Are You Ready for Some Futbol?
It's really a shame that more Americans don't follow soccer. I say that for several reasons, but most importantly because anyone who didn't watch today's two World Cup matches really missed out on world-class competition at its finest. Game one: England and Portugal going head to head for 90 minutes, then an extra 30, and finally a tension-filled shootout that rivaled almost any other sporting event I can remember. Game two: France uses home-continent advantage to its full advantage and takes it right to powerhouse Brazil, who many expected to take home the cup. Both games were exceptional.
But that got me thinking about how good American sports fans have it. The world's most popular sport aside, let's look at a calendar year for the sports fan in the good ol' USA: The year kicks off with a full slate of college bowl games, which is followed a few weeks later by the Super Bowl. All the while college hoops is in full swing, culminating in March Madness. By this time the NBA and NHL are heating up, and baseball opening day is around the corner. Then it's Stanley Cup and NBA Finals time, the College World Series, and the heart of the baseball season. Before you know it, the NFL is starting up again, as is college ball. Next we get the World Series, NBA and college b-ball tip off, and the puck drops for the first time in the NHL. Finally the year the ends, just as it begins, with a full slate of college bowl games. And what did I leave out? Let's see, the Daytona 500, the Masters, the US Open, Indy 500, etc, etc, etc.
Yep, we've got it good.
Everywhere else on the earth, though, is a different story. There you've got soccer, and well, soccer. Sure, there's cricket, NFL Europe, rugby, and all those basketball leagues where the not-ready-for-primetime Americans go to play basketball, but each of these generally pales in comparison to soccer. It's almost like all of the emotion we Americans spread amongst 5 or 6 different sports, the rest of the plant focuses directly on one. It's like a drug, or a religion, or some crazy hybrid of both.
And that's one reason I enjoy the World Cup so much. Sure, when the US gets bounced people will talk a few days about whether we need a new coach or whether Landon Donovon held too much back, but then the buzz dies down and life goes on. But watching the rest of the World Cup (even after we're out) provides great entertainment from both a purely competitive athletics-based perspective, and also an emotional one, as you can see on the faces of the players on the field and the fans in the stands exactly how much these games mean.
So we have a final four of Germany/Italy and France/Portugal, which should produce some outstanding semifinal games. It's really unfortunate, in my opinion, though, that England couldn't come through this afternoon. Not only do a feel like I developed a sort of spiritual connection to the English team when I was studying abroad in London, but also would love to have seen the World War II parallels play out if Beckham and co. had scored the win.
It would've been perfect. France and England on once side. Germany and Italy on the other. Battling for world (sports) supremacy in Germany. Damn you, Portugal! You don't fit anywhere in that equation!
But that got me thinking about how good American sports fans have it. The world's most popular sport aside, let's look at a calendar year for the sports fan in the good ol' USA: The year kicks off with a full slate of college bowl games, which is followed a few weeks later by the Super Bowl. All the while college hoops is in full swing, culminating in March Madness. By this time the NBA and NHL are heating up, and baseball opening day is around the corner. Then it's Stanley Cup and NBA Finals time, the College World Series, and the heart of the baseball season. Before you know it, the NFL is starting up again, as is college ball. Next we get the World Series, NBA and college b-ball tip off, and the puck drops for the first time in the NHL. Finally the year the ends, just as it begins, with a full slate of college bowl games. And what did I leave out? Let's see, the Daytona 500, the Masters, the US Open, Indy 500, etc, etc, etc.
Yep, we've got it good.
Everywhere else on the earth, though, is a different story. There you've got soccer, and well, soccer. Sure, there's cricket, NFL Europe, rugby, and all those basketball leagues where the not-ready-for-primetime Americans go to play basketball, but each of these generally pales in comparison to soccer. It's almost like all of the emotion we Americans spread amongst 5 or 6 different sports, the rest of the plant focuses directly on one. It's like a drug, or a religion, or some crazy hybrid of both.
And that's one reason I enjoy the World Cup so much. Sure, when the US gets bounced people will talk a few days about whether we need a new coach or whether Landon Donovon held too much back, but then the buzz dies down and life goes on. But watching the rest of the World Cup (even after we're out) provides great entertainment from both a purely competitive athletics-based perspective, and also an emotional one, as you can see on the faces of the players on the field and the fans in the stands exactly how much these games mean.
So we have a final four of Germany/Italy and France/Portugal, which should produce some outstanding semifinal games. It's really unfortunate, in my opinion, though, that England couldn't come through this afternoon. Not only do a feel like I developed a sort of spiritual connection to the English team when I was studying abroad in London, but also would love to have seen the World War II parallels play out if Beckham and co. had scored the win.
It would've been perfect. France and England on once side. Germany and Italy on the other. Battling for world (sports) supremacy in Germany. Damn you, Portugal! You don't fit anywhere in that equation!
posted by jonphiwil @ 11:10 PM
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