Glance at the computer or look the other way, and it'll fade away without notice.
The 30-second TV advertisement squeezes between Comcast SportsNet's World Series breakdown and the latest Flyers-Capitals highlights. The oddity of the blue and gold apparel of the scarf-wearing fans strikes first, and once that sinks in, the sing-song battering and guttural cries invite the onlooker to excitement.
Believe it or not, Major League Soccer is coming to the City of Brotherly Love, and with it, soccer in the city is on the rise.
The "Philadelphia Union" chant blares from the TV as if it had finally been let out after years of hibernation.
In the midst of an October filled with red-clad Phillies fans walking up and down College Avenue and Eagles zealots sporting green DeSean Jackson jerseys, something new has arrived for Penn State students who reside in the Philadelphia area.
And for several Nittany Lion men's soccer players from the Delaware Valley, there is no better combination than the sport they love and the city they live for.
"To be honest, I've never followed the MLS that much," Lion midfielder and Cochranville native Matt Smallwood said. "Now that there is a team in the Philadelphia area, I probably will start watching it more often."
Although the watching has not started yet, the franchise is more than underway. Two open tryouts are set for this fall and winter -- one Nov. 14 at 8 a.m. at Trenton's Mercer County Park and the second Dec. 5 at 8 a.m. at Penn's Rhodes Field.
The Chester stadium is under construction with a live look-in camera link on the Philadelphia Union Web site, and season tickets are on sale.
With so much concentration on soccer in the city, Lion defenseman and West Chester native Mark Fetrow believes the Philadelphia soccer scene has grown.
"It's going to be great for the city," Fetrow said. "Soccer is going to become pretty popular throughout Philly."
Fetrow recalled how murmurs began to escalate when construction of a stadium in Chester was announced. He thought the talk has been quieted recently because the MLS season is underway without the Union, who begin play in 2010.
Fetrow's teammate and fellow West Chester inhabitant Drew Cost thinks soccer's growing buzz is not just relegated to Philadelphia but to the entire United States.
"I have a bunch of friends that don't play soccer who follow soccer, which I don't think happened when we were younger," Cost said. "The sport is growing and getting better. The league -- the MLS -- has gotten better, been more competitive."
Smallwood echoed Cost's reasoning. The midfielder said he plays the video game FIFA frequently with friends and teammates. Smallwood remembered playing soccer in the Philadelphia area with Cost and Lion forward Treavor Gelsinger when younger and saw soccer's popularity increase firsthand.
According to an ESPN report in July, the Union had sold 9,200 season tickets. This is out of a 12,000 limit. Petitions have been started by gousabid.com to bring either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup to the United States, and Philadelphia is an option for the event.
"If it came to the United States, we'd love it," Cost said. "It's the greatest sporting event in the world coming to our country -- it'd be awesome."
Although the presence of the World Cup in Philadelphia is being talked about, that picture is far in the future. Instead, another scene more current is present near the city -- one represented by construction workers trying to build a stadium in time for the Union's second home game next season.
And as the red cranes lift the steel beams used to support the growing structure sprouting from the dirt mounds in Chester, the popularity of the Union in Philadelphia rises with it.
