I mention that I enjoyed – really, truly enjoyed – MLS’s fifth All-Star Game, and all I get is grief, at least from the serious fans in this office.
I cite my pleasure seeing that first Ante Razov goal, the give-and-go between Cobi Jones and Mauricio Cienfuegos in the box, or Tony Meola and Mike Ammann taking turns up top – all I get are laughs. “He’s a raving lunatic,” Paul Gardner chortled when he heard, I’m told.
An informal survey of this soccer-sophisticated group finds that nobody – OK, two of us – bothered to tune in for ABC’s coverage. Maybe it was the 11-hour tape delay in the Bay Area (imposed by San Francisco’s affiliate so it could show, on four-hour delay, Joe Montana and Co.’s enshrinement into NFL’s Hall of Fame), but I don’t think so.
Truth is nobody cared. It’s not, they said in so many words, real soccer.
That’s a view shared by plenty of serious fans. There’s too many goals, not nearly enough defense, and the lack of intensity precludes anything but the most meaningless of exhibitions.
For a real All-Star Game, they suggest, watch the national team.
I’ll offer no argument, but I’m not sure they get it.
What I love about the MLS All-Star Game, about all-star games in general, is that it isn’t so serious. It’s an otter pop in a season of steak and baked potatoes.
Jack Edwards, ABC’s play-by-play guy in Columbus, warned at one point that the game was in danger of turning into a “company picnic,” but there’s nothing wrong with that. If the rewards – seeing the camaraderie among players, soaking up their personalities, plus watching a dozen or so goals, defense or no defense – aren’t the same as those offered by “real,” serious soccer, well, so what?
Sometimes fun is enough.