Louligan Letters

We want to start including more content on the site and social media from our members. One way we can do that is with this new section, Louligan Letters. If you have an opinion or observation that you’d like to share with everyone, please feel free to contact us and submit it. Obviously we can’t just post everything, but as long as it’s well thought out, semi-coherent and topical we’ll post it up.  First up we’ve got a letter from long-time member Kenny Hofer. He shares his thoughts on all the anti-soccer nonsense from the media in this country during the World Cup. Thanks to Kenny for submitting his letter and we hope more of you will take advantage of this forum to let your voice be heard.

Dear friends and fellow soccer fans,

If you are reading this then you know full well that the biggest event on the soccer calendar is in full swing. This edition of the World Cup has been absolutely fantastic and probably the best one I have witnessed. We have had a great time supporting the US at the various watch parties and the team has achieved heights that most of us did not expect. It has been a great ride and the memories of the fun and excitement will live on for the rest of our lives.

But with our great fun we have had to once again deal with the detractors in the media. Nearly every day, especially after US games, sports columnists and bloggers have felt the need to attack us and the sport we love. It incites anger in all of us and rightly so, who are these people to attack us and talk down to us about what we enjoy doing. Everyone wonders why do they feel the need to come after us? If they dislike soccer so much why do they feel the need to write the same soccer bashing story all the time? Well the answer is simple, they feel threatened by soccer in America. They don’t understand it and they don’t want to; they don’t like it, they won’t like it no matter what the numbers say. Some of their reasoning falls to the fact that for their entire careers they have been able to write about baseball and football because that is what they grew up with and that is what they know. Other columns, like that of a certain long faced Fox News contributor, are just petty and hateful with a strong hint of xenophobic vibe. So to all of you out there that get upset and angry about their incessant need to strike out at us every chance to get, I offer you this advice; ignore them. Yep, that’s it. Just ignore them. No matter what we have to say in response to them they will not budge from their position. They are set in their beliefs and nothing is going to change their minds. However, there is some good news to all of this. Even though we can never convince these folks that soccer is a big sport in America and the future for the country, we don’t have to. We will win this argument, it is just a matter of time.

For anyone that has been to a US watch party or a 6:00 kickoff on a Saturday morning, there is one thing that is clear, the majority of the people there watching fall in the 20-40 year old age range. We are the future and most of us are inspiring and influencing the next generation of soccer fans. Soccer is quickly climbing the ranks of most popular sports in the US. I have personally witnessed the evolution, from watching English Premier League matches on tape delay at 2 am, then the blessing that was Fox Sports World where you they would have live matches, to now being able to watch every game every week live. MLS has come a long way in 20 years as has the the USMNT. Ten years ago you would see a few soccer shirts here and there, now they are common place. Soccer is slowly but surely climbing the ladder. We may not get to the top, the NFL has a firm grip on the #1 spot, but we are going to get up there with them.

It is for that reason that I say forget about the haters. Let them write their click bait columns and puff pieces for their friends to sit around and snicker about when they talk about how they put us in our place. They are getting old while we get younger and multiple. They have become the equivalent of the crotchety old man shaking his fist at us while yelling “you damn kids.” In the next decade or so they will retire and go off to their retirement homes while our people fill their ranks. So next time you see an article about how much soccer sucks and the games are boring and take too long (yeah I didn’t get that argument either) just shrug your shoulders, pat them on the head and smile because the past is theirs but the future is ours.

Happy soccer watching,

Kenny