Pro soccer in the heart of Dayton- and few people noticed
I looked on the Dayton Daily News Sports page today for a story about the Columbus Crew vs the Dayton Dutch Lions playing at UD’s Baujan field– and didn’t see a thing.
But, at 6:30 p.m. the two teams, both leading their respective leagues- took the field and played “football.”
Now granted, some of the serious soccer crazies are at home, glued to their sets watching the World Cup- along with the rest of the world, but, this was the big leagues- and the Dayton Daily News didn’t have a story.
Baujan Field is known to UD students- but, for most- you’d never know it’s there. Tucked away behind the old fieldhouse- it was built in 1925- and now is home to the very successful UD soccer programs. I’m not sure of the capacity- but, this should have been a 7,000+ attendance- thanks to all the youth soccer in the community. Sadly, I’d guess that it wasn’t half that.
With all the stories the DDN doesn’t cover, I’m wondering if it’s time to sue to change the name to the “Dayton Daily” or of late, “The Touchdown Jesus Times”
BTW- the Crew won 3-0. For the first year Dayton Dutch Lions, that almost counts as a win. However, Dayton’s soccer community really took a beating- from the sound of the crowd, there were more Crew fans there than Dayton fans.
It is sad the lack of coverage they give the Dutch Lions. On the website, under the sports drop-down, they have entries for “Dayton Hockey” (the Gems ? Ummm, it’s out of season for them), “Local Auto Racing” (???, what’s that ?), and “Mixed Martial Arts”. WTF is that last one ? The three stories I checked were all from “Contributing Writer”.
We’ve started covering local sports on DMM (including several stories on the Dayton Dutch Lions) with our contributing writer Brian Ressler… we welcome help from others too! http://www.daytonmostmetro.com/topics/entertainment/spectator-sports
The three biggest whoppers ever foisted on the American people are that the Lottery was going to solve all of the school funding problems, Obama was going to unite us in a post-racial Kumbaya singing love-fest and soccer was going to be the next big thing. It’s the world’s most popular game, the true believers keep telling us, and in the next decade the ball you can’t catch will become wildly popular. And just like the Socialist Workers Party, who keep insisting that American voter sympathies are turning their way, that has been the soccer zealots party line for the past 50 years. There has been some increase in youth soccer, but apparently soccer is something you play until you are 16 and then forget to pursue more interesting endeavors, such as chasing young women and imbibing copious amounts of ignorant oil. But that’s not to say youth soccer hasn’t had some impact; it has left us with that sub-species known as the soccer parent, whose behavior makes the most obnoxious little league mom look downright civil in comparison. Despite it bumpy recent history, dear David, Dayton is still one helluva’ righteous sports town. While you were at the soccer game, 9,000 paying customers were watching the Dragons less than two miles away. Over 10,000 Daytonians crowd into the arena to watch Tick Tock Teck play Whattsamatta U in the NCAA play-in game at the UD Arena every year, which is a better crowd than you could get at the Madison Square between two general unknowns. And would you, dear David, get up and drive to the Kettering Rec for a 6 am starting face-off at a amateur soccer game? Didn’t think so. High School soccer teams play in front of 100 on Thursday night while the football team shines the Friday night lights on thousands. Daytonians still love and support sports, if they are our sports. Who cares what the rest of the world thinks? The rest of the world marries their cousins, sits on a device that shoots water up their backside and looks at your family pooch… Read more »
The DDN did have a story about the upcoming game a few days back. But yeah, something on that day would have been appropriate to generate some more buzz.
I did LOL at the “Touchdown Jesus News”…. I agree that coverage has been pretty obnoxious.
We always end up National for the greatest stuff. Baseball fights, microwaved babies, and burning Jesus statues.
Obama was going to unite us in a post-racial Kumbaya singing love-fest
Who said that?
I’m with the rest of the word on their toilets. A good shot of water is much better than dry toilet paper, which just smears it all around.
Most Americans don’t properly clean their anus because of this shortcoming in culture.
Every four years at world cup time, unimaginative right winger pundits write the same tired old screeds about how unamerican soccer is, and how Liberals Just Don’t Get It ™. Ice Bandit provides a fairly typical example of the genre. It doesn’t take an special insight to see it for the pointless, trivial nativism it is (does anyone really think these people would prefer football/baseball to soccer if their global popularity patterns were reversed?), but it’s also becoming increasingly out of line with any sort of factual basis. No, Soccer isn’t close to being as popular as the big three in the US, which is fine with me. (I can appreciate my home country’s popular sports and still not be threatened by soccer! Contra Ice Bandit et al, it is perfectly possible to take pride in oneself without randomly, desperately lashing out at the other).
