We really cannot fully blame the writer of this article we are about to discuss.
See, if the editors of some Australian magazine contracted me to write about raising kangaroo, about how the Aussies really could take a few lessons from we kangaroo experts here in America, I’d take the money, no questions asked. Heck, magazine writing generally pays well.
Seriously, what in the world were editors of The Atlantic thinking when they contracted a man who lives in Australia to write about betterment of professional soccer in the United States?
Perhaps Jean-Paul Pelosi once lived here. (His bio says “freelance writer based in Sydney.”) If so, then less of the blame for this silly piece falls on The Atlantic; more falls on the writer for learning very little while here.
The story essentially says that America will fall in love with soccer by mimicking the “shrewd marketing” of Australia’s professional A-League.
I just don’t have the time or energy to go into everything that makes this piece wrong. Essentially, it’s a bunch of recycled ideas about marketing the game here, some of which were never correct in the first place.
Some of the advice is about initiatives that have long been part of the Major League Soccer plan, generally lifted from the files marked “Most Obvious Ideas!”
Some of this wise counsel is about establishing rivalries, like the “blossoming” rivalry between Seattle and Portland. (If it’s just “blossoming,” then we’ll need nothing short of martial law to contain the combustibles once it, uh, fully “blooms.”)
Further … oh … never mind. Nothing further. It really is a silly article. At least many of the commenters set the poor fellow straight.