Some thoughts…
I admit that, as a guy who has bashed soccer unmercifully for years, I actually bought into the World Cup this year. I thought that after the United States team bowed out I would lose all interest, but the level of play was pretty good and I followed the rest of the tournament. Some of the guys that I know who are passionate soccer followers were impressed when they asked me before the weekend who I thought the best player in the tournament and I answered “Diego Forlan of Uruguay”, and I must have been right, as he was voted as the equivalent of that after the tournament.
Anyway, when the two finalists, The Netherlands and Spain , were set, I looked forward to the game, as they seemed to be very athletic and their attacks were more wide open and visually more pleasing. But, as the game went on, it reminded me of a horrible experience I had years earlier, A friend of mine was and is a huge Grateful Dead fan, and he got me a ticket to one of their shows, and I heard from him and others that I might not like the music, but to give it a chance because their shows were unique and not to be missed, and I would be hooked.
Well, like that Dead show, I was kind of pumped up to the soccer final, especially since, the day before, Uruguay and Germany put in 5 goals between them.
But, alas, the two teams played conservatively, not to lose, and liker the Dead show, was booooooooooooooooooooooooooooring, uninteresting, and seemed to take forevvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvver! The saving grace as the game went on and on was that there would be a shootout, not sudden death, or golden goal, to decided the outcome. Thankfully, Spain scored in the 116th minute, and someone in the crowd woke up Laker Pau Gasol so that he could get up and wave a Spanish flag and look as if he were watching the game. A 1-0, excuse me one to nil, final? That was hard to imagine.
The Dutch and Spanish match seemed to offer a chance for an exciting match, but there penalties, uneven passes, and more flopping around than Euro basketball players going against Shaquille O’Neal. My daughter and her friends commented that “Boy, soccer players are good looking”, and I pointed out that that they were more actor than athlete, so they had to be…
In the aftermath, on ESPN, one of the commentators, Ruud Gullitt, a former Dutch player, commented that “the sport blew it. We had a chance to really reach out to the American audience with a great final, but the game was uneven, and boring.” Wow, aome real truth and objectivity from ESPN. Maybe the guys on “College Football Live” could take a cue from Gullitