World Cup

As a fairly unsporty girl, I really love soccer. Not so much playing it (all that running!) but I love watching other people partake. Be it a team of stubby-limbed 6 years olds or a sensationally attractive legion of foreign men, I can feel that beaming energy and I want to watch. It's fast paced, unpredictable, and takes some skill. What's not to love?

I'm a fan of soccer because of Europe. The US rarely puts a soccer match on TV. No one talks or writes about it and for reasons I haven't found yet, it's mostly ignored. We prefer football. An often lethargic game of timeouts that takes hours to play and frustrates me to watch. I do like football but it's soooo loooong.

From this point forward, everything I say will sound snobby. Forgive me.

Every time I'm in Europe, there's a soccer game on. Every pub in every country plasters it's TV's with this international pastime. While initially I paid no attention, it was my first World Cup that got me. I'm embarrassed to say that I've been in Europe for the last few Cups and the energy and excitement is so contagious. Imagine going to a football game where 80% of the crowd was not all rooting for the same team. In Europe there are so many modern, historical, cultural, and friendly rivalries between countries. The folks squeezing into these tiny pubs with you are all rooting for different countries or at least rooting against one that's playing. It's exciting. It's universal camaraderie. And they're good games!
I was in Amsterdam when Holland made it to the finals in the last Cup and the city just erupted. It screamed. People were climbing lamp posts, jumping on moving vehicles, dancing in the street, and singing and hugging strangers and this celebration went on for hours. You can't help but laugh and be excited and feel like you're part of it.

I'm thrilled to see more and more Americans getting excited about soccer. I'm happy to see it on the same screens that only play football reruns month after month. I do have to admit that it's making me miss those dark British pubs. I've never watched these games in clean, well lit, modern buildings with accent-less fellas eating veggie burgers. I like sitting amongst undecipherable shouting and frothy pint glasses on a sticky wooden bar. I like seeing guys dressed head to toe in their county's flag, singing their national anthem in their native tongue, and grinning from ear to ear.