Clint Dempsey on E:60

For those who missed it, Clint Dempsey appeared on ESPN's E:60 last week.  Jeremy Schaap led the interview, which covers topics ranging from his youth in Nacogdoches, Texas to his sister's death and his subsequent rise up the soccer totem pole.  Here's the segment:



I'm hoping to see more of these USMNT human interest stories in the build up to the World Cup to help otherwise detached fans feel a little bit more of a connection to the team representing them.  We'll almost certainly see a number of pieces on Charlie Davies' roller coaster year, but I'm hoping ESPN can dig up a few more along the way. 

A good number of US soccer fans seem to take issue with how ESPN goes about presenting the beautiful game across its various platforms, but it really seems like the folks in Bristol are gearing up to go above and beyond for South Africa.  In an interview with Sports Business Daily, ESPN VP John Skipper said that he would be disappointed if World Cup ratings were not up 25-50%.  He went on to say that "the World Cup is going to dominate the discussion of sports fans in this country in a way that it has not done previously," with ESPN planning on spending more on the tournament then it has on any other event.  You have to expect that that money will be spent wisely on a variety of campaigns across all media.  I'm hoping that with this splurge also comes an increased effort to focus on the Yanks, and pieces like the E:60 one above seem to indicate that they are on their way to doing just that. 

We're just a month and a half away from USA-England, what promises to be one of, if not the most anticipated USMNT game ever, not to mention the rest of the World Cup, so get ready for what promises to be a deluge of footy talk and promotion on "The Worldwide Leader in Sports". 

I can hardly wait.