World Cup Fever

Throughout my entire childhood, the only sport I could never get into, either watching or playing, was soccer (I don't consider NASCAR as a sport, for those of you who are curious). I was thrown into the rec leagues just like every other 6 year-old, but I was terrible. I was always stuck on defense because of my lack of ball skills, and playing on half of a field seemed stupid to me even then. So I quit. I joined my high school team when they needed players, and was again stuck on defense. If there was anything basketball and hockey taught me throughout my life, it was how to strip someone of the ball/puck, so that translated pretty well into soccer. But I couldn't kick hard or do any of the tricks my friends could.

Two of my good friends are very into soccer, so they would get really exited about the World Cup (as does the rest of the world, I guess). However I, like most Americans, honestly couldn't care less. We are not a soccer-fanatic country. We're just not. And because we're not, our team usually isn't very good, so no one watches. In the last week, however, I have allowed myself to get caught up in World Cup Fever. The problem is I don't know anything about soccer except you can't use your hands and the diving skills of these players would make Dan Carcillo feel like he belonged back in juniors. So I'm pretending it's most of the events in the Olympics: an opportunity to drink in the middle of the day and chant "U-S-A!" I encourage you to do the same .

Also, these guys aren't too hard on the eyes, even if they are losing ;)

Bottom line is that soccer is the world's game, whether we pay attention to it or not. Just because it's not a major American sport or something that we as Americans are particularly good at, that doesn't mean that it's not important. This attitude is why so much of the world hates us (well, that and the Jonas Brothers). Let's prove them wrong and join the rest of the world in celebrating one of the premier global sporting events, even if that means we are losers for once.