Crime! So says New York Post

PRETORIA, South Africa – Oh, how I abhor this question: “When will soccer make it in the United States?”

It’s usually asked by the pretty and the handsome of TV land, goldie throats who don’t have enough depth about them (or just aren’t provided the time) to ask better questions. Seriously, what does that mean?

I know what they think it means. But what does it really mean? Nobody asks, “When will Thai food make it?” As if Thai won’t “make it” until it replaces Italian or Chinese in the cultural culinary pecking order.  When will Southwest Airlines “make it?” I mean, it isn’t as big as American or Delta, right?

Of course, Southwest is what it is. So is Thai food.

And so is soccer. It’s never going to “make it,” or “not make it.” 

All that said, the next time someone asks me when soccer will “make it in our country,” I’m gonna have a laminated, wallet sized copy of today’s New York Post sports cover handy, ready to whip out and wave in their face. Because I’d say this is proof that soccer has “made it,” whatever that means.