First of all I hate baseball just as much as the next person. However, a lot of people don't. Apparently it's so competitive that people abuse steroids to get ahead of the competition. So that pretty much takes care of your baseball comment. Basketball is probablly one of the best aerobic sports around (next to soccer). I don't know if you've ever played it but it can be pretty exhausting. Sprinting up and down a court, stopping and starting again. It takes a lot out of you which is why bball players (with some exceptions) are very skinny. They work out a ton but because of their height and the physical exertion they fail to put on the bulk like a football player would. As for football. I enjoy football because I enjoy the strategy involved. It's an explosive game that requires thought, speed, and physical strength. I wish more football bound athletes would play soccer. Heck I wish more basketball bound athletes would play soccer.
ok, so your next point. If our best athletes play soccer then why did we take a bunch of 5ft 150 lbs. nothings to europe (minus gooch and ching, ching never played anyways). Check the stats. We had 3 or 4 guys under 150 lbs. How can you win a ball at that height/weight? In Europe we were hit in the mouth by 6 ft 7 Jan Koller in the first 4 minutes that we were on the field. Then we could never get by that back line of trees the czechs have. Then it was a spiral downward and let's face it we had a ton of luck in 02. We were extremely fortunate to make it that far. If our best athletes play soccer then why are they not being seen in the top leagues around the world? Who do we have playing in Serie A or SPL? I realize that Bobby Convey plays at Reading FC a 2nd division English league, Brian Mcbride and Reyna play in the EPL but I think we saw how awesome they were. Do you think this is some conspiracy that other leagues around the country aren't trying to tap the US athlete for prospects? There aren't any.
Obviously the US has money but soccer itself does not. It's an olympic sport and until about 10 yrs ago it wasn't even a mainstream sport. Some would argue it isn't now. Listen to all the sports talk shows and everything else. They HATE soccer. HATE IT. Everything about soccer is negative to them. Do you think that doesn't have an affect on people? Do you think they're ill-informed?
You're not taking football scholarships, sorry. Football generates so much money. Go to a USC game if you don't think so. 100,000 people + coming to Columbia for a home game can't be wrong. How many people frequent soccer games at USC? Do You? You're not robbing peter to pay paul. You'd ultimately be robbing the university of their money. If you want more scholarships, and I think at least in principle you and Chico are right, you need to look elsewhere. Perhaps women's rowing doesn't need 15 full scholarships? Look that up if you think it's a joke.
The problem is like I said before your "avenues" available have a ton of wreckage on them. You have to clear the wreckage making soccer affordable for that premium athlete who probably can't afford it but he sure can afford to go to his local bball hang out and shoot hoops all day. He sure can play football for his hs team which will provide him with all the equiptment for free. From there he can do anything. He can go to the next level. In soccer? No. You have to pay 20923804923492347 dollars to play club. You have to be on a good hs team and then you have to present yourself to a coach who happens to be where you are. If it was easier to make it to the next level perhaps we'd get a Dwayne Wade in soccer or a Lebron James. Perhaps we'd see a T.O. or a Steve Smith.
