Hating on US Soccer: We must be doing something right

There will always be hacks in sports journalism.  It is just the nature of the beast.  Not unlike political punditry, there is a real drive among sportswriters to have a view and stake an opinion that can be seen in very distinct shades of black or white.  Coloring an event with opinion or analysis separates it from mere reporting, and without this injected opinion, the stories pale to simple tales of who what and where.  Local team wins, star player adds to career statistics, next game is soon.  Shaping a story from these basic elements into a real story takes some craft, and it is very easy to fudge it just a bit with some polarizing opinions.  Here, where bold thought and opinion intersect, its not hard for the hack to carve out a sustainable niche.  

The internet and "sports talk" create an unique atmosphere where sides are taken as loud and extreme as possible in the fight for eyeballs.  Its the sports blogosphere machine.  Something, anything needs to be said, as often as possible, and hope to keep people coming back.  All sports have their recurring sportswriters who like to stir up the pot just in the name of traffic, and the biggest targets usually make for the biggest hornet's nest.  Take an already polarizing subject, hit it with a stick a few times, and parties from both sides will gather to see what happens.  Bother to bring some insight to the table, and maybe you can kickstart a rousing discussion.

However, I've noticed an interesting trend in the US coverage of this World Cup.  While in the past it has been a struggle to get some thoughtful commentary on the tournament, it is fairly clear this time around that this  World Cup does not need to be "sold" to the American public.  Soccer is at best popular and at worst accepted in the mainstream at this point, with very little resistance to this point.  The absence of such full blown hate this time around is also promising.  The anti-soccer media is almost deafening in their silence, or maybe I'm just not watching the "right" channel.  Regardless, this World Cup seems to bring the US one step closer to being "anti-haters."  Not only are most of us respectful to soccer this summer, disrespect is scorned or ignored altogether.  The anti-soccer American is simply a hack point of view, transparently ignorant, and not getting any points.

Tying this back to my favorite domestic league, the respect is there for soccer.  Once this tournament is over, attention will be drawn back to EPL, La Liga, MLS and other domestic leagues.  It is up to MLS to continue to nurture a product that can earn the respect of a soccer-literate America.  Maybe one day soon there will be too much quality in MLS to write off.