America does not view soccer that highly. Americans consider it boring as it is 'low scoring' and has 'draws'. Because of this The Simpsons makes fun of our soccer culture. The Simpsons satirise the fact that soccer supporters get overly emotional about the 'Beautiful Game'. Before the match, Homer turns to Marge looking very worried and claims that he will 'kill himself if Portugal win'. Matt Groening is trying to say some supporters treat soccer as a life or death situation and get too intense about their team. The Simpsons also tries to imply football is all hype. The expectation of the crowd is tremendous during the build up to the match but it all fizzles out once the boring match kicks off. The Simpsons is saying that football does not live up to th ......

Here in the West Coast, sports are socialized in a very different way than in Israel. The "people's games" are baseball and (American) football. Soccer is a nice, delicate game for girls with knee-high stockings, and many professors are really proud of their eight year old daughters who made the soccer team. With me being a green-and-white scarved lunatic yelling at the tv in Israel, I must say the transition was strange to the point that my interest in local sports ceased before it really began. Baseball bores me, football grosses me out.