Hey look, the DC United, a “professional” soccer franchise that nobody in this area cares about, is moving to Maryland to suck our money out! Ick.
Breaking News
Oprah Quitting TV Show In 2011
MLS In Maryland = Failure
February 19th, 2009
13 Comments
I think it is a shame that soccer has not caught on in America. I had high hopes that some appeal for the sport would spread in places other than recreation league. There are indeed more college teams with serious programs, but the coverage is lacking. As a guy who started playing at the age of four overseas. (I’m an Army Brat as well as a current Soldier), I never knew a world without Soccer. Many people say that the lack of scoring is a reason why Americans are not enthused, however, I look to Hockey and see that as a close comparison. I just don’t think Americans look at Soccer as a serious sport worthy of being considered a “professional” sport.
Followed huffpost tweet from ‘owillis’ to this link. I’m with ‘Dkelsmith’. I am an avid soccer player and from the DMV orginally. DC United has a great fanbase but maybe just not the commercial success of football and basketball. I now live in Columbus, Ohio where the fans are even smaller but growing since the Crew had such a great year last year.
What made me sad was when I moved to NC and specifically settled on Cary, NC so I could attend the women’s professional league that folded the same year I moved. As a female, it’s an even bigger challenge to get women’s professional sports to be taken seriously.
I’m not sure a MD move will be better than DC, but I guess we’ll see.
Soccer is televised paint drying
Number of championships won by DC United – 4
Total number of trophys won by DC United – 8
Number of championships won by the Redskins – 3
Total number of other trophys that the Redskins could possibly win – o
I’m just sayin’…
Yes, the DC United wins trophies in a league the rest of the world thinks is a joke in a sport America could give a crap about. La-dee-da.
That you could compare the MLS Cup to the Lombardi… I mean, seriously.
Average DC United Attendance: 20,458
Average Redskins Attendance: 87,631
Based on these numbers. They’re a couple years old and my guess is that the Caps – with their recent success – are now way ahead of the United.
I had some great times seeing DC United play in RFK back in the late 90’s (yes, I’m that old). So good luck to them.
If anything, the tickets were pretty affordable. I like the ‘Skins, but I don’t have the trust-fund like financial resources to actually attend one of their games live.
The beautiful game is something near and dear. I still play in my county league and will stop playing when I can’t walk anymore. I get that soccer has not caught on in the United States, but I don’t worry much about that fact. Whether Oliver likes it or not, Soccer is the MOST popular sport in the world and the United States doesn’t need to validate the sport. The world has spoken and the US, in my opinion is just out of touch.
Plz what is MLS ?!? :s
I dig your blog Oliver but you are wrong on this! DC United has one of the strongest fan bases in the country.
They might not be on par with the Redskins re: attendance, but the team outdrew the Wizards and the Caps last season. And that’s with a schedule that lasts from March until November–nine months (whereas the Redskins play barely a third of a year).
Also, that avg of 20k people per game is higher than the national average attendance for professional soccer, hockey and basketball games. So relatively speaking, the team enjoys strong local support.
But check out a game and you’ll see how vocal La Barra Brava and the Screaming Eagles are!
Mark my words: professional soccer in the DC metro area will outlast professional baseball.
Please dump MLS and please bring AUSTRALIAN RULES FOOTBALL!!!
Aww, ain’t that cute, you called them “the” DC United. So sweet!
jr, Soccer (or Football as the rest of the world know it) can be dull, but a nil-nil final score can be from a great game (a roar draw as opposed to a bore draw). Add in the away goals rule (My team suffered with this when they played a Muscovite side the other day), and it’s not that bad.
Saying that, I love cricket, and could quite happily watch five-day test matches. At the moment England are having to fight hard in the Carribean (West Indies cricket team handed them their asses a couple of weeks ago)
White whale, soccer is the most popular BALL GAME, but the most popular sport in the world is Angling! Common pub-quiz trick question.