Just Don’t Call it Soccer

Posted on | June 23, 2010 | No Comments

I like my life. I’ve been pretty lucky to have been born where and when I did. But every now and then, I can’t help but look wistfully to our Eastern neighbors across the Atlantic and think, “I should have been born a European.”

I’m not a big sports person. I don’t like basketball, I could take or leave hockey, I’ll cheer for the Patriots (but not for Tom Brady) even though I rarely understand the game and my adoration of the Red Sox doesn’t get me very far outside of New England.

But football – real football, the game Americans decided to call soccer so as to not confuse it with that other kind of football (even though the other kind rarely uses players’ feet) – football is something I can get behind.

There’s just something about football that I find endlessly entertaining. I even dabbled in playing the game myself a bit when I was younger. I haven’t played in awhile, mostly for the safety of other people, but I’m still a fan of the game, which is why I’m currently enamored with the World Cup.

For starters, let’s get this one thing straight: baseball teams who win the “World Series” are not really the world champions of baseball nor are the newly crowned L.A. Lakers the “World Champions” of basketball because neither competition actually involves teams from all over the world. Yes, I know individual players might come from many countries, but when the teams and the competition are solely concentrated in North America, it does not mean they are “world” champions.

The World Cup, however, actually involves countries from all around the world – powerhouses like Spain, Brazil, France and England alongside the smaller, perhaps lesser-known Ivory Coast, Ghana, Serbia and Slovenia, just to name a few. More than the Olympics, the World Cup brings people together over the love of a sport. In fact, it’s the most widely viewed sporting event in the world – during the 2006 World Cup, each match average 95 million viewers (in comparison, the M*A*S*H finale had about 50 million viewers).

Then there’s the fact that the World Cup is hardcore. None of this “best of seven games” stuff – that’s for wimps. The World Cup is only held every four years and the three years leading up to it all count towards qualifying. That’s right – while basketball teams and baseball teams get a clean slate every year, national football teams have to play well for three years! And then, if you’re one of the lucky 32 (out of 200+) teams to make it to the World Cup, you have a month-long competition! This isn’t for amateurs – you have to want it.

At the risk of sounding un-American, it’s kind of nice to watch a sporting event where the U.S. team can’t automatically assume dominance. The American attitude towards sports is one of “we’re the best,” but when it comes to football, we just can’t measure up to the rest of the world, especially Europe. According to FIFA rankings for 2010, the U.S. is currently 14th in the world. I think it’s a nice reminder to be more humble.

There is, of course, drama – the #2 ranked team, Spain, lost in its opening game, while France is now out of the competition after losing all three of its group round games. The U.S. and England can’t seem to move pass tied games (including a pointless 0-0 tied game for England) and evidently no one ever wants to hear the sound of a vuvuzela ever again.

But really, the best part of the World Cup is the crazy that comes with it. I mean, people love their football teams (and I do mean loooooooove). Besides, in what other sport could you have Kim Jong Il claiming to have a psychic connection with the North Korean football team, a connection he uses to “send” mind wave transmissions to help them win the game? (I think he might be getting some interference.)

Of course, there’s a really good chance I just like to randomly yell GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAALLLLL!

[Photo Credit: Getty Images]

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