Weekend Sports - USA Versus Europe (Video)

As European sports (and thus mostly soccer) fan, I couldn’t help but notice the different paths the two developed world continents (with all due respect for Australia) are on with regards to their favourite weekend past-time.

Whereas the US has now introduced male cheerleaders into the NFL to comply with the #MeToo culture and attendance is still in decline, thousands turned up in Italy to see soccer star Ronaldo make his debut for Juventus.

<b>USA</b>

25-year-old Mr Jesse Hernandez became the first male cheerleader for the New Orleans Saints during the team’s first pregame season saying in an interview that his mother had ensured him it was ‘his time to shine.’

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Two women in the audience commented on Hernandez's historic appearance in the pre-game excitement: "If he can dance and perform, I don't care," while her friend said: "I think it's awesome."

Meanwhile, NFL attendance is still sliding down, with the Dallas Cowboys stating that even their training camp attendance dropped from 55,432 attendees at the 16 pre-season practices last season to 40,081 this season or a decline of almost 1,000 fans per session.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Rams debut male cheerleaders <a href="https://t.co/aUXuEID8oj">pic.twitter.com/aUXuEID8oj</a></p>&mdash; Vikings Blogger (@firstandskol) <a href="https://twitter.com/firstandskol/status/1030944586376642560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 18, 2018</a></blockquote>

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Most viewers admit that NFL fandom is still in decline as the controversy surrounding the national anthem won’t go away.

<b>Europe</b>

Over in Europe, the English Premier League debuted with a stunning match of Chelsea against Arsenal (3-2 win for Chelsea) whilst in Italy many fans were able to forget their sorrow over the Genoa bridge disaster on Saturday evening as Portuguese soccer superstar Ronaldo made his debut for champion squad Juventus (coming over from Spanish champions league winner Real Madrid) in the Italian Serie A.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">What a save by Sorrentino to deny Cristiano Ronaldo his first goal with Juventus <a href="https://t.co/QoJwaYS9ds">pic.twitter.com/QoJwaYS9ds</a></p>&mdash; S⚽ccerapy (@soccerapy) <a href="https://twitter.com/soccerapy/status/1030959166003834880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 18, 2018</a></blockquote>

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Ronaldo made a winning start to his Juventus career as his new club came from behind to beat Chievo 2-3 in a dramatic start to their season.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Cristiano Ronaldo&#39;s debut for Juventus proved eventful as they came from 2-1 down with 15 minutes left to win 3-2 at Chievo thanks to Federico Bernardeschi&#39;s last-gasp winner.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UCL?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UCL</a> <a href="https://t.co/CgHkU0AVSh">pic.twitter.com/CgHkU0AVSh</a></p>&mdash; UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChampionsLeague/status/1030889260377952256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 18, 2018</a></blockquote>

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Juventus fans hope that with the signing of Ronaldo, their team will finally have the strength to beat top European teams and win the coveted Champions League trophy.

Source:

https://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2018/08/male_saintsation_jesse_debut.html