If there are three things that American sports fans like its underdogs, fast breaks, and last-second scores. Luckily for soccer enthusiasts, the latest US World Cup match featured all three.
The recent World Cup victory by the U.S. over Algeria certainly tipped the scales in favor of the “soccer is catching on in America” crowd, seeing as it was the highest-rated soccer match ever seen in the US (which doesn’t take into account the people, like me, who watched in online live). What could be a better result for the most-watched game in US history? It was exciting.
My prediction: the US will start to become a soccer-loving country, occasionally becoming as popular as the four “major” sports (football, basketball, baseball, and hockey). There will be one soccer casualty of this fandom: the MLS (the US-brand of professional soccer) will become an afterthought.
Many of the world’s greatest soccer players play over in the English Premiere League, whose broadcasting rights were recently acquired by ESPN (timely, right?). Take America’s rise in international play in the last decade and couple that with an influx in demand for American players overseas, the EPL will be the new focus for soccer in America on a year-to-year basis.
Also, given American sports fan’s desire to see the best-quality sports being played, soccer will become popular in the US, and international events like the World Cup and the Olympics will be must-see events for sports fans.
So, on the note that, after all these years I was wrong (soccer can be exciting), here are your Links of the Week:
I'll be the first to admit that I'm terrible with names, faces, and remembering whether or not we've met before. Luckily, according to a study published in Time Magazine, it's not my fault! Science!
So, Google came out with something called "Google TV". Of course they would. I'll let them explain...
Here's a survey that, if you're a teen then you should show your parents, and if you're a parent, not to show your teen. Apparently, adult drivers use their cell phones just as much as their teens. SO THERE.
Here's an interview with Adam Scott, former star of funny-but-not-very-popular Party Down (it was on Starz, that's why you've never heard of it), who talks to TV critic Alan Sepinwall about joining the cast of Parks and Recreation.
These photo galleries never get old, but since the NBA Draft was last night, here is GQ.com's photo slideshow of "A Recent Histroy of NBA Draft Style Catastrophes"
I like how the "recording industry" can just declare "Hey, Limewire! You owe us a billion dollars!" I grew up on p2p sites like Napster and Limewire, so I may be a bit partial, so here's my sentiment. If the recording industry wanted to adapt a technology that was cheap and easily to reproduce (digital music, that is), then they should have seen that other people could cheaply reproduce it as well. As my mother would say, THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES TO YOUR ACTIONS.
Many Facebook users must wonder, why do Farmville and similar online games exist? Why, you ask? Well, according to AdWeek, they bring in some heavy cash.
Mad Men! Soon! The poster proves it!
Wow, so you're saying that Jay Leno's ratings have fallen since he replaced Conan? That his ratings are lower than Conan's even though Leno had an audience for nearly 20 years? Oh, and Letterman's ratings are up? AND Jimmy Fallon's ratings are falling? I think its safe to say that NBC may have screwed up that whole transition just a bit.
The newest in the line of Superhero movies, The Green Hornet (starring Seth Rogan) has a trailer available. THe movie looks very I'll-watch-it-once-and-never-again-y.
TIME review for Toy Story 3: "An instant classic."
With NBA free agency under a week away, here is a good read about how certain free agents (like LeBron James) will actually lose $6 million just by declaring free agency. Let's see who wrote that... oh. Someone from Cleveland.com. I wonder why they'd chose that angle to write?
And for your video of the week, "The World's Reaction to Landon Donovan's Game Winning Goal" (well worth the 5 minutes, I promise):