Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="IthacaMatt, post: 1077004, member: 405"] It's indirect, but clearly there is a correlation, or else the viewing numbers wouldn't keep going up. An anecdote, with obviously no statistical significance, but here goes. One of my best friends is an avid major sports fan - although he goes against the grain and doesn't root for any home town/home state teams - he like the Orioles in baseball, Raiders in football, is a Syracuse basketball season ticket holder. Has always said he was bored to tears by soccer and couldn't give 2 flying farts about it. He is the father of 4 girls, who played HS sports. One played soccer in college at a D III school, where she met her boyfriend, who was also a soccer player. They are now newlyweds. I ask my friend Tom if he wants to come over to watch some soccer as Chelsea was progressing toward the Champions League finals. He declines, but says maybe he will come over for a World Cup game. So, we watch the Ghana game together, and by the end of the game, he is full-on rant mode - "We need a thunderbolt from Zeus (Zusi) !!", who then puts in the cross that Brooks heads in for the winner. Crazy celebration follows. He comes back for the Portugal game. Another great time, marred only by Ronaldo's magic at the very end. But painful losses are what makes for true fans. If you haven't tasted disappointment, then you're not really a fan. So I ask him about the Germany game - he's in. We have a great time, scoreboard watching and rooting for Portugal over Ghana due to goal difference. And then finally, he's full bore crazy when it comes time for the Belgium game. Will this friend watch an MLS game later this summer? If the Orioles are not on, and there's not a big golf tournament, maybe. Especially if he recognizes a couple of the players in the TV ads because he saw them in the World Cup. That is how fan bases are grown - slowly and organically. So let me tie this back to your original point - that having kids play soccer doesn't translate into watching soccer. He and his daughters shared the fun together. He was familiar with the rules because of having watched his daughters play all through high school, and one in college. He mentioned to me that he thought the girls' game was pretty boring, but then he saw college boys playing and the speed and intensity of the game (in person) was a real eye-opener. He realized that it's a lot more competitive and there's a lot more going on than he originally thought. That's why he wanted to watch the games at my house during the World Cup, because he figured that watching with an experienced fan would give him new insights and appreciation for the game. [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?