But at any rate, this standard screed used to be based on some sense of empirical reality, but those days seem to be passing as well. the Dayton team may not have fully caught on yet, but MLS attendance is growing quite rapidly (It’s not at all easy to get Sounders tickets here in Seattle.). And have you seen the ratings for some of the World Cup matches? I can’t get a seat at any of my local pubs during the lunchtime games. Apparently quite a few Americans are more interested in watching a quality athletic competition than conforming to right-wing nativist stereotypes.
America is filled with lazy people whom cannot concentrate on any subject for the 90 minutes it takes to enjoy soccer. I too did not understand the game but I have avidly watched the last world cups and my appreciation has grown. Soccer and hockey are great games if one has the patience to watch. I have passed on the love of the game to my mother and brother. These sports are also aided by HD and the large TV formats.
As a former high school and collegiate athlete, I never could understand people’s zeal to watch sports. I’ve always enjoyed participating in sports, but watching, meh.
Every four years at world cup time, unimaginative right winger pundits write the same tired old screeds about how unamerican soccer is (djw)
Every four years, djw? Contraire mon friere, our disinterest in soccer is every year. Furthermore, despite your attempts to politicize this debate, be reminded that there are probably 100 million or so American leftists who don’t give a rat’s patoot about soccer either. Please djw, don’t confuse this apathy with hostility. The Old Bandito, for example, wishes the Dutch Lions well, though it is doubtful his shadow will ever darken their Bellbrook stadium. No djw, we reserve our hostility for elitists who contend that their is some deficiency in folks that hold soccer in low regard, be it short attention spans (despite the fact that a typical NFL game is three hours long), “nativism” or a lack of sophistication. Here in Ohio, the parents of soccer players hold an annual whineapalooza about why they don’t get to play on Friday nights, or why they don’t get the same publicity from the media as the football teams, or why the state football championships are big events and the soccer title games an afterthought. Don’t blame the schools, the fans or the media; blame soccer…..
Soccer can stay at it’s popularity level here in the States and I’m good with it. As Greg mentions above, the typical American can’t sit and watch a sporting event for 45 straight minutes with — and this is the best part — no commercial interruptions. Watching a football or basketball game annoys the HELL out of me, seeing how influential the media (networks) are in the games. Stopping for a commercial timeout ? Excuse me ? When the last (3) minutes of a football or basketball game take 15-20 minutes in actuality, I really lose patience. I want to watch the game, not f*cking commercials.
Please djw, don’t confuse this apathy with hostility
Yeah, see, I’m pretty apathetic towards tennis. Therefore, I say virtually nothing about tennis, and I certainly don’t write boring, predictable, pedantic screeds about how boring/lame/sissy/unamerican it is. That is not an expression of apathy, it’s an expression of something else. Good old fashioned nativism seems like the most probably answer, but I’m open to other explanations.
despite your attempts to politicize this debate,
Yeah, see, I’m the one who is confused and non-plussed by the tendency of conservatives to criticize their dislike of soccer. Noticing and commenting on other’s politicization of their tastes isn’t the same as actual politicization.
criticize s/b politicize.
The real reason some people can’t stand soccer is that soccer is gay. It’s official. Watch this ONN report: “Soccer Officially Announces It Is Gay“
David Lauri, soccer is not gay intrinsically. Just that the players meet more boy-next-door criteria than football, basketball, or baseball players. Particularly the professional players. The gayness is in ourselves. Fer sher.
David Esrati, only with this first-found interest in the World Cup did I find the two nearby professional teams’ websites. (Columbus Crew: http://crewonespot.blogspot.com/ Dayton Dutch Lions: http://dutchlionsfc.com/cms/index.php/home) Now it’s time to support them, in the bits of spare time I have.
Tom, did you view the ONN report? I’ll give you a clue. ONN stands for Onion News Network. The Onion is a satire news organization.
Another clue as to the gayness of soccer — “The All Marriage Equality World Cup,” a post on JoeMyGod that points out:
Click the link to see a fun map showing marriage equality status in World Cup participant countries.