I went to see Edison Arantes do Nascimento or Pele as you might know him when I was about 3 years old and he was a member of the New York Cosmos and I went to 1 practice in 4th grade before the coach made us do laps. (I quit midway through the 1st lap) Other than that I truly had or have no interest in Soccer. Unfortunately for soccer, most Americans feel the same way. Don’t feel terrible for soccer, we hate hockey too. Although I think things might be changing!
Friday morning I woke up at 6:00 a.m. mostly because I went to bed early on Thursday but partly because I was curious about getting this World Cup thing started. Granted a few days later I can’t tell you which teams played that 1st match but I enjoyed watching the game. I had been excited to watch the U.S.A. play for a few months now and it felt like the pre-match show lasted for 6 days, but I know it just felt that way because for once I was into it and I couldn’t wait for it to start any longer. Well, it started, and I watched and I have not used my hands since. Maybe soccer is about to go mainstream.
I think I know a couple of the reasons Americans can’t get into soccer. The 1st reason is- when does it end? What is this stoppage time? It almost feels like they play until the refs get hungry or they have to pee. It doesn’t make too much sense to us. We just watched 90 minutes and we think it is over and then they add a few minutes? Hmm, imagine if the home plate umpires wife was out of town and he really had no place to go and he just decided to add a couple extra innings. (Obviously I don’t mean in a tie) We would hate that. Americans are busy people, we don’t mind giving a game our time but when that time is up we are gone! Don’t try to keep us there any longer than we have to be, it’s just a little confusing.
The second reason is pretty obvious, 1- nil? 0-0? Really? When I was in my teenage years ESPN8, the Ocho, used to televise some indoor soccer league. That was kind of cool. Balls off the walls, goals from midfield, souvenir balls sent into the stands. That was fun. The best part was seeing some scoring. Saturday afternoon I was able to distract my kids long enough to watch most of the 1st halve of the U.S.A. vs England match, until the 38th minute or so when my son asked me to get his Nintendo DS out of the car. Guess what, the U.S.A. scored while I was outside! Are you kidding me? I leave the T.V. for 2 minutes and I miss the only exciting thing that would happen over the course of 90 (+) minutes? That is annoying, I gave the game my attention and it totally screwed me.
Ok, blah, blah, blah, you get my point, there are a lot of reasons to not like soccer but there are certainly reasons to like it too. (Not the zuzuvelas, that’s for sure) I can’t list the reasons why it’s good, mostly because I don’t know what they are, but I’m enjoying this World Cup I’m really getting a kick out of it, (sorry) and I really hope it catches on. Do I think it will? No, probably not. As long as Americans have the real football on Sunday’s and Monday nights, this silly Futbol where you can’t use your hands doesn’t stand a chance.
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