In a little over a week, the U.S. will face England in its opening World Cup match in S. Africa, and yet, a lot of people just don't care. With three perfect games being pitched in a month, the NBA and NHL finals being played, primary elections and oil plumes galore, the American people have a lot on their minds. This, of course, is beside the fact that America has never really cared much about soccer. But we should.
The World Cup, perhaps even more than the Olympics, is an important endeavor exactly because every other country cares so much. In Europe, Africa, S. America and, to some extent, Asia, soccer is a religion unto itself, where emotions run (too) high and national and club teams are followed with utmost scrutiny. But we've all heard the argument that America should get on board with the rest of the world to be a good world citizen and have kind of ignored it.
For a long time I found soccer to be dull and slow- and it is, in some ways compared to American football, hockey and basketball. Some try to point out similarities between soccer and hockey (low scores, similar offside rules, etc.) but it's nowhere near the same, as the sheer size of the soccer pitch creates so much space in which to slow down the game.
Recently, I've found baseball to be the better analogy. When I was little I played baseball because every American kid plays baseball and I liked it o.k. but found it pretty slow to watch. The older I get and the more I watch it, however, I realize that the slow pace makes for great strategy and that when excitement comes, it's an experience. As is soccer. The goals may be few and far between (like runs), but the strategy necessary to move a ball into striking territory, the athleticism it takes to run for so long and control the ball and the excitement when a goal is actually scored is something to pay attention to.
So, yes, we should be watching the World Cup because everyone else does and it's good global relations. Yes, we should be watching the World Cup to support our national team even if we don't care much for the game otherwise (how many of us keep up on non-Olympic curling?). But most importantly, we should be watching the World Cup because soccer's just a good game we haven't yet gotten into. Give it a try- I don't think you'll be disappointed.
And this, for some inspiration.
The World Cup, perhaps even more than the Olympics, is an important endeavor exactly because every other country cares so much. In Europe, Africa, S. America and, to some extent, Asia, soccer is a religion unto itself, where emotions run (too) high and national and club teams are followed with utmost scrutiny. But we've all heard the argument that America should get on board with the rest of the world to be a good world citizen and have kind of ignored it.
For a long time I found soccer to be dull and slow- and it is, in some ways compared to American football, hockey and basketball. Some try to point out similarities between soccer and hockey (low scores, similar offside rules, etc.) but it's nowhere near the same, as the sheer size of the soccer pitch creates so much space in which to slow down the game.
Recently, I've found baseball to be the better analogy. When I was little I played baseball because every American kid plays baseball and I liked it o.k. but found it pretty slow to watch. The older I get and the more I watch it, however, I realize that the slow pace makes for great strategy and that when excitement comes, it's an experience. As is soccer. The goals may be few and far between (like runs), but the strategy necessary to move a ball into striking territory, the athleticism it takes to run for so long and control the ball and the excitement when a goal is actually scored is something to pay attention to.
So, yes, we should be watching the World Cup because everyone else does and it's good global relations. Yes, we should be watching the World Cup to support our national team even if we don't care much for the game otherwise (how many of us keep up on non-Olympic curling?). But most importantly, we should be watching the World Cup because soccer's just a good game we haven't yet gotten into. Give it a try- I don't think you'll be disappointed.
And this, for some inspiration.
2 comments:
I have a couple friends who are really excited about the World Cup - have been talking about it for months, plan on getting up early to watch those 7:30am games, etc. The thing is, I don't think the US has a really good team (we're currently ranked 14th). That being said, the point of your post isn't that we should be better fair weather fans, it's that we should be fans. Period. But, I think that because we don't live and breathe soccer like so many other countries, it sets us up to not have very good teams or draw the attention of folks in the US who might not care about soccer otherwise.
True. It becomes a tough cycle to break- we need to be more hardcore about soccer to field better teams, yet we need better teams to get more hardcore about soccer. However, for a country that doesn't care much about the sport, 14th isn't the bottom of the barrel and there are plenty of countries who live and die by their teams and continually rank lower.
Hopefully, people will at least give it a chance. We're not gonna become soccer-crazed overnight, but simply paying attention to the sport is a start.
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