Content area
Full Text
It is like The Big Earthquake. People keep predicting it, waiting for it, preparing for it, gauging its impact. But it never comes.
Scientists have no doubt that the dreaded quake eventually will hit along the San Andreas Fault or some other similar area in the Earth's crust.
But no such assurances can be given about The Big Soccer Quake that was supposed to shake up and permanently alter the landscape of American sports. Through no one's fault, San Andreas' included, it may never happen.
Logic certainly has been on the side of those who said it was coming. Here we are, perhaps the most sports-loving nation in the world, turning our collective back on the world's No. 1 team game.
In other countries, people commit murder and mayhem over lost soccer games. In this country, the usual response is a yawn.
It just didn't figure. The apathy couldn't last, America's soccer visionaries said.
A quarter of a century ago, they saw the first quiverings of what they were convinced was the big shake-up. Like most quakes, it was starting at the grass roots. The American Youth Soccer Organization was formed and grew beyond expectations. Suddenly, everyone, it seemed, was playing soccer.
Everyone, that is, between the ages of 5 and 15.
Just wait until...