Soccer Goes Mainstream as Team USA Wins ESPY for Best Moment

July 15th, 2010 | by: Daryl | View Comments

That headline might be overstating things, but not by much. The ESPY Awards were created by American sports broadcaster ESPN in 1993. A little like the Oscars, if everyone was a lot more relaxed. Various sporing achievements from the year are honoured, with more than a little ESPN self-promotion thrown in. The important thing is that they’re very much mainstream and popular. Expert panels pick the nominees, and then fans vote for a winner.

The “Best Moment” category – as in the best sporting moment of the past year, as decided by the American general public – was contested by the New Orleans Saints Superbowl victory, Phil Mickelson winning the Masters amid much emotion, Joannie Rochette performing at the Olympics after a personal tragedy, and Landon Donovan’s dramatic late goal against Algeria that kept the team in the World Cup.

Somewhat surprisingly, American sports fans voted for the US soccer team beating Algeria 1-0 as their “Best Moment” of the last twelve months.

I know this doesn’t mean soccer is suddenly more popular than the NFL or golf. I know that the US beating Algeria benefitted from being by far the most recent and therefore fresh in the memory of all the moments nominated. And I know that a few people probably thought Carlos Bocanegra was Landon Donovan when he stepped up to the mic. But at the very least this is the sport of soccer taking another step towards the limelight in American popular culture.

Unfortunately, it won’t get the chance to stay there, since the next World Cup is a whole four years away. But Thierry Henry’s arrival at New York Red Bulls is yet another sign of progress. Check in with Dave at Red Bulls Offside for updates on today’s TH14 press conference.