I spent the past morning watching a World Cup Soccer match with my Father. Like most North Americans, we’re not big fans of the sport. But we appreciate the skill and gracefulness this game provides. If you really want to know (or care at all), England beat Ecuador 1-0. The lone goal was scored by the infamous Metrosexual – David Beckham.

My Father is the type of man who likes to yap throughout any sporting event. Throughout my childhood we would debate anything related to sports, like who’s the greatest Basketball player of all time or the finer merits of Professional tennis. As we watched English Hooligans (fans) prepare to riot in Germany, we talked about the lack of interest toward Soccer on this side of the planet.

Why don’t we care about the World’s (so-called) game in North America? It seems like every other country can compete for the World Cup. Heck, our Canadian Soccer team can’t even qualify for the big event.

The answer is simple. It’s called C-O-M-P-E-T-I-T-I-O-N.

In this part of the world, we have many forms of entertainment vying for our attention and dollars. As Canadians, living close the USA has allowed us to enjoy multiple sporting organizations that spend billions and billions dollars toward a dedicated fan base (NHL, NASCAR, NBA, ETC). These multi-billion dollar sporting organizations can only be maintained by a high level of consumer purchasing power, which is far above the rest of the world. You simply don’t have this luxury in a third world country like Brazil, where Pablo has no other sporting outlet (other than soccer) to entertain himself.

I’m not saying that Soccer is a lower level sport for poverty stricken masses. It’s just not ingrained within the consciousness of North Americans. We typically view Soccer as boring and slow. If it’s not exciting or full of action, we simply change the TV channel or find another sporting event to attend. Perhaps one day we’ll come to our senses and join the rest of the world. But for now, I’d rather watch a basketball or hockey game.