Americans enjoy statistics, action and scoring in their sports. I think that Americans are not into soccer because they try to compare it to their own version of Football. Soccer is a thinking man’s game. It can be slow to develop, but the developments in the game are often as important, interesting and exciting as the actual attacking and scoring. Americans are thinkers so let me give you 4 great reasons to watch the English Premier League this season.

Big International Personalities

Soccer has huge personalities, all of them more famous Internationally than Brett Favre and Tom Brady combined.

• Kaka is a Brazilian midfielder who last year won an award called the Golden Ball, which means he was last year’s MVP of the WORLD. He plays for AC Milan in the Italian Serie A league. He walks on the straight and narrow, is a philanthropist and a devout Christian.
• Ronaldinho is a Brazilian midfielder who is one of the most creative players ever. He can do things with the ball that most people could not even conceive of let alone do. He play for Spanish giant Barcelona.
• Christiano Ronaldo is probably the best player in the game today. He plays for the New York Yankees of Soccer, Manchester United.

Not to mention Messi, Beckham, Fabregas, Robinho, Ronaldo, Sneijder, Ibrahimovic, Drogba, Lampard, Van Nistulrooy, Rooney, Van Der Saar etc etc etc

There is more at stake than just the League

Your favorite team’s league is only part of a season. There are other tournaments throughout the year that your team may be able to participate in. Imagine two to four March Madnesses at the professional level every season. Here are a couple:

The Champions League

Imagine that the NFL was the top football league in the United States. Let’s say that the UK had an NFL quality league with 6 teams in London and 10 more in various other UK localities. Let’s also say that Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Brazil, Scotland, Greece, Portugal have similar leagues. Now the question is, how do you decide who the top team in the world is? The answer is to have the top 2 to 4 teams in each league each year play in a separate league called the Champions League. The Champions League takes place during the regular season and ends in a knockout round tournament. Most players feel that the Champions League is the top of club play. Typically the world’s top club teams like Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, AC Milan, Inter Milan, AS Roma, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich are involved. Wait, you mean there’s something more important? Yes…

The World Cup

This tournament is so big and so special, it only takes place every 4 years. It pits national teams from throughout the entire world against one another. Players represent their nation rather than playing on their club team. This is one of the few soccer events that Americans have a passing interest in aside from the Olympics. There is high drama because players often take on their teammates from their club teams and because the rivalries are international.

The FA Cup

The FA cup is a tournament that involves all 770 or so teams in the United Kingdom. Imagine if every single A, AA, AAA and Major League Baseball team played in a huge tournament during the regular season. Managers need to make decisions about who to play and where to focus. The lesser leagues tend to get pretty far in these because they pour their heart and soul into the tournament where the premier league giants may play second stringers because they are focused on the Champions League or the League title. The 2007-2008 FA Cup came down to a mid level EPL team from Portsmouth against Cardiff City, which is in the League Championship Division, the equivalent of AAA. Imagine the 2007 Cleveland Indians playing the Pawtucket Red Sox for all the marbles.

Soundbites Are Better

Managers like Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger talk a little bit more. They are not afraid to call a player out. They like to give the press more of an idea about what is going on in their club house.

Will Not Conflict with American Football

Most matches are shown on Fox Soccer Channel or Gol TV on Saturdays and Sundays. They are played live between 10AM and ~2PM (Eastern time) and they last only 90 minutes. The entire telecast is not more than 2 hours, so unlike baseball and football, you can plan around the matches. If you get both channels, you can easily follow most of the world’s leagues.

Relegation

There are tons of other reasons to love soccer, but I think my personal favorite is relegation. Let’s put things in baseball terms again. Imagine that every single baseball team was a separate entity instead of ultimately being affiliated (usually) with a big league club. So in our analogy, MLB is separate from AAA is separate from AA is separate from Class A. Teams could still send players down, they just loan them to other teams. So what does this set up? If relegation were a reality in US baseball, the 2 worst teams in Major League Baseball would MOVE DOWN TO AAA and they would be replaced by the best two from AAA. The same goes for AA and A ball. Can you imagine if the Kansas City Royals or the old Tampa Bay Devil Rays dropped down to AAA if they were in the cellar? What about teams like Pawtucket or Scranton Wilkes/Barre in the Majors? Sure would make teams think harder about how hard they play or how hard they pursue the free agents! This is a reality for every international soccer league.

The English Premier League starts up again in August. Check with your local cable company or satellite provider to see if you can get both Fox Soccer Channel and Gol TV. Enjoy and let me know what you think about your new sport!