Women's Soccer more popular?

Since the mid 90’s, women’s soccer has grown across the globe. Women's soccer in Germany has come a long way since 1970 when the country's federation, the DFB, reluctantly lifted a ban on women playing the game.
Germany's women have now won successive World Cup titles, including last month's 2-0 victory in the final over Brazil in Shanghai, and have been feted as national heroines after not letting in a single goal. More than nine million television viewers - an impressive 55 percent market share - watched the final, making it one of the most-watched broadcasts of the year in Germany. Tens of thousands of cheering fans turned out to welcome home the team. It is not only in Germany that women's soccer has gained in popularity. The game has long been a big draw for girls and women in the United States, which won the World Cup in 1991 and 1999, and some U.S. players have become celebrities.
In Scandinavia, women's soccer has long enjoyed broad support. Norway won the 1995 World Cup. Sweden and Denmark also qualified for the 2007 World Cup finals. In Brazil, a women's league will be launched on Oct. 25. Some countries still are having issues allowing women play soccer. Soon enough, women’s soccer events will draw more fans than men’s soccer events.

Poor Choice by Gillette?

Gillette recently created a national commercial that had three sports superstars to advertise and market the smoothness of their razors. The three athletes are Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and Thierry Henry. Now people obviously know who Tiger Woods is and have some idea of who Roger Federer is, but who is Thierry Henry?? Thierry Henry is a french soccer athlete who is well known in Europe. However, not many people in the United States know who he is. Gillette may have made a mistake with this marketing choice in Henry. They tried to influence a sport that is not popular in the United States and use a strong marketing tool in Europe that is not known here. It would have been much better if Gillette used someone like David Beckham who is well known all around the world especially now in the United States with his move to the Los Angeles Galaxy. If they even took an athlete from the National Football League, or the National Basketball Association, or Major League Baseball then that would be a great marketing tool but Thierry Henry was not an effective person for marketing.

Do You FIFA 08?

Every year, Electronic Arts releases a soccer simulator titled "FIFA" and then the year that it is released. People all over the world play this simulator yet aren't soccer fans. This year's edition (FIFA 08) was nominated by the IGN Awards for "Best Sports Simulator", "Most Realistic Real Life Sim", "Game of the Year", and "The Best Sports Gameplay". FIFA 08 is loved by not only soccer fans, but video gamers across the globe. People may not know or care who Ronaldinho or Wayne Rooney play for internationally or which club team they are on. Video gamers know them because of FIFA 08.
Being a soccer fan, I enjoy the FIFA series because of the plethora of teams that are included in the game, the greatest current players as well as their signature moves. The game is essential for youth soccer players, where they learn different moves as well as basic and advanced rules that helps kids understand the game much more.
The game is a very good game with authentic gameplay to match FIFA rules and regulations. The problem is that some people still won't play the game because it's soccer. FIFA is a fantastica game for soccer fans as well as the average Joe!

Favorite Athlete Ever?

People are often asked the question "Who is your favorite athlete of all time?" You'd hear the common responses of Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Walter Payton, Joe Montana and so on and so forth. My response is different from other people in the United States. My favorite athlete of all time has to be Mia Hamm. Some people would look at this name and say, "Who is that?" Well, Mia Hamm is now a former American Soccer Player. She played on the United States National Team and won two FIFA Women's Player of the Year awards in 2001 and 2002. She was and still is an inspiration to not only young female soccer players, but also youth soccer as a whole. After she helped the 1999 Womens National Team won the Womens World Cup against China in penalty shootouts, I was given a book written by Mia Hamm talking about her life of becoming a soccer player from the high school level, to the international level. She has always been an inspiration to me when watching her play on the field and her actions off the field. I have always wanted to meet Mia Hamm and maybe get a few pointers on how to become an elite soccer player. Just recently, she was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame as well as being selected as one of the top 125 greatest living soccer players. Now 125 may sound big, but there were only two from the United States of America, both being from the Womens National Team. So as a diehard soccer fan, my favorite athlete of all time has to be Mia Hamm.

