De gustibus ... and all that

The Northwest Corner is absolutely not a sports blog, and I feel weird typing the word "soccer" in two consecutive posts. But the World Cup has, of course, filled the headlines for the past week or two. So let me toss in my couple of red cents -- it'll hardly be an essay -- on the subject.

Not on the subject of soccer per se, but on the peculiarities of American sports reporters when they observe soccer.

Why -- I ask -- do so many of these writers feel compelled to churn out an entire column explaining to their readers whyAmerican football is far superior to soccer? Do they feel that soccer somehow endangers the continued existence of American football? That some kind of zero-sum relationship exists between the two sports? Aside from the fact that most of the world calls it "football," soccer doesn't even much resemble our homegrown variety. If you're looking around for similarities, soccer seems more like hockey (ice or field, take your choice), or even polo, than anything like the NFL game.

Where on the sports pages can we find learned columns explaining the vast superiority of NFL football over NHL ice hockey, or vice versa? Everyone has his own preferences, but most of us can watch the Cubs play the Giants without feeling a need to explain to everyone within shouting distance why baseball is inherently superior to basketball.

I personally would rather spend an evening at a concert than at a WWF wrestling match. But I don't therefore feel the need to go onto WWF message boards and explain to their readers my reasons for preferring a night listening to Joshua Bell play his violin over one watching William "Refrigerator" Perry being hurled out of the ring.

Relax, guys. It's a big world, with six billion sports fans. Plenty of room out there for all kinds of football, both foreign and domestic. If you don't like soccer, don't watch it. Or write about it.