Day 2 – Soccer is boring – nothing happens.
Lesson
Topic Point: The passion of a soccer fan is equal to that of an American football fan, especially when it comes to rivalry games between clubs or national teams. How can that be if nothing happens in soccer? While the sport has a strong following in the United States, it is not built into American culture like American football, baseball, and basketball. With less exposure to the game, American fans don’t always develop an understanding of the nuances despite clearly understanding a more complicated game (American football). With greater understanding of the game, even the casual sports fan can get sucked into the drama of a soccer game.
A parallel comparison of soccer to American football may be better for explaining how soccer is exciting to a soccer fan (see American Sport comparison below). There are number of things to get excited about, or at least appreciate, during a match besides simply goals.
• A shot on goal that misses narrowly
• A pass to a person in good position to score, but the pass just misses
• Nice passing and/or dribbling to advance the ball down the field
• A nice save by the goalkeeper
• A nice defensive play by a player to steal the ball
Ted Lasso: Dr. Jacob, the marriage counselor who ‘worked with’ Ted and his wife Michelle, and then ultimately dated Michelle after the Lasso’s divorce, demonstrates a stereotypical ignorance of soccer. He is checked out and disengaged from the game (S3E12) despite the excitement on the pitch that is transmitted into Michelle and Henry’s living room via the television. He even states at one point, “Well, something happened.” The statement implies that normally very little is happening during a soccer match.
Even Rupert Manion (S3, E12) and a belligerent Richmond fan (S3, E9) cannot appreciate the precision ball movement and creativity that is produced from Richmond’s tactics and game plan.
Soccer-related note: The game has evolved significantly over the last 150 years (the general duration of time that we have history and record keep
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