Yachting: Joe Beercan won't watch America's Cup

By Suzanne McFadden

If you asked who won the America's Cup in the good ol' US of A today, more often than not the locals would say Brandi Chastain and Mia Hamm than Dennis Conner or Peter Blake.

Straight off the plane in Honolulu, the customs guy inquired what my business was in his island paradise.

When I said the America's Cup, his eyes lit up: "The women's soccer team?!" Aah, no.

It was a common mistake on the mainland, too.

The launch of Paul Cayard's new cup boat in California on Sunday didn't make the daily papers - even though this guy has one of the best chances of wresting the world's oldest sporting trophy off New Zealand.

But the US women's soccer team were covergirls in Time, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated and People magazines on Monday morning.

You can bet your stetson that Cayard, Conner, Baird, Riley or Kolius will be struggling to make the front cover if they win the Auld Mug next March.

The Americans have simply not embraced the America's Cup as New Zealanders have, even though it belonged to them for 140 years.

The fact is, Americans have sport pouring out their earholes. And they LOVE to win, not just to compete.

ESPN will show 80 hours of the cup regatta back in North America, from the challenger semifinals on. But sailing will be up against the thick of the basketball, college basketball and ice hockey leagues.

So why did women's soccer grab the nation's attention - 40 million US viewers and a crazed crowd of 90,000 at the final? Because it was an actual world championship (there was more than one country there), it was in America, on a small rectangular field, and because America were winning.

And, explained ESPN executive producer Geoff Mason, it was the first time in this politically correct age when fathers and daughters could watch a game together and both understand what was going on.

The America's Cup dips out because its on a huge diamond of water, there's no final whistle after 90 minutes, and without the incredible technology of graphics, it's hard to understand who's winning.

Hi-tech and huge dollars make Joe Beercan reach for the remote.