What is really "Football"

The average National Football League game has a score of 21 points. Now when one looks at this, they realize that it is three touchdowns. There are three attempts to kick the ball for extra points plus the five kickoffs (opening kickoff, one kickoff after every score, second half kickoff). Each NFL game has an average of 125 plays during the game. out of those 125, 8 of them are kicks. Put all these statistics together, it shows that 6.4% of the plays in an NFL game are kicks. Why is it called football then? You only use your feet 6.4% of the time? Soccer players use their feet a majority of the 90 minutes that are played in a regulation soccer game. Their hands are used rarely, with the exception of a goalie who can use his hands inside his own goal and penalty box. So why do Americans call football "football"? Well it was originally derived from soccer, which was called football in Europe. In the early 1900s, North American football contained the use of your feet a lot. They had dropkicks, punts, field goals but side passes were only allowed, not forward passes so kicking was the basis of North American football. Since then, the name of the sport has stuck with it since then. So I think Commissioner Roger Goodell should think of a new title for the sport to avoid worldwide confusion.

We Should Care

Last Wednesday on February 6th, 2008, the United States soccer team had a "friendly" match against their rivals Mexico at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. The game ended in a 2-2 draw but this is not about the game itself, but more about the fans that attended. The game had a total of 70,103 fans in attendance at Reliant Stadium, where a majority of the people at the game were wearing white and green. Prior to the match, Fox Soccer Channel sat down with United States player Landon Donovan. Donovan mentioned that since he has been playing on the U.S. National Team, the games versus Mexico in Phoenix, Dallas, or any southwest city have not really been "home" games. He noted that a majority of the team feels like the road team with most of the fans being from Mexico. United States citizens should show more support to our team. They represent our nation very well and we should give them more support than what they really get. Mexico is one of the United States' toughest and most competitive opponent in International play. We show our support for local teams in our american leagues, so why can't we show our support and pride for our international team when they play against other rival countries?

My Revs

As a resident of New England, I have been a New England Revolution fan since 1996, the year the MLS was formed. Since then, I have watched them all the way to their League Cup final just to watch them collapse four times. In 2007 however, I watched my team take home the U.S. Open Cup as their first and only championship trophy in their 13 year existence. The Revolution have been the only team in MLS history to televise every one of their league games which has improved New England's soccer fanbase. The New England Revolution is one of the elite clubs in Major League Soccer that is owned by the current owner of the New England Patriots, Robert Kraft. It seems that once the Patriots started winning, then so did the Revolution. However, the Patriots know how to win championships whereas the Revolution are still searching for the promiseland of becoming MLS Cup Champions. Players like captain Taylor Twellman can lead this team to becoming championship caliber.

"GOALASO" into the US

Over the past quarter century, soccer in the United States has grown among the youth of our country. Soccer is listed as the most popular recreational sport for boys and girls across the nation since the now defunct North American Soccer League thrived from 1967 to 1984. It grew popular due to a sports marketing strategy that is still used today. This league brought in professional players from foreign countries to popularize the sport in the United States. The two major athletes brought in were Pelé and Franz Beckenbauer. Since then, the other sports leagues in our country (Nationall Football League, National Hockey League, National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball) have received a much stronger fanbase than that of the sport of soccer. In 1996, the MLS (Major League Soccer) formed and tried to surge soccer in the U.S. It did not start to grow popularity until the 2002 World Cup with the men's national team making the quarterfinals by beating powerhouse Portugal. Then in 2004, international soccer fans watched the top prospect in U.S. soccer history with 14 year old Freddy Adu. Prior to 2004, most teams played in NFL stadiums throughout the season. Now, different teams have constructed "Soccer-specific stadiums" that have seating for less than a football stadium but are only used for MLS games or national games during World Cup Qualification. The latest addition to Major League Soccer to aid in making soccer a popular fan sport in the U.S. was signing English soccer player David Beckham to the Los Angeles Galaxy. Since the signing, there have been sellout crowds in Los Angeles and whereever the Galaxy play. The league has always been looking ahead towards expanding to different markets with new franchises. Seattle, Washington has been awarded a franchise for 2009 to have 15 teams in the league. The commissioner of the league Don Garber is hoping for a 16th team for the 2009 season.