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DAVID MARCUS: Americans learn to view time like soccer fans

An essay explores how baseball and football's constant pauses feed an illusion of control that soccer simply doesn't provide

By David Marcus Fox News

Published June 18, 2026 10:36am EDT

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It is often said of the American Jazz pianist Thelonius Monk that what made him great was not the notes that he played, but the notes that he didn’t play. It turns out that American sports are similar, and until recently, this has been an obstacle to soccer’s success in the U.S..

America’s two greatest homegrown sports are baseball and football. In each, after a pitch or a play, there is a break during which the fan considers what just happened and what it means for what is about to happen.

The majority of the time invested in viewing these sports isn’t really spent watching the action at all. It takes place not on the field, but between the ears of the viewers, as they contemplate the relative benefits of going for it on fourth down or trying to steal second base.

Once the result of a pitch or play is recorded, another break, more........

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