It is that time of year again. The weather is warming up. The plants are turning green. Youth soccer is cranking up. For the next several weekends, families across the country will spend Saturdays watching their kids play soccer. We are one of them, as my stepdaughter is a soccer player extraordinaire.
The other day, I was watching the first match of the season and started looking around. Within sight of the field, there were several things dripping in Americana.
In the distance, I saw traffic going down the interstate. Trucks and cars passed by on their way to unknown places on the map.
A little closer, vintage airplanes took off from the local airport as amateur pilots took to the wild blue yonder.
On the other side of the runway, there sat a National Guard armory with an American flag flying high. Military vehicles were parked in the back.
Further on the horizon, I saw a couple of church steeples. One stood over a Baptist church, and the other stood over a Church of Christ church. Both denominations are big in this area.
As I scanned the landscape, I realized that I was looking at America. However, I was looking at America while watching a soccer game. Does that make soccer a part of this nation’s fabric? We like to talk about baseball, basketball and football as America’s games. However, there were dozens of families watching hundreds of kids playing a sport that many people consider foreign.
I admit that it felt weird. However, I think I am right in saying the following. For all of those people, including me, soccer is an American game. I say that even though I know nothing about its rules or its strategies. All I know is that you are supposed to put the ball in the goal.
SBI: A Thinning Crowd 