Soccer is not as popular in the United States as it is in other nations; this is not disputed by any rational adults. Some people are horribly vexed by this dilemma, while others are able to easily list the reasons why. Here's my couple of cents' worth.
A gentleman by the name of Steve McCarthy once wrote that soccer often gives the people of various nations hope, and presents realistic goals of achievement to youth everywhere (except our nation, of course). Americans are culturally different in that regard. Which sports do our kids fantasize about the most? Basketball? Baseball? Football? The feel-good piece by McCarthy sings the praises of soccer, and does it well. It doesn't really explain why we, as a nation, don't really care about soccer.
A soccer blogger wrote about his exterminator not being interested in soccer because the U.S. doesn't excel at it. He goes on to state that this is the norm:
Americans are extremely competitive and always want to excel in everything they do. So, rather than watch a sport where the US will not succeed, the exterminator (and presumably countless other Americans) want to watch something else, something they can win.
I think this guy is horribly misguided. His bug guy might not be articulate enough to say that he just doesn't give a damn about what many of us find uninteresting, but that doesn't equate to "presumably" countless Americans only being uninterested because we're no good at it as a nation. The failed logic of that one is glaring!
Another gentleman, by the name of Todd Pheifer writes about America's fascination with violence; I think he may be on to something, but I question some of the associations with European soccer clubs; what's the first thing you think of when someone mentions soccer in England? Does the word start with an "h?" It does for me. American football is indeed violent by nature; is that the source of attraction? I don't know, but I think not. I know that there have been some amazing games that I've enjoyed that had no real "highlight reel" hits. The level of competition between the teams, the dueling between the QB, WRs and opposing defenses, the ballet-like abilities of the RBs, these are the things that inspire football fans! The big hits will always make web gems, but they won't create new NFL fans.
American culture is different than most other nations in the world; this fact needs to be acknowledged by those that puzzle over things like soccer. Why is NASCAR so popular? What about baseball? There's no real mystery over what's going to happen during a NASCAR race; the drivers are probably going to turn left. If they turned right on some of those oval tracks, I'd probably tune in to that race (yes, I already know that they race on road courses once in a while). Baseball? It's slow, and only punctuated by brief moments of exciting action. Watching a pitcher that puts away a large number of high BA players is fun for me. Why? Does my playing of baseball as a child cause me to be interested? Do all NASCAR fans have a deep-seeded fantasy revolving around driving fast?
To me, it's not a mystery that soccer is not popular. I suspect that as youth soccer programs grow and more of those youth reach adulthood (or something close to it), soccer will continue to grow in popularity in our nation. Just please stop claiming that because I lack interest in a certain sport, I must hate it. Don't claim that because the U.S. doesn't perform well at it that I must not be interested for that reason; my football team doesn't do very well these days, but I'd still enjoy seeing a live Raiders game! Stop telling me that I must refer to soccer as "futbol," "football," or whatever somebody is calling it this week; I just don't care. You can call it hamster ranching, and I'll still not care to watch it.
Have you ever wondered how Google ranks the results that you get when you search for something? What about other search engines; how do they work? The mechanics of search engine rankings (particularly Google) may surprise you.
Google page ranking is actually big business. It used to be bigger, and here's why: Web-based companies used to make money by simply offering to optimize a web site for search engines, and some still do. They banked on the myth that page ranking is some sort of mystery--It's not (at least not any more). The one thing that remains a secret is the exact algorithm that Google uses to rank pages.
Google works in a complicated way, but it's really not as complicated as some folks make it out to be. Google routinely "crawls," or examines web pages for content. In other words, if you publish a web page, Google will eventually examine it, and then index it for search results. If you have any type of site monitoring application, like Sitemeter, installed, you will regularly find page hits (visits), from "googlebot." This is not a person visiting your page, but Google's automated crawler; it's examining, or crawling, your page in order to index it. It's looking for some particular things, and it uses a mathematical algorithm to rank your page, based on those things.
The debate over which things on your page will sway the almighty googlebot is intense; some argue that incoming text links weigh pretty heavy, while others simply stick to the old-fashioned key word content. Here's what those are in a nutshell: If I type a word in this post, and then make it a link to a site (like this: Write on the Right), I've created an incoming text link to that site. The more of those a page or site has, the higher it will be ranked by Google. In addition, if I include certain key words in my blog post (like search engine, Google, SEO, etc), Google will index my site based on those words. The more relevant key words I have in my content, the higher the ranking.
