Are we the best in the world at anything...
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by user FatTony
For two months now we have had our TV viewing invaded by commercials flooding our minds trying to tell us that we should care about the World Cup because the rest of the world does. That we should watch and support our guys, and perhaps most importantly, that we have the BEST team we have ever had entering this Cup.
I like soccer, unlike most American sports fans, and I have thoroughly enjoyed watching this World Cup. I get the excitement of it, and during the USA's 2-1 loss to Ghana on Thursday found myself jumping and pumping my fist into the air when the U.S. scored it's lone goal of the tournament. The exhilaration of a goal is amazing. Maybe that's because you have to work harder to earn a goal in soccer than in any other sport I know. This is the fifth time we have qualified for a World Cup and the best we've ever done in those appearences is the quarterfinals in 2002, and the "best" team we've ever sent to the Cup is on a flight back home after going 0-2-1 and scoring only one goal of their own. The saddest part...as a whole we don't care. We watched and most of us feel some kind of relief that we won't have to hear about soccer again for another four years. That's a problem, we should care. Our country which was supposed to be coming out of the dark ages when it comes to soccer obviously isn't even close. We were humiliated and instead of owning up it we do what we do with anything else we lose...downplay it.
We created baseball and got owned during the WBC. We claim to have the best basketball players and get stoned at the Olympics in 2004. How did we respond to those things in general? We don't care. Do you think we wouldn't have cared if our soccer team was advancing through the field, would we not care if they had beaten the best team on the planet in Brazil? Did we not care when the women won a World Cup? Did we not care when the Dream Team humbled the planet? No, of course we cared, but then again did we? That may be the source of the problem. If we are the most powerful, the most athletic, the greatest country in the world we should start playing and rooting like we are. Instead of waiting to be another of the group of front runners joining the wave of enthusiasm when we do achieve something athletically on a world stage. Be dissapointed, even angry people...we're supposed to be.
Date
Fri 06/23/06, 10:41 am EST
