Fútbol —a.k.a. soccer— is the only non-American narrative binding the world. Perhaps that is why the FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014 has generated so much controversy, so much sound and fury among the jingoistic personalities of the day.
When it is all over, half the population of the planet will have followed the World Cup. But what bothers the gatekeepers of Anglo-American purity is not that the world revolves around a ball, but that the passionate following creeps into the immaculate American household.
Columnist Ann Coulter writes, “Any growing interest in soccer can only be a sign of the nation’s moral decay.” What does Coulter’s skewed mind associate fútbol with? It is obvious that she relates the beautiful game with social groups or “races” that do not live here—the land of the free. Social groups (or hoards, in Coulter’s mind) have invaded this land that is not their land.
It seems like Coulter tries to associate the wicked lovers of futbol with non-European Latinos whose inability to speak English compels them to embrace a sport with an impure heritage. But that is just my interpretation. Coulter writes the following: “If more ‘Americans’ are watching soccer today, it’s only because of the demographic switch effected by Teddy Kennedy’s 1965 immigration law. I promise you: No American whose great-grandfather was born here is watching soccer. One can only hope that, in addition to learning English, these new Americans will drop their soccer fetish with time.”
Coulter and other American media “personalities” have decided to attack fútbol simply because it is not an “American” sport.
However, I can provide Coulter with a list of Americans who have engaged during this World Cup in the un-American activity of following fútbol, such as President Barack Obama and some of his assistants on board Air Force One, as well as members of the Armed Forces at US bases in Afghanistan.
And what about the 25 million American viewers who watched the USA vs Portugal game? This was the most watched fútbol match in the history of the sport in the US, surpassing the ratings of the NBA Finals and the MLB World Series. In comparison to the 2010 World Cup, fútbol viewership in America has increased by 50%. I guess this throws Coulter into a sea of racial worry.
This sea of racial worry not only drowns the souls of “personalities” like Coulter, it also engulfs the minds of concerned readers who write letters to their local newspapers that read: “I hate soccer.” So was the case of Kent Zakour who wrote to the Montgomery County Gazette saying, “Soccer is only the world’s most popular sport because other countries don’t have the same opportunities as we do.”
I conclude by echoing the words of Mark Glaudemans of Olney, Maryland, another Gazette reader who answered Zakour in a letter to the editor: “Hate soccer but please don’t bother explaining this hate to us.”
Avendaño is Executive Editor of El Tiempo Latino alberto@eltiempolatino.com
