Excuse us, we're soccer fans

For most of its existence, Page 2 has been dedicated to a relatively narrow range of subjects. Gonzo writes about the Eagles and his buddy Wax's exploits at Wing Bowl. Frank Fitzpatrick writes about old-time baseball and how people don't wear fedoras at stadiums anymore.

Today, you're getting something completely different.

Soccer.

Yeah, that's right, soccer. The sport everyone else calls football while wondering why macho Americans play a game with helmets and shoulder pads.

Now before you start asking why The Inquirer let Page 2 get hijacked by a French-speaking yuppie with a blog, just hear me out for a minute or two. The lingerie football photos will still be on Philly.com when I'm done.

Soccer is going to be a big deal in Philadelphia, and sooner than you think.

You've probably heard that the U.S. national team beat No. 1-ranked Spain last week in the semifinals of the Confederations Cup. After the upset, the Great American Sports Media Hype Machine started talking about American soccer to an almost unprecedented degree.

Then came yesterday's championship game against Brazil. The United States took a stunning 2-0 lead in the first half but blew it by giving up three goals in the second.

For people who followed soccer before last week, those first 45 minutes were nothing short of miraculous. For people who think a sport played in other countries has no business taking root in America, they might have been terrifying.

If you're in the latter group, don't worry. One game won't tell us whether soccer has really made it in America.

A better indicator will be the number of newspapers - yes, I said newspapers - that send reporters and/or columnists to next year's World Cup, and what the TV ratings are at home.

But a funny thing will happen on the way back to Johannesburg. Next spring, Philadelphia will get its own soccer teams, the Union and the Independence.

And while the World Cup will get a lot of the headlines in 2010, it's my opinion that the U.S. national team's performance won't determine whether soccer succeeds in Philadelphia.

The Polish American String Band will.

I knew soccer had a real chance to make it here when the Mummers joined a pack of Union fans in a parade at the Philadelphia Union's naming ceremony last month.

If you weren't there, you'll soon find out what the crowd at City Hall learned that day: Soccer fans are the most intense of any sport in the world.

Think Eagles fans are passionate? Soccer fans jump up and down so much that the stands literally bounce with them. From pregame tailgates to the final whistle, they sing, wave flags, bang drums and throw streamers.

That's right, I said streamers. A Philly tradition if there ever was one. But while they've been banned from the Palestra for more than 20 years, they're welcome at soccer games around the world.

"Not only is the game free-form, but so is the fan interaction," said Bryan James, the head of the Sons of Ben supporters club. James and the SOBs will have their own dedicated section behind one of the goals at the new stadium.

"I think most Philadelphia fans will find themselves drawn towards it," he said.

I know I'm fighting an uphill battle. Soccer will have to compete with baseball for attention during the summer, and if Donovan McNabb blogs about what he had for breakfast today there might not be room for anything else in tomorrow's paper.

But I also know I'm not the only person who thinks soccer can succeed here. Dan Levy, whose On the DL Podcast regularly takes the pulse of the local sports scene, is just as optimistic.

Levy told me that the Union's front office "has done a lot right so far." He encouraged the team to "really fight to be considered a legit major sport with the big four, not summer camp for Eagles fans."

Levy added that he'd like to see the team market to the region's college students and young professionals, including the increasing number of local sports bloggers.

I realize some of you may consider the word blogger profane. Soccer fans do not. They rely on blogs and message boards for information as much as they do on newspapers.

Rest assured, though, that the nattering nabobs of Twitter aren't the only soccer fans in the region.

Go to Clark Park on Baltimore Avenue when the neighborhood's West African population is playing pickup soccer. Or go buy a Barcelona jersey from one of the many Mexican merchandise stores in the Italian Market.

Once the doors open in Chester next spring, all these people will have a team they can truly call their own.

Whether you like soccer or not, at least give it a chance. Don't want to wait until next year? On July 18, the Linc will host a quarterfinal doubleheader in the CONCACAF Gold Cup - the championship for North American national teams.

The draw is set up so that the U.S. team will almost certainly be playing here after the group stage, along with some combination of Canada, Jamaica, Honduras and Costa Rica.

(If you think the Jamaicans at the Penn Relays are crazy, watch them at a soccer game.)

Soccer isn't just the game your kids play on weekends. It's also the perfect outlet for the unrivaled passion of Philadelphia sports fans. You might find it a little weird, but I bet you'll also find it familiar.