In my teens I watched NBA basketball religiously.
In my twenties I was a huge MLB fan.
In my 30s I watched the NFL every weekend.
In my 40s I have athletics daughters and I watch them play and I also watch women's soccer.
Does it help that the US women are a dominant force in the international area whereas the men are just "no longer a joke".
Yes, yes it does.
When my highschooler was younger we'd go watch the Washington Spirit at the Soccerplex in Germantown.
It sat about 4,000.
This summer I travelled back to the US and caught a Spirit game in the new stadium in Baltimore. Holy shit what a big difference.
The crowd now had 19,000 in attendance.
In my experience 12 year olds are pretty impervious to temperature fluctuations. Little bastards dive into freezing water like it’s nothing and run around in the scorching sun, not even noticing that they sweat through all their clothes.