America’s Soccer Identity

In his article, Buffington describes what makes America unique in the area of soccer and defining the idea of a national culture.  One passage that seemed spot on to my thinking about now different nations have different playing styles.

“This involves representing national teams (and their individual members) as having distinctive habits of play, tactical affinities, or skill sets that influence how they perform on the field.”

He also brings up an interesting point about how highly industrialized nations were brought together under a unified sporting culture all around the 1870s and 1930s.  In America though, this was when baseball, basketball, and American football were gaining traction.  By having these three sports all hitting their high points during this time period, it left little room for the growth of soccer from its position as a youth sport your mom drove you to and from.  The idea of a “soccer mom” is an exclusively American idea and helps keep soccer as a youth sport.

Questions:

• Would soccer be a big time sport here in the US if we did not have basketball or one of the other “American” sports emerging during the 1870s and 1930s?
• What is an explanation of the growth in popularity soccer is experiencing now in the US?