I get similar jealous looks when I tell people that my first major league baseball game was at Fenway park in 1952. It was between the Yankees and the Red Sox. Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams were playing. The Red Sox lost.
I think it has a lot to do with McCarthyism. During that time in America, anything that was foreign was therefore unamerican and communist. A concerted effort was made to suppress such sports (and cultural aspects) and highlight american sports (even though a majority of the immigrant influx at the time played soccer. This can be seen in the fact that we actually placed 2nd and 3rd in the first 2 world cups). A lot has changed since those times, but I think that particular outlook towards non american sports (soccer in particular) has stayed.
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I think it has a lot to do with McCarthyism. During that time in America, anything that was foreign was therefore unamerican and communist. A concerted effort was made to suppress such sports (and cultural aspects) and highlight american sports (even though a majority of the immigrant influx at the time played soccer. This can be seen in the fact that we actually placed 2nd and 3rd in the first 2 world cups). A lot has changed since those times, but I think that particular outlook towards non american sports (soccer in particular) has stayed.
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