Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 16, 1994 TAG: 9407160040
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
On a Friday afternoon hot enough to turn concrete sidewalks into picnic grills, believe it or not, there was something hotter going on at River's Edge in the Commonwealth Games of Virginia.
It's called soccer.
"The hottest game in town, bar none," said 15-year-old Chris Gaerttner of Orange County. "Hey, my brother plays baseball, and and he used to make fun of me for playing soccer. He thought it was a wimp sport or something.
"Now, suddenly, he wants to play soccer all the time. It's like, `bases, dude, what are you doing?'
"Hey, soccer, it's just awesome, man."
Gaerttner claimed everybody he knows has caught of whiff of soccer from the 1994 World Cup, which wraps up its successful U.S. gig Sunday in Pasadena, Calif., where Brazil and Italy play in the final.
"The World Cup has done wonders for soccer in the U.S.," he said. "People are seeing it on TV and beginning to understand the game. And from what I can tell, they're all loving it. It's just awesome, man."
Of the Games soccer participants polled, all agreed that the World Cup was the kick the sport needed to finally take off in the U.S.
"A couple of my friends have watched World Cup games, and said, `Hey, this is not bad,' " said Mike Creasey, a 16-year-old Roanoker.
"A lot of people thought soccer was a no-contact sport, and it isn't. It has to be the greatest sport in the world, or why would so many people like it?"
Creasey's sidekick, 18-year-old Adam Fowler of Roanoke, said most of his generation has been tuned into soccer for a long time.
"The older generation is the one that needs to come around," said Fowler, stroking his Alexi Lalas-style goatee.
"I don't know how they watch baseball. Personally, I can't watch nine innings of that stuff. I couldn't even watch the All-Star Game the other night. It's boring stuff."
Gaerttner said he's been hooked on soccer since he was 6.
"It's just a different type sport with a lot of different type people in it," he said.
"Just look at the different haircuts, the beards, all the hair, the moves. No other sport allows that stuff. There seems to be more free-spirited type people in soccer.
"You know, people just don't know what a rush it is to score a goal in soccer. It's the rush of all time, dude."
A rush that's suddenly hooking a bunch of people. Even the Baby Boomers, who grew up on traditional American sports like baseball, football and basketball.
"Until the World Cup," said Games soccer coordinator Carol Schmidt, "I don't think a lot of the older people realized just how fast the sport is.
"It's a fast, continuous game like hockey, but without the sticks.
"If you don't think people are interested in soccer, just look out there."
At the time, River's Edge was wall-to-wall soccer, with four games simultaneously in progress.
The sweltering temperatures? Bedford youngsters Shane Lafferty and Ben Lott hadn't really noticed.
"Hey," Lott said. "It's never too hot to play soccer."
by CNB