Soccer Football Baseball Basketball Hockey (Visit Our
Blog)
I grew up in Pakistan. Although,
Pakistan is a part of the world where craziness for
soccer is very common, it was never so popular in
Pakistan. The popular sports in Pakistan were Hockey
(Field Hockey in American terminology), Squash and
Cricket. To a lesser extent, Athletics (Track sports in
American terminology) and rowing. Field hockey is the
sport in which Pakistan has won more titles than any
other country in the world. In Squash, Pakistan’s Roshan
Khan, Jahangir Khan and Jan Sher Khan, single-handedly
dominated the world stage for decades. In Cricket,
Pakistan is one time world champion and has always been
one of the best in the world. I played all three games,
plus Soccer and Tennis, but Hockey was my game of choice
and I played All Pakistan Fon Gas Hockey Tournament,
representing United Club, Mirpurkhas, Sind Pakistan.
I also remember that when pakistan’s Mohammad Younus won
a gold medal in 400 meters race, there was suddenly a
surge in track sports in Pakistan. When Pakistan’s
Byram and Gospi Awari won a silver medal rowing, there
was a sudden surge of rowing sports in Pakistan. When
I came to United States (Briarwood, Queens NY) I found
Football. I knew and liked Rugby, but didn’t know much
about Football. Soon, I started to love Football and
became a huge New York Giants fan. I was
introduced to baseball, when went to ST. Bonaventure’s
Convent High School, Hyderabad, Sind Pakistan, one of
the very few places where Baseball was played, but I
never played baseball, probably because I was always too
short for Baseball bat. I used to hear from my mom
that she played Basketball during her school and college
years, but I never met any other Basketball player. So,
my perception of Basketball was that it is girly game.
Being a boy I never took any interest in that girly
sport. I grew up in warm part of Pakistan where
Ice-hockey (Hockey in American terminology was almost
non-existent). With passage of time, I started to like
Baseball, Basketball and Hockey, not as much as
Football, and became Yankees, nicks and Rangers fan.
When I compare the sports world in Pakistan with sports
world in United States, and try to find the reasons for
more or less popularity of a sport, there appears one
common cause. The popularity of a sport depends on the
success and ability in that sport. Hockey, Cricket,
Squash, Track sports, and Rowing more popular in
Pakistan than Soccer or Tennis and Football, Baseball,
Basketball and Hockey being more popular in U.S. appears
to mainly because these countries are good in sports.
Like United States, Pakistan was never able to make
winner team in soccer. In Tennis couple of
Pakistani players have been able to get lower
International ranking and that’s it. Same is the case
with U.S.scenario, while Americans re outstanding in
Football, Baseball, Basketball and Hockey, U.S. has
never been able to make winning soccer team. The
argument that Europeans have built their own pop culture
appears to totally lame nd ignorant,= for two reasons.
One, Europe existed long before United States of
America, so it is United States, which built a unique
and different, pop culture. This is clear in many other
things, too. For example, when most of the world
have M.K.S. system of weights and measurements, we still
have Pounds and Gallons; while most of the world has
right hand drive cars that run on left side of road, we
have left hand drive cars the run on right side of the
road; while most of the world has standard voltage of
220 volts, we still have 110 volts. Plus, contrary to
United States, Football, in rest of the world, is not a
game of elites. It is commonly known as the game of
commoners or poor people. Tennis is the sport os Elites
in rest of the world. You may have also observed that
as the U.S. soccer team is improving, the popularity
of Soccer in United States is on rise as well. In
general, sports are very competitive and sports fans, as
well. Sport fans do not like to lose. I always want new
York Giants to win, even if the team doesn’t look like a
winner. So, we don’t like Soccer as much as Football,
Baseball, Basketball or Hockey, because, we do not like
to lose. We desperately want our team to win. I am sure,
when U.S. team will start to win Soccer world cup,
Soccer will be a very popular game, as well. Another
reason is that, like any thing else in United States,
there as lot of money and stakes and interests are
involved with already well established networks of
Football, Baseball, Basketball and hockey. Very
expensive players, teams and their tickets, media and
sponsors, all have their interests tied up with
continuous craze of these games. It’s very hard for
another game to beak in these monopolies. Supply and
demand of money is another reason. The consumer (Sport
watcher) in already so much consumed in terms of time
and money that there is little or no room is left for
another sport. I, also agree, that Soccer seasons are
short.
