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Technorgasm
03-08-2013, 09:38 PM
http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/relegationzone/id/728?cc=5901

Alexi Lalas' Twitter feed (https://twitter.com/alexilalas) is a curious place. It's less a social stream and more a Star Wars cantina of ideas where the emotional and the rational, the laid-back and the provocative coexist. Mingling among apologies for deteriorating personal hygiene -- "Fair warning: I run among you but I haven't showered. Make way or suffer the horror of my wake." -- are the occasional moments of clarity, like when he tweeted the following a few weeks ago:

According to Lalas, the tweet was the result of a late-night bar conversation. "That's where most of my tweets and ideas come from," he said. "I was talking about soccer in America with the ESPN production crew, about ratings and soccer snobs and Euro snobs and internal types of perception and reality problems. With a theatrical flourish, producer Chris Alexopoulos threw it out there that you can't call yourself an American soccer fan if you don't follow MLS."

By now, Lalas is familiar with the signs that he has hit a nerve on Twitter. "People yell all kinds of names at me," he said. "Some I understand, some I don't."

But once he posted the above statement the following morning, he was instantly exposed to an avalanche of heartfelt arguments from "Euro snobs" obsessed with the Premier League, La Liga and Bundesliga, as well as MLS stalwarts.

"Some people were insulted that I could possibly doubt their standing as soccer fans just because they did not follow MLS," Lalas said. "Others heartfeltly agreed there is a patriotic responsibility to be an ambassador because MLS needs you."
Both the deluge of responses and their emotional depth may be attributed to the fact that this debate occurred at a transitional time in modern supporter culture. Traditionally, fandom was all about rooting for the local team but this simple reality has been obliterated in football's hyper-commercial modern era. As the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United battle to become global brands, that sense of place has been consciously uprooted, something I glimpsed last year while meeting with Liverpool's marketing strategists. They talked about plans to erase the stigma surrounding so-called "plastic fans" by enabling supporters in Jakarta to feel as close to the club as Liverpudlians, developing "subscriber content" in every language that could be paid for in any currency.

Pitched against that backdrop, Lalas' question bears revisiting, all the more during a week in which MLS has kicked off its 18th season. The North American league has become a robust presence. Yet even as its quality progresses -- evidenced by the small symbols of Sporting Kansas City loanee Kei Kamara (http://soccernet.espn.go.com/player/_/id/75574/Kei-Kamara)'s game-changing cameo against Everton, or Brek Shea (http://soccernet.espn.go.com/player/_/id/117724/Brek-Shea)'s ability to find his feet at Stoke -- commissioner Don Garber remained defensive in his season-opening "state of the league" address, as he rued that "Respect for Major League Soccer is greater abroad than it is among the soccer community in the United States."

I asked Lalas if his position on the issue is really about the mechanics of fandom or if it's more to do with American patriotism, and he momentarily sounded like a "Think Globally-Act Locally" bumper sticker.

"Hypocrisy is a constant thread through many American soccer fans' attitudes," he said. "I can't make people follow MLS but I can point out their hypocrisy. If they do want to call themselves American soccer fans and support the national team, I hope that part of them wants the sport to succeed in the United States, and for that to happen, they have to be part of solution by supporting local soccer."

WHAT DO MLS PLAYERS THINK?

• Portland's Darlington Nagbe: U.S. fans should expand horizons (http://espnfc.com/video/espnfc/video?id=1363970&cc=5901)
• RSL's Kyle Beckerman: If you're a soccer fan, you're a soccer fan (http://espnfc.com/video/espnfc/video?id=1363962&cc=5901)
• Philly's Michael Farfan: MLS getting better (http://espnfc.com/video/espnfc/video?id=1363969&cc=5901)
• D.C. United's Chris Pontius: Don't overlook MLS (http://espnfc.com/video/espnfc/video?id=1363972&cc=5901)
• SKC's Graham Zusi: Fans need to do their homework (http://espnfc.com/video/espnfc/video?id=1363973&cc=5901)

ensco
03-08-2013, 10:55 PM
USMNT supporters have a choice that we don't have. They are a WC perennial with top players in Europe.

They don't have to love MLS, but they should.

prizby
03-09-2013, 01:50 AM
what if i live in minnesota or atlanta and follow the nasl?

Technorgasm
03-09-2013, 07:04 AM
i like how he says "euro snob" im proud to support TFC, but didnt watch a single game until we got our team. . . and rarely watch other mls games. .
i guess imma bad person. .

ensco
03-09-2013, 08:34 AM
what if i live in minnesota or atlanta and follow the nasl?

Good point.

Restate: You don't have to love your local team, but you should.

OgtheDim
03-09-2013, 09:31 AM
A supporter of the USMNT, beyond those that just watch the games, would be the sort of person who wants to know where the players are coming from and how they are doing in there league matches.

That would mean following the MLS. Not necessary to be a fan of the MLS to support the USMNT but definitely should be following.

Mind you, I'm a little curious as to why he would consider that Amercian soccer fan = USMNT supporter. Seems a trifle presumptuous.