This was my first post about the World Cup. It was eight years ago.
The tension just continues to build, and by this weekend it’ll explode. No, I’m not talking about work. I’m talking about FOOTBALL! “Yeah right”, you say. “Nobody plays football in July.” Well, actually they do, it’s just that we in the US tend to ignore them. “Soccer” is just not “our” sport.
That’s true, so far as it goes. But this is true too: There is not other sporting event in the world like the World Cup. Nothing compares to it. More than a billion (with a “B”) fans worldwide will watch France play Italy for the World Championship. And, yes, I will be one of them. I hope some of you will be watching also. (ABC Sports 1:30pm Eastern).
Admittedly, I haven’t got to see as many of the matches as I would like. Most of the matches have been shown on ESPN or ESPN2, and living in the sticks as we do, we don’t get cable. We can’t get satellite Direct TV either.
Dear Mr. Horner,
There are a few places in the world, of which “the sticks” of Wyandotte, Oklahoma is not one of them, which do not get satellite TV. However, you are correct when you say that you can’t get Direct TV. The solution to this is quite simple: Pay your bill!
Sincerely,
The Collections Department, Direct TV
OK. They may have a point, but they’re leaving out the “rest of the story”. However, I digress. Bottom line is that I have to go to my daughter’s house to watch the big matches with her and her husband. Fortunately for me, I have a great son-in-law, who either doesn’t mind the intrusion, or is at least polite enough to remain quiet about it. Besides, their TV is bigger than mine.
Really it’s only fair. I blame my kids anyway. When they were growing up, I made the same mistake young parents often make—I agreed to coach my son’s soccer team. He’d been playing for a couple of years, but was right at the age when they are supposed to cease chasing after the ball like a flock of young geese, and start learning to play “positions”. Coaching in this environment is not easy. You could get the girls to stay put, usually by ignoring the fact that they stayed in place so they could look for four-leaf clovers, but getting the boys to wait for the ball to be passed to them instead of just going and kicking it was an uphill battle. You might as well wait for hell to freeze over. It wasn’t happening. So I spent most of my time running along the touch line hollering uselessly. Of course, this was back in the days of “non-competitive” soccer. We didn’t keep score so we could encourage the kids just to go play and have fun. This didn’t work either. At the end of the game my son would walk off the pitch and say, “We beat them 12 to 9”. “How do you know”, I’d ask, “we don’t keep score”. To which he’d reply: “Maybe you grown-ups don’t, but we do. We know who wins”. And so they did.
Anyway, part of the reason the World Cup is so big is that it only occurs once every four years. Sure we have our Super Bowl, but it’s every year. It’s a pretty big show as it is. Imagine if we only played the Playoffs and Super Bowl every four years. It’d be over the top. And so it is with the World Cup. From 1958 until 2002, it has been played every other time in Europe or the Americas. In 2002, it was held in Asia (South Korea and Japan shared the venues) for the first time.
I’ve noticed that most of those in the US who don’t like soccer complain that the game is too slow. What they mean is that it is by nature a low scoring game, and doesn’t have touchdowns, homeruns, or slam dunks. Yet, the same people who tell you that soccer is boring will sit in front of the TV watching the US Open and tell you to “Shhhh. Mickelson’s putting for a birdie”. Give me a break! How can you compare the athletes who run, jostle, trip and tackle without ceasing for two 45 minute halves, plus another two 15 minute overtime periods if required, with a bunch of guys who walk around whaling on a little white ball with a bunch of sticks? And these guys don’t even carry their own sticks! Tell you what. I don’t think I’m the one who doesn’t get it.
Naturally, I’m disappointed that Germany didn’t make it to the final, but I’m delighted that they played as well as they did. Having lived in Germany for three years, and hosted two German exchange students while my kids were in high school, I have a soft spot for the Black, Red, and Yellow. Even though Germany is the host country, the “Deutsche Fussballnationalmannschaft”, wasn’t supposed to even make it to the quarter-finals. They made it all the way to the semi-finals only to lose an overtime heartbreaker to Italy in the last two minutes. They play great attacking football and hopefully will prevail over Portugal to take third place. (Saturday on ESPN if you’re interested. Yes, I’ll be at my daughter’s. Don’t call.)
But go ahead. Have a relaxing weekend if you want. Just chill out by the pool with a daiquiri or two, and catch some rays. Not me. My adrenaline is pumping already. I can barely sit still. Two days of watching THE BEST football players in the world awaits. Not for another four years will you have a chance to see this level of skill and talent come together on the same field. It’s an event not to be missed. Besides, what will you do Monday when 1.5 Billion of us just want to talk about
“THE GAME”?
