I totally agree that it is the world's sport and that for the average kid in other countries do not need much and they play soccer. But in this country where everything is organized and everything the top players are not developing from a playground the way they are on a travel team, or a local league. And soccer is not going to take off if the best athletes do not play it. They do not see the end game like they do in the other sports. Kids do not play with the Nerf ball in the back yard like they once did. As I said before I have a video of kids in South Africa playing and you do not even see kids do that for football and baseball here in this country like many of us did. When I hear they have too many games for the officials to cover in soccer in this country, then I will believe there is a takeover.

Peace

Jeff, I am not and I don't believe anyone else here is suggesting that soccer is taking over the nation. Youth soccer, especially U12, is extremely popular in America though. You and I both know that baseball is declining in popularity as a high school sport. Yet, we still have more games than umpires some days. It is unfair to judge the popularity of athletics by the number of officials available. Baseball is still alive and well in Illinois, as it is elsewhere. Football may be more exciting and attractive to some, but kids, young and old, still get wide eyed when Spring arrives at the diamond. That is why I contend that the influence of tobacco use by the game's elite has bearing. My 11 year old may not want to chew because of it but others might. The risks of prolonged use are known and it is probably time to ask them to stop dipping. Once upon a time players could openly smoke cigarettes in the dugout. The outcry was noted and the game moved on.

I hope your games went smoothly this past weekend. Our playoffs start next week and we face a team that killed us earlier this season. Should be interesting.

I would've thought the habit would've died off when they banned chew in the minor leagues. I guess not. It's time the players union give in on this one. At least the teams don't provide the chew anymore.

I've chewed a handful of times over 20 years ago. Idiotic thing to do and I'm glad I never got hooked on that or cigarettes (I've probably smoked less than a pack in my life, always after a night of drinking). I have my weaknesses, but I'm glad these aren't part of them.

I know that having enough football officials down the road is a concern. We used 112 crews in the playoffs this past week (that's 560 officials). That's fewer crews than on a typical Friday night in Wisconsin, when most teams play. My crew is a playoff crew that had off this past weekend (we work next week where the demand is down to 56 crews and halves to 28 and then 14 for weeks 3 and 4). It's the Friday nights during the season that are hard to fill. A lot of crews are carrying officials that probably aren't ready for varsity or playoff work.

The difference between football and football (sorry, soccer) is that we use at least 4 on most youth games through sub varsity, 5 on varsity, and 7 on college. Soccer uses one certified ref and maybe, if lucky, a certified person to work the lines. There may be a lot of games, but there are a lot of younger kids working even younger kids games. One thing soccer seems to do pretty well is develop kids to be officials at some point, even while they are still players. We don't do that, even with youth football, which I think is a mistake.

Actually Mike, Gordon tried to suggest that you see soccer being played all over the place if you drive around. Well, that might be the case in the suburbs, but that is not the case in the inner city. Soccer is largely in this country a middle class and suburban sport. Kids in rural areas like where I grew up are not playing soccer even that much at the youth level. Not to say there are no leagues, but there are not the numbers to play that sport and field a football team in many of those communities. Also when I umpire baseball games, it is not unusual that I am the only African-American on the entire field. And I grew up playing baseball and love it more than any other sport as kid and teenager. Baseball is not dead by any means, but I do not see kids like me playing it anymore as they do playing football or basketball. ESPN did a story on the lack of Blacks playing baseball and how many HBCUs had to recruit many non-Blacks to field a baseball team at the D1 level. Things have changed since the times Jackie Robinson played the game, that is for sure.

Peace

The opposite is true as well. I was asked to teach an umpire clinic at US Cellular field about a decade ago. I received the offer after they saw me work a Public League game that had a tense rivalry. I was the only white guy there at both events. I began my clinic with, "I didn't grow up around here. I'm a Cubs fan, so if you have questions, talk slow and I'll do my best to follow along." It worked and we now have a few more baseball umpires on the southside. I'm glad because the ball I saw played deserved top notch officiating. Inner city baseball is still there but it costs a lot more to play. I mentioned it here before but at the Niles North tournament years ago, a city team was featured. Upon reaching base they kids would put on leather work gloves. I inquired why and the AC said that the boys are used to playing on fields with glass, bottle tops and worse in the dirt. Even with a kitty litter infield they kept up the ritual. Environment shapes the future.

Driving around the greater Houston area (in arguably one of the biggest football states), you will see not only a lot of soccer fields but those fields filled with kids of all ages and races. With the large Hispanic population here, it is especially popular in those areas. Soccer is by no means exclusively a rich, suburban sport here. I'd say that lacrosse, ice hockey, softball and baseball (to a lesser extent) fit that bill better.

That was also my experience when I lived in California.

When I do see a lot of soccer being played, it is not just by kids and it is by Hispanics. There are a lot of adult leagues or tournaments that go on around here too. There are many local Park Districts that have really nice turf soccer only fields and I do not see a lot of kids playing on them. I am sure there are kids playing, but as I said I do not see that translating into high school players. Soccer is a great youth sport and always will be.

Peace

In my county, which has a population 895,000 and somewhere in the top 20 of most affluent counties in the country*, soccer is the norm.

Disclaimer: These are my guesses in talking with people, working around youth, and observing, for my town. I have worked in youth recreational athletics so these numbers aren't just me "driving around."

The town I know best has its rich parts (which are entire towns some places in the county) and has its middle class parts (which are representitive of more suburban-urban towns in the area.) As for the urban setting, none of them play anything but street basketball and a little bit of baseball so forget those parts.'

Girls factor is X.6 on the boys rate.



Population: 57,000.

Soccer:

Average number of teams per grade (K-8): 14
-many of these are just Town Rec leagues, some are travel in the 3rd-5th grade levels)

Average number of kids per team: 9
Total kids playing (K-8): 1900
Percentage of kids playing youth soccer : 27%

Football (boys only):

Average number of teams per grade (3rd-8th): 3
Average number of kids per team: 25
Total kids playing (3rd-8th): 75
Percentage 3rd-8th playing: 1.5%

Baseball/Softball (girls rate reduced to .4:

Average boys number of teams per grade (3rd-8th): 14
Average boys number of kids per team: 12
Total kids: 1400
Percentage (3rd-8th): 28%

Basketball:

Average number of teams per grade (3rd-8th): 12
Average kids per team: 10
Percentage (3rd-8th): 22%


Been about like that for as long as I can remember (15 years).

*I say that not to brag, just to point out the socioeconomics of it if anybody cared. Obviously football is alot more expensive, yet nobody plays it here where they have as much money as anythign

Tuss, I'm curious, what are the figures for Lacrosse and Ice Hockey if you have them?