I really think the right analogy is that it's like really rooting / caring for a college team, if you ever feel the need to defend it. Nobody is seriously going to say that LSU is as good as the Patriots, but everybody gets that it's perfectly fun for people to love LSU.

And I don't know how Atlanta is, but part of the fun of MLS is that the athletes aren't on this other-worldly level and you can still just enjoy a hard-working middle tier guy because they're living lives not too different from us. During the Timbers off-week, I just randomly ran into Marco Farfan, our homegworn LB, getting lunch at the same wing spot as me. When Tyler Miller became famous for the wrong reasons for Zlatan hosing that ball past him, I had a pang of pain with the excitement because I've actually spent an evening or two playing video games with that guy online.

So yeah, getting the soccer culture kicking off in your area code is a pleasure that you just can't get watching early morning EPL. Aggressive expansion is a tricky road to navigate, but overall I think it's great as more people discover the fun of being able to follow local futbol.