It’s still May, and you’re aware, so they made the deadline! 
Remember that “counting to 12” song with the pinball animation that was a staple of Sesame Street for decades (officially called “Pinball Count”, apparently)? Well I recently learned that the song was recorded by the Pointer Sisters. I guess I never really put much thought into who recorded Sesame Street’s music, but if you had asked me before I learned this I would have just assumed it was some obscure studio musicians. I guess it’s not all that surprising, though. They did have some pretty famous people on the show over the years.
Such as Stevie Wonder and this EPIC rendition of Superstition!
So, I always figured that, considering their status as 9th or 10th tier sports here, that the USA’s national cricket and rugby teams are irrelevant laughingstocks. I think I read some number of years ago that our rugby team lost to New Zealand by like 103-0. Well anyhoo, it turns out that our national teams in both of those sports are legitimate second tier teams. Apparently things are looking up for our cricket squad, while our rugby team appears to be going through a “rebuilding” phase.
In a way, their status is similar to that of our soccer team, which is to say, legitimate second tier teams following decades of irrelevance. Although I doubt either sport is on the precipice of exploding in popularity here like soccer has (also following decades of irrelevance).
At my current job, which involves fryer foods, I frequently have to count out a dozen wings.
You betcha I sing that song under my breath each time.
" … eleven twelve." (In my deepest pseudo bass tone.)
Although the good players are still generally from countries with far superior cricket programs, and wouldn’t get close to sniffing a spot on the teams of their countries of origin. At least in soccer, the US has been somewhat successful at developing our own players, some of who make it into the top club leagues in Europe.
This is going back a century, but I think a lot of us here are old enough to have seen people dancing (or trying to dance) the Charleston in old movies. Additionally, Mad Magazine used to joke about it occasionally.
It’s actually a fairly complicated dance requiring the dancer to go through more movements than most people realize. But the one move people tend to be most familiar with is where the person slightly stoops and moves their palms back and forth across their thighs while moving their knees in and out.
Although the Charleston was specifically invented for an African-American Broadway play, it was inspired by Juba dance,, an older African American tradition in which the dancer would beat or slap their thighs for rhythmic effect. And that’s where the hands-across-the-knees movement in the Charleston came from. To modern eyes, at least for people unfamiliar with the history, that has always been the most bizarre yet characteristic part of the dance.
Yeah, Americans seem to love playing soccer, but just don’t watch it, for whatever reason.
It’s often the first organized sport that children get into, possibly because it’s perceived as safer than American football, baseball, or softball. Also ISTM – possibly incorrectly – that the rules of soccer may be simpler.
Probably about comparable to basketball: “Get the ball into that [hoop/net], but without [moving while carrying the ball/using your hands]”. Yeah, yeah, there are more detailed rules, but that’s the gist of it.
Certainly much simpler than football or baseball.
Hitler won The Purple Heart.
But only after he changed his name.
Do they show it on TV in the US ?
I always heard that the TV broadcasters don’t show it because it
doesn’t lend itself to having commercial/ad breaks every 45 seconds.
In the modern media age, I’m not even sure how to answer that question. If you’re an American fan of soccer, then there is surely some way to make live matches show up on your TV screen.
It’s usually not broadcast, though, nor on any of the standard cable channels. Maybe ESPN2 or the like.
When I ask Google what channel professional soccer is broadcast on in the U.S., it says:
- Major League Soccer (MLS): Streamed entirely on the Apple TV MLS Season Pass, with select matches also simulcast on FOX and FS1.
- English Premier League (EPL): Broadcast on NBC, USA Network, and streamed live on Peacock.
- UEFA Champions League & Europa League: Streamed exclusively on Paramount+.
- La Liga: Broadcast on ESPN and ESPN Deportes, with streaming on ESPN+.
- Liga MX: Televised across Univision, TUDN, Telemundo, FS1, and ESPN Deportes.
- National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL): Games are split between CBS, ESPN/ ESPN Deportes, and the ION Network.
- International Tournaments (e.g., FIFA World Cup): English broadcasts are on FOX and FS1, while Spanish broadcasts are on Telemundo and Peacock. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Just learned that the Straight of Hormuz is named for the Zoastrian god (or technically one half of the dualist god) Ahura Mazda. Not super surprising seeing as Persia was the center of Zoastrianism for centuries prior to the Islamic conquest (and for sometime afterwards), but interesting I thought.
As I’ve said before, and I’ll say again, the idea that soccer is an afterthought in the US is at least a decade out of date. It has exploded in popularity, and has even supplanted baseball as the third most popular sport in the country.*
Yes, soccer is shown on TV, although “shown on TV” means different things than it did 20 years ago. But yes, as @Wendell_Wagner pointed out, there are plenty of ways to watch soccer in the States, depending on which league you’re interested in. Every World Cup match (as far as I know) will be available on the Fox Sports app.
*There are probably a thousand metrics by which a statistician can answer the question, “what is the most popular sport in [place]”? Butts in the seats at games? Money earned across broadcast revenue streams? Money earned by merchandise? Fans who say it’s their favorite sport? Etc. Etc. So whether or not the metric The Economist used to come up with the assertation that soccer is #3 here is legit or not, I’ll leave to people more learned about statistics.
That only time I saw the US rugby play they lost with a similar “cricket score” to New Zealand Maori (which at the time was basically the New Zealand B team, though now takes Maori identity more seriously)
Nitpick: Zoroastrian, Zoroastrianism
Yeah has anyone else noticed the spelling suggestions on Android have gotten worse of late? I mean what other word could this possibly have been!? Yet it didn’t correct it.