This Quake More Like a Big Fake

It is like The Big Earthquake. People keep predicting it, waiting for it, preparing for it, gauging its impact. But it never comes.

Scientists have no doubt that the dreaded quake eventually will hit along the San Andreas Fault or some other similar area in the Earth’s crust.

But no such assurances can be given about The Big Soccer Quake that was supposed to shake up and permanently alter the landscape of American sports. Through no one’s fault, San Andreas’ included, it may never happen.

Logic certainly has been on the side of those who said it was coming. Here we are, perhaps the most sports-loving nation in the world, turning our collective back on the world’s No. 1 team game.

In other countries, people commit murder and mayhem over lost soccer games. In this country, the usual response is a yawn.

It just didn’t figure. The apathy couldn’t last, America’s soccer visionaries said.

A quarter of a century ago, they saw the first quiverings of what they were convinced was the big shake-up. Like most quakes, it was starting at the grass roots. The American Youth Soccer Organization was formed and grew beyond expectations. Suddenly, everyone, it seemed, was playing soccer.

Everyone, that is, between the ages of 5 and 15.

Just wait until this generation grows up, the visionaries said.

Well, the Baby Soccer Boomers have now grown up and, just as predicted, everyone, it seems, is playing soccer.

Everyone, that is, between the ages of 5 and 15.

Drive by any Valley park on a Saturday morning and you’d think you were in England or Argentina. Black and white soccer balls fill the air. But they are all being kicked by youngsters.

The sport has failed to inspire much interest beyond the early teens.

Oh, there’s been a surge of interest at Cal State Northridge because of the phenomenal work of soccer coach/guru Marwan Ass’ad. And there have been surges of national interest here and there, inspired by people such as superstar Pele.

The Rose Bowl was packed for soccer during the 1984 Olympics and soccer aficionados nodded their heads with that what-did-I-tell-you look.

Big deal. People also flocked to see team handball in the ’84 Games and that has hardly turned out to be our new national pastime.

By and large, for soccer, the Big Quake has proved to be The Big Fake. Remember the Aztecs? The Skyhawks? The Surf? All Southern California professional soccer teams. All gone now.

Soccer remains a great game for the young. But that doesn’t mean the appeal will be carried into adulthood. By that logic, the biggest sport in America ought to be pro dodgeball.

But still, the visionaries persist.

The latest year circled on the calender for soccer’s big quake is 1994. That’s when America, perhaps the Rose Bowl, may get the World Cup, the international soccer event that makes the Super Bowl look like small potatoes. Soccer fever. We’ll finally catch it in the World Cup, goes the latest argument.

In the meantime, however, Dieter Hochheimer can’t wait.

Hochheimer is the 35-year-old general manager-coach of the California Kickers, the Valley’s semipro, semi-anonymous soccer team. The Western Soccer Alliance club, a loser in each of its first three games, makes its home debut at Tom Bradley Stadium on the campus of Birmingham High in Van Nuys with a 4 p.m. kickoff today against the L. A. Heat.

Hochheimer, who began playing soccer as an 8-year-old in his native West Germany and who later played there professionally, is convinced his club can attract fans, although it has struggled to draw more than 1,000 fans per game in its first two years of existence.

“America wants to identify with a winner,” he says, “but it has never been competitive in soccer. In basketball or baseball, the American champion is automatically the world champion. In soccer, they would have to settle for just a little piece of the pie.”

The biggest knock on soccer remains its lack of offense. Americans will not support a game where there is little scoring, where 3-0 can be a rout.

Part of that, though, is psychological. After all, what is a 21-7 game in football? Just 3-1, right? But if you award six points for every score and tack on a conversion point, people think they are seeing a scoring explosion.

Soccer could do the same thing. Heck, why not make it nine points for a goal? Then 3-0 becomes 27-0.

But, Hochheimer insists, that is not the, er, point.

“The first thing is,” he says, “Americans have to understand soccer. That’s how you get hooked on it. When I first got here, I didn’t understand American football. I didn’t know the rules so I was bored. Now I can’t wait for Monday Night Football. I could fall asleep at Dodger Stadium watching a 1-0 game before I understood it.

“You can have a great 0-0 soccer game. It’s like a pitcher’s duel.”

There is a lot of strategy in soccer. It has been described as an accelerated chess match. And when that point finally gets across, the long-awaited soccer quake may be at hand.

But don’t head for cover just yet.