| Most Americans think of soccer as a European sport | | | | Romans or the Norman French, but we do know that |
| - indeed, most don't really consider it much of a sport | | | | it was played between adjacent villages, with players |
| at all. Most likely this is due to distance; if Canada | | | | competing to kick an inflated pig's bladder between a |
| were on the other side of the Atlantic, we'd probably | | | | set of markers at each end of town. |
| have the same reaction to hockey. | | | | Soccer gifts us with diversity. Its influence can be |
| Soccer's gifts are numerous: Soccer gifts its players | | | | seen in a broad variety of sports, from basketball to |
| with agility, speed, grace and balance. It gifts its | | | | rugby, from American football to Australian rules |
| spectators, allowing them to watch those players | | | | football. No other sport has a such wide spectrum of |
| exhibit their powerful skills. Soccer gifts its coaches | | | | influence. |
| with the chance to develop masterful strategies. | | | | Soccer gifts us with international understanding and |
| Soccer gifts us with the best the ancient world had | | | | togetherness. In the 70s, most Americans perceived |
| to offer. While the sport's current rules were | | | | soccer as an immigrant game, looking on it with |
| formalized in 1848 at Cambridge University, it existed | | | | disdain. But when Pele, one of the games greatest |
| in various forms around the world centuries before | | | | players ever, came out of retirement in '75 to play |
| the birth of Christ. Ancient Romans called it | | | | for the North American Soccer League, America took |
| harpatsum. In Greece, they played phaininda. Before | | | | another look at the sport. Soon, soccer fields were |
| European explorers showed up, native Americans | | | | dominating the nation's schoolyards. |
| played pasuckuakihowog, pok-a-tok, and asqaqtuk . | | | | Soccer gifts us with new forms of political discourse. |
| All were descendants of the sport we know today | | | | The phrase "soccer mom" became popular during the |
| as footb... er, soccer. | | | | 1992 and '96 presidential campaigns. Used to describe |
| Soccer's gifts echo through history. In the British isles | | | | middle-class mothers with school-age kids, the term |
| in the middle ages it was called "mob football," and its | | | | became entrenched in the nation's political vocabulary, |
| one rule was, quite literally, "please try not to murder | | | | leading to spinoff phrases like "NASCAR dad" and |
| anyone." We're unsure whether it arrived with the | | | | "security moms. |