(SNN) - Well folks, it’s finally happening! Thanks to the World Cup in Brazil and the US teams’ impressive performance, soccer’s popularity is now on the rise in the US. The game between the US and Portugal was watched by 24.7 million people, which is 2.5 times more than any other televised soccer match in US history.

Even after the US team was knocked out of the tournament by Belgium, the US viewers were still mesmerized by 22 people running around chasing a ball and not scoring. The World Cup final between Germany and Argentina drew 26.5 million viewers. What’s even more impressive, is that 19% of respondents now identify themselves as fans of professional soccer and 4% say that soccer is their favorite sport to watch, according to a Gallup poll.

This is great, because now all of the most unproductive members of the US society can do what their counterparts do all over the world – become riot-happy die-hard soccer fans, whose sole purpose in life is to beat the living hell out of anyone who doesn't support the team they support. Die-hard soccer fans' daily responsibilities include:

• Drinking beer at the team-bar for most of the day
• Telling stories of the weeks’ best brawls
• Avoiding setting real life goals at all costs
• Waiting for their teams’ next game

However, with no experience in being burdens on society and starting riots at soccer games, the US teams‘ fans can‘t be expected to just jump into it; and some international coaching will surely be required to kickstart the degeneracy train in the US. In fact, 2008 already saw a visiting crew of West Ham United fans start a brawl with Columbus Crew fans at half time. The brawl did not last long though, as the fans were separated by security staff.

While West Ham United fans have a long history of degenerate behavior, what new die-hard US soccer fans really need, to get the ball rolling, is a game between their team and one of the European teams on their pitch. Perhaps a visit to Poland or Russia can help them figure out what rioting is all about.

It is very likely that if US fans attend a game like that, they will not be prepared for the savage beating that they will get from local team fans before the game even starts. However, that will be a small price to pay for the priceless experience of how die-hard soccer fans should treat other teams' supporters.

So forget about that family-friendly atmosphere of a MLB or a NBA game and get ready for some fresh footage of riot police breaking skulls and people throwing torn-out stadium seats at each other over some guy missing a penalty, this time – made in the USA! 

Photo: Some Rights Reserved by Ben Sutherland flickr photostream, The Sage nor this article endorsed. The original image can be found here.