 "Photo: AP")
The summer is always a tough time for sports fans in America.
The only football that's active is Arena Football, and the only basketball being played is by the WNBA. The time between tennis grand slams can be excruciating (the U.S. Open isn't until Aug. 27), and there's at least a month in between golf majors. Baseball isn't interesting until late September when the wild card races start heating up, and the All-Star game isn't doing much to change that.
So what's a sports fan to do?
Let me offer some advice before you end up getting sucked into that horrible mock bracket ESPN is hyping. First off, you ever heard of a thing called soccer?
I know, I know. You're American, and you just don't do that sort of thing. Hear me out.
The MLS is at an all-time high right now with the surge of quality foreign players coming to the league. The closest thing Austin has to a local team happens to be the defending champions of the league. The Houston Dynamo started out the year a disappointing 4-7-1 overall but have kicked it up a notch since June, going on an eight-game undefeated streak in MLS play.
If that story and a little bit of Texas pride aren't enough to pull you into MLS, wait until late July, when you can witness history.
This summer will kick off the first-ever season of the North American SuperLiga, an eight-team tournament between the best American teams and the best squads from Mexico. There will be a lot of bragging rights at stake here. Our rivals south of the border are still fuming over their Gold Cup loss last month and are likely to be out for vengeance.
If the inaugural season of the SuperLiga goes well, there is no telling where it could lead. Officials are hoping to turn the competition into a huge tournament that could rival Europe's Champions League.
Except this will happen on U.S. soil.
And if all that wasn't enough to force you to pull your eyes off of that damn hot dog eating contest, you know David Beckham's coming to America next week, right?
The sport is the best it's ever been in the U.S. Now is the perfect time to hop on the bandwagon. Don't worry, we won't make fun of you for seeing the light so late. Despite the soccer riots you see overseas, we're pretty peaceful.
Seriously though, what other choice do you have?
Football on a field half its normal size? Cars racing around a track again and again? Boxing, where the heavyweight division is the worst it has been in the history of the sport? The World Series of Poker? Are you really going to choose a card game over the world's most popular sport?
Baseball? I don't know about you, but Barry Bonds' chase for the home-run record - and the angry mob of reporters blasting him every chance they get - has grown old. Entertaining to an extent, but old nonetheless.
If you're looking for something to watch besides that minor-league All-Star game ESPN2 aired last night, soccer's your answer. I'll see you at the 2010 World Cup.
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