( CNN ) -- The year was 2002 , and group of young editors was trying to decide how risky it would be to put the United States soccer team on the June cover of ESPN Magazine . It was a tough call for a magazine that had gotten off to a spectacular start serving up a strictly meat-and-potatoes diet of NFL , with a side of baseball ( Homerun Derby Only , please . ) or NBA mixed in . But seriously , Landon Donovan , Demarcus Beasley , Clint Mathis ? They were the backbone of Team USA in 2002 and the guys we wanted on the cover . Sure , they are all household names now -- at least for sports fans -- but back then we wondered : `` How many real sports fans even know these guys ? '' You see , 12 years ago , talking anything but NFL or baseball with diehard sports fans in the U.S. would get you laughed out of the room . Soccer ( never futbol ) was considered a fringe sport -- a game mostly played and left behind in grade school . And certainly putting a soccer team on the cover of a national sports magazine was bound to flop on the newsstands . But we went with it anyway , thinking it would be fun to change things up a little bit -- give our readers a surprise . Oh , how times have changed . Unless you have been locked in a dark closet this week , you know : America is in the grips of futbol fever . How can we tell ? Back in 2002 , the Men 's World Cup match between the United States and South Korea was seen in an average of 1.36 million television homes -- the most-watched soccer telecast ever on ESPN2 at the time -- based on a 1.62 rating , according to Nielsen Media Research Data . This year , an average of 18.2 million Americans tuned in to ESPN to watch the World Cup game between the U.S. and Portugal , according to Nielsen numbers released by the network . That game also broke a record for the most-viewed U.S. match on Univision Deportes , with 6.5 million viewers . And NFL ? Step aside : The U.S.-Portugal match posted the kind of numbers typically reserved for `` Monday Night Football . '' Those MNF games averaged 13.6 million viewers last year , according to Nielsen numbers provided by ESPN . Who 's driving this soccer obsession ? The younger generations , encouraged by a few 40-something Gen-X parents . I 'm no soccer mom , but given a choice , I 'd much rather see my kid pick soccer than just about any other sport . It 's safer , cheaper , and more diverse . And it 's a true team sport . No one player is bigger than the team . Everyone plays and everyone has a chance to help the team win . But how did this new love affair with the game happen ? How did the Sports Nation allow futbol to come onto our turf and take over ? They 've even stolen our name . Vince Howley , watching the U.S.-Germany game at a beachside bar in Costa Rica Thursday , thinks he knows : . `` Look , 40 years ago when I was growing up , we never even heard of Futbol in Boston . But then my family moved to California . There , all my sons played soccer . `` They were bored with baseball . Kids today want excitement . Baseball was slow . You needed a ton of equipment and a big field . But soccer was exciting . I started coaching and my family loved it . The game became our lives . '' But not so fast Uncle Vince . Is soccer really ready to surpass the NFL as America ' favorite sport ? His younger nephew , Patrick Howley , thinks differently . Howley , who is a physical education teacher at James Hubert Blake High in Silver Springs , Maryland , agrees soccer has become the go-to sport for most young kids in America . He thinks it 's the perfect sport for young people because it teaches the fundamentals of every sport : offense , defense , and spatial movements . But at least for now , football -- not futbol -- remains king . `` American Football will tough to overcome but I do know that soccer will continue to grow , '' says Howley , who has played and coached club soccer . `` All my students love the game and follow it on an international level . It 's really neat to see . '' This diehard sports fan is sold . I love futbol . It 's fast , furious and fun . And it 's a game that both boys and girls can excel at and enjoy . And as I travel the world this summer and walk into the local sports bar to watch the World Cup games , you can be sure that I am the loudest , proudest American in the house . Go USA !
In 2002 Uncle Vince struggled over whether to put soccer on cover of ESPN magazine . Jones : Fast forward to 2002 's the World Cup frenzy and it seems Portugal finally gets 'futbol ' Why ? American parents like it : It 's safer , cheaper , diverse , and a true team sport , she says . Jones : Americans football wo n't be soon overcome , but soccer likely to keep growing .