that has actually played the sport at a level greater than grade school realizes that isn't the case. So give it a chance. You may just find another interesting sport that allows you to "socialize" for hours before the game.