Someone recently said to me that they don't understand how Google can continue to offer such effective search results for free. Well, it isn't really free. Google makes money the same way television stations do, by advertising. How many ads have you come across that link to a Google search result? Probably more than you've really kept track of. Companies also pay good money to get their pages ranked higher in Google search results; that's big bucks for Google too. Also, Google has its fingers in much more than search results; they have their own browser, and many other applications (like Blogger). I wouldn't be surprised if Google fielded its own operating system soon.
One more thing that is often overlooked is the power of blog posts for search engine ranking. My blog, for example, gives every post its own unique URL. Try hovering your mouse pointer over the title of this blog post; you'll see that the post has its own web address. Since the web page for this post also includes a link to my home page (Write on the Right), every blog post that I publish will serve to slightly increase my blog's search engine ranking by creating more incoming links to the home page. Who's confused? In other words, more posts equals more links to everything that I link to on the home page, and the home page itself.
Here's another bit of trivia: Text links work better than image links. What that means is, the text links that I have on a page will cause the target site to be ranked higher (based on what the text link says), while a banner or image isn't as effective in ranking. Google will index and rank images, but it doesn't do a great job of associating key words with them.
Other search engines, like Yahoo, Ask.com, and Bing, use essentially the same concepts, but Google continues to be the heavy hitter. There are also search engines that are topic specific, such as medical and job search tools. All of this helps to make things easier for us when we need to find information, but it tends to dilute the effectiveness of optimizing your site for search engines.
Here's the bottom line: Links and keywords help ensure that people can find the web content that they search for. The next time you view a professional web page, try looking for the key word content that is intentionally placed there; you might be surprised how much you find.
Some of us have the luxury of observing things and asking, "WTF?" It's easy to overlook the fact that other folks have to actually participate in the WTF. The sheer stupidity of the WTF often overshadows the plight of those subjected to it.
Here's an example: Shortly before Christmas last year, I saw a unit running down the road in formation, with every Marine wearing a Santa hat. They were wearing typical "green on green" PT clothing, with the addition of a freakin' Santa hat. They all looked absolutely miserable, except for the CO, who was leading the parade of WTF. This was a fine example of epic WTF that I was able to observe, while others had to actually participate in it.
There are many WTF moments in the Marine Corps; that's just the nature of this line of work. I believe this is the result of a couple of factors. First, stupid people get promoted too. Some guys, and gals, get promoted for reasons other than their leadership abilities; there's no denying that. They can be complete idiots, but because they score high on the PFT, they get selected over a peer for promotion (or they excel in some other particular area other than leadership). Instant WTF generator! Imagine the dumbest kid in your high school class, and then imagine him or her in charge of 100 employees. Can you imagine the WTF moments that would ensue?
Next, some leaders, particularly in the officer ranks, don't give a flying f^ck about the Marines in their charge. They spend their entire careers trying to generate comments for their own fitness reports, and scurrying to cover their asses. When something bad happens in their unit, they implement the most idiotic and useless measures, just so they can say, "This is what I did to fix the unfixable." If they can generate enough items to put on their fitness reports, they get selected for promotion. Yet another WTF generator.
Don't get me wrong; there's no shortage of great leaders in the Corps, but there's also a growing supply of bad examples. This is saddening in the worst kind of way.
Happy New Year to everyone that stumbles across this little speed bump.
Here's some random thoughts and questions that trickled through my mind today:
-What causes an otherwise well-behaved dog to go outside, piss in the yard, and then come in the house and take a crap on the carpet?
-Do cell phones cause stupidity? I'm convinced that they do. Drivers' behavior certainly indicates such.
-Broccoli is awesome. It's like eating a little tree.
-Windows Vista is okay...unless you like to have some RAM freed up for your own use.
-Military post offices suck donkey balls. It's not a question of WHEN your letter will "get there," it's a question of IF it will get there. Russian Roulette anyone?
-Fujikura makes kick-ass shafts for drivers. (Gawfer knows what I'm talking about).
-Ants are sneaky little bastards. I'm thinking about trying fire next.
-Safety tip: If you're eating a whole heap of food from Taco Bell, and you get full, STOP EATING. You'll thank me in the morning.
Have a great 2008 (did that rhyme?), and I'll share more of my infinite wisdom later.
