Every four years angry sports writers and columnists across the nation get to vent their frustrations about the World Cup, and particularly, how the American media tries and tries to get millions
football, baseball, and basketball fans interested in a tournament our country has little chance of winning. I think it's funny to watch this backlash against the "American" media, because "media" in
these timesfrom the broadcasters to advertisers to the players and the teams themselvesrefers to large global organizations. Those expensive advertisements we see were not made solely for an
American audience. They're produced for the world audience, changing the voiceovers by country. As for the news media barking about the World Cup, is it really that different than the coverage any
other event receives? In this day and age of news sensory-overload, EVERY event is blown out of proportionpartly because people consume so many different news sources. With the World Cup, it's always
the same story: it's the world's game, attracting massive interest around the globe, but in America, maybe five percent of the populace cares about it. Oh, they also like to point out how unhealthy
the passion and hooliganism surrounding the game aremeanwhile, hooliganism has been on a steady decline since 1990. The soccer-hating and media-blaming will always be there, but the bottom line is
people follow the sports they know. And those who hate soccer obviously don't want to know. But there's no need to get angry just because basketball and baseball don't receive as much media attention
for one month every four years.
Read the whole story at The Jerusalem Post »
