Couldn't have said it better

Olympic Soccer 2012: No US Men's Team, No American Interest

I'm as active a proponent of rational discussion as you'll find, and yet in the wake of Team USA's failure to qualify for the 2012 Olympic soccer tournament, even I'm left wondering: Where's the outrage?

Where's the prideful resentment? Where are the pitchfork demands for retribution?

More than that, did anyone even notice?

Let's revisit the facts. ...

See the whole story here, from Bleacher Report.

Kicking Back Comments: Where I depart company with the article (and I think the only part) is that the US Women are insanely popular (by US standards). So it would seem less about good soccer v. bad soccer (the US women while winning are not playing real attractive soccer), it would seem more about winning v. losing ... which was at the intended heart of my article, Where are all the men?

Obviously by not qualifying the men are de facto losers, but I will be curious to see what happens if the women get anything but gold.

I am guessing it will not be happy.

I don't disagree with the article that the US base is becoming more discriminating in its tastes for The Game, and the international game is plainly much better.

I still hone in on the fact though that America likes winners of all walks, and the US Men just will not get it done. Obviously not in the Olympics (as they did not qualify), but far beyond that.

It is interesting however, and I agree straggly here, that the media will make or break professional soccer in the US ... and right now an irony is by making the international game more popular, it has made the US version pale in comparison.