Soccer, Sign of America's ‘Moral Decay’

Conservative pundit Ann Coulter believes that the country’s growing interest in soccer – fueled by Team USA’s success in the 2014 World Cup - is a sure sign of America's ‘moral decay.’

In a syndicated column published on the same day that the U.S. team qualified for the last 18 of the tournament in Brazil, Coulter shared her musings on why the sports growing popularity sums up everything that is wrong with modern America.

Coulter starts by claiming that she had held off from writing about the game so as ‘not to offend anyone,’ before giving a nine point explanation of how ‘any growing interest in soccer can only be a sign of the nation's moral decay.’

‘Do they even have MVPs in soccer? Everyone just runs up and down the field and, every once in a while, a ball accidentally goes in,’ she writes. ‘That's when we're supposed to go wild. I'm already asleep.’

Coulter also touches on the hot topic of immigration.

If more "Americans" are watching soccer today, it's only because of the demographic switch effected by Teddy Kennedy's 1965 immigration law,' she writes. 

'I promise you: No American whose great-grandfather was born here is watching soccer. One can only hope that, in addition to learning English, these new Americans will drop their soccer fetish with time.' 

Ratings for some World Cup games in Brazil have already surpassing those for the NBA Finals and the World Series, driven by avid viewing among Latinos and young adults, reports the LA Times.

More than 25 million total viewers on ESPN, Spanish-language Univision and related mobile apps tuned in to Sunday's match between the U.S. and Portugal, according to Nielsen. 

It was the most-watched soccer game in U.S. history - although that record could be toppled next Tuesday when the American team taking on Belgium for a place in the last 8 in the competition.

Coulter has a long track record of making provocative and outspoken comments. 

Last month, in the wake of the 'Bring Back Our Girls' hashtag to raise awareness of kidnapped school children in Nigeria, Coulter tweeted 'My hashtag contribution to world affairs' with an image of herself holding a sign with her own hashtag, #Bring Back Our Country.

The conservative pundit was mercilessly lampooned on the internet with people replacing the text on Coulter’s piece of paper with their own phrases to describe their views of her public post.

The messages included 'I'm a miserable person who peddles hate to make money off dumb republicans’ and '#BRING BACK MY SOUL'.