Just Like CNN, We Wonder What Message is Being Sent to the Soccer Kids of America

That headline appears on the linked CNN article. To be fair, the article itself doesn’t seem to match up entirely with the “soccer kids” headline. It does mention that “some 3,055,148 American kids are officially registered to play the sport,” and much later, states:

“Just as we constantly ask our athletes to serve as role models to our kids, we need to ask the same of those who hold power over our games — perhaps especially when it comes to the most popular sport in the world. ”

Nevertheless, bravo, headline writers. And it’s fair to ask, what of the children. Now, most of those soccer participation numbers are because soccer (being a far less complicated and active game early on than, say, softball) is the game of choice for the family of the kindergartener just looking to have an activity.

I texted my U6 team to see what they thought of Sepp Blatter. Waiting for responses, but I’m sure the kids are still dealing with this in their own way. This is not something that a family just jumps into–the FIFA corruption talk.

I also asked my son if he wanted to read about the FIFA stuff. “No way, sounds boring,” he replied, and ran outside. He seemed disinterested on the outside, but I’m sure that is just hiding the emotional scars underneath. Scars that might take until, oh, 2022 to heal.