So my attempt to truly get into World Cup soccer has hit a wall. A wall constructed of 0-0 ties, vuvuzelas and 7 AM start times. Switzerland pulled a huge upset today over Spain, but from my seat at work, all I can think is, "if a tree falls in the forest..." It may be the most popular sport and tournament in the world, but it's pretty tough to get drawn in with so many obstacles standing in my way; if I'm going to have to listen to buzzing for two hours, at least let me get a buzz first.
But on the positive side, the World Cup, although definitely well-publicized, does not carry the same suffocating invasion into US culture that the Olympics bring. This tournament is like an obnoxious former high school classmate with bad breath bearing down on you in a bar, you're not interested in talking to him, but at least you can get away; the Olympics are that same guy, but in this case you're chained to the bar. There's a classic Catch-22 thing going on for me here: If the United States was any good at soccer, I'd definitely be more into the World Cup. Unfortunately, if the United States was any good at soccer, I'd be so sick and tired of being beaten over the head with the World Cup, I'd probably start to hate it. It's going to take a delicate balance of an overachieving, but not outright good, team to suit my needs here. We'll see how this goes.
So while the fervor is cooling as a result of general boredom so far, there are a few things that keep me intrigued enough to think this situation could turn. First off, I have seen a couple of entertaining matches played, or perhaps "entertaining stretches of matches" would be more accurate. The important thing is that I know they exist, gives me hope for the future. Secondly, I can always get behind any US team that's a) male (sorry ladies, I can't do what you do, but neither of us can do what the guys do, and you don't see me asking anyone to pay attention to my golf game either, right?) , b) not getting totally thrased and c) not playing some nonsensical sport like water polo (good game of pool volleyball ruined) or curling (bowling on ice). I watched the US tie England last Saturday, enjoyed the first half, was a bit bored during the second, got generally annoyed with the soccer nuts make such a big deal about a gift tie, but in general was entertained. Third, and this is key, the playoffs haven't started.
I mean you don't really have the full measure of a game until you reach the playoffs, right? Particularly in this cheesy round-robin of the World Cup, where half the teams have no chance and everyone seems content to play for a tie. As a playoff-only NBA fan who knows a hundred playoff-only NHL fans, I'm holding back judgement on the sport until I see a healthy dose of action in the knockout round, with the best teams playing one-and-done games that matter, rather than tuning in for the soccer equivalent of Net-Lakers or Thrashers-Blackhawks when North Korea takes on Brazil. Of course this still doesn't change the fact that the two semifinal games are at 1 PM in the middle of the week, but we'll jump off that bridge when we come to it, until then, I will attempt to keep an open mind.
Go Cameroon
I happened to see my first on accident for about 3 minutes over the weekend. The first 2 minutes was a shot of a man rolling on the ground in what seemed to be agonizing pain. He was holding his head and I could almost hear him crying over the sound of a Trillion bees. I was fairly certain that I had missed someone from the crowd shoot an arrow through this poor man's skull.
ReplyDeleteThen the replay....I couldn't wait to find out what kind of horrible incident could have occurred to kick off this terrible display.
The soccer ball was kicked softly and may or may not have softly grazed this guy's head.
That was all the soccer I can handle for 4 more years.