Not being cognizant of content or context, I can’t comment on Horan’s perceived insult or her apology but I will make an observation based on over 30 years of experience as a professional football (soccer) referee, referee instructor & qualification evaluator, as well as a life-long promoter of the sport – on all levels.
As a general rule, I would say the average American soccer fan is less attuned to the rules of the game, and the nuances of the play, and generally less knowledgeable about the sport than his/her counterparts in other countries.
Much of this, no doubt, has to do with culture. For U.S. Americans, baseball, basketball, and American football are ingrained in their sports DNA and psyche. For many, soccer is a foreigner’s game and for others, because they don’t understand the rules or the strategy, find the game boring. The same could be said about baseball by anyone not familiar with the sport. There’s a cultural blinder and bias in place in both instances.
as a fan of association football (soccer) since a kid in the 70s, i have to say Lindsey wasn’t wrong. So many US fans of the sport don’t seem to understand it… but it is improving from a decade or more ago. It’s going past ’I’m cheering them because it’s US or because it’s women (for the WNT)’ to ‘ok, i kinda get how the sport is actually played and not what we did as kids’.
And in truth, that holds true for many sports – we may know the basics and what we did in school when we played but we really don’t know the ins and outs of what being done out there… we just know if we enjoy it or not.
All that build up over the years about how the women’s soccer team is being treated unfairly, underpaid and not respected has just taken a step back with the "American soccer fans, most of them aren’t smart … They don’t know the game. They don’t understand.” comment.
artegal 7 months ago
The fact that I knew/know nothing about this shows how little I give a rip about the USWNT.
Polsixe 7 months ago
Isn’t it a Constitutional Right to boo pro atheletes?
Ellis97 7 months ago
There’s no proper way to offend anyone.
jagedlo 7 months ago
Horan should have taken the old saying “Better to be silent and thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt” to heart!
BeniHanna6 Premium Member 7 months ago
And that right there is one of the big reasons few people give a rip about the USWNT.
[Unnamed Reader - 14b4ce] 7 months ago
Okay,Zach Wilson is now on the open market.,
I bid a bottle of cinammon liquor and $500.00 cash
Linguist 7 months ago
Not being cognizant of content or context, I can’t comment on Horan’s perceived insult or her apology but I will make an observation based on over 30 years of experience as a professional football (soccer) referee, referee instructor & qualification evaluator, as well as a life-long promoter of the sport – on all levels.
As a general rule, I would say the average American soccer fan is less attuned to the rules of the game, and the nuances of the play, and generally less knowledgeable about the sport than his/her counterparts in other countries.
Much of this, no doubt, has to do with culture. For U.S. Americans, baseball, basketball, and American football are ingrained in their sports DNA and psyche. For many, soccer is a foreigner’s game and for others, because they don’t understand the rules or the strategy, find the game boring. The same could be said about baseball by anyone not familiar with the sport. There’s a cultural blinder and bias in place in both instances.
rc_stone_1 7 months ago
That’s because the smart ones stay away.
Timothy Madigan Premium Member 7 months ago
as a fan of association football (soccer) since a kid in the 70s, i have to say Lindsey wasn’t wrong. So many US fans of the sport don’t seem to understand it… but it is improving from a decade or more ago. It’s going past ’I’m cheering them because it’s US or because it’s women (for the WNT)’ to ‘ok, i kinda get how the sport is actually played and not what we did as kids’.
And in truth, that holds true for many sports – we may know the basics and what we did in school when we played but we really don’t know the ins and outs of what being done out there… we just know if we enjoy it or not.
ArtShapiro. 7 months ago
I outgrew kickball by third grade. Don’t ruin Tank with this garbage.
markkahler52 7 months ago
Lindsey Horan isn’t very smart. More like a smart a*s!
Brent Rosenthal Premium Member 7 months ago
There are beer snobs, coffee snobs, bourbon snobs and now apparently soccer snobs
I'm Sad 7 months ago
All that build up over the years about how the women’s soccer team is being treated unfairly, underpaid and not respected has just taken a step back with the "American soccer fans, most of them aren’t smart … They don’t know the game. They don’t understand.” comment.