Soccer hitting pop culture

A couple months ago I made mention of the increase of soccer in youth culture. Since then, it has only grown.

This Sunday makes the debut of "Just for Kicks" on Nickelodeon. The show was created by Whoopi Goldberg and it will tell the story of "a group of girls from disparate backgrounds joined in New York City's Central Park by their common love - soccer."

"The thing that's good about the show is, first of all, it's about soccer, it's showing kids how important physical activity is," said Katija Pevec, one of the members of the "Just for Kicks'" ensemble cast.

"There's not many shows like that out there, that show kids how to work as a team," added the 18-year-old actress, who was a top-rated soccer player herself before she turned her attention to acting.

Okay, it will not make for the most riveting of television (not everything can be the Amazing Race), but just having a show like this on the air will increase awareness of soccer. The question for me is how long till they decide to go see a women's national game?

The more soccer becomes part of everyday life, the more the sport will grow.

On this same note, has anyone else noticed how much play the Nike Joga Bonito ads are getting on non-soccer television? I don't remember which station it was (TLC, MTV or something in between), but I was just flipping through the channels and there was a young Ronaldinho. I also saw the ad during some basketball game I skimmed by over the weekend. Little things like this will make a difference over the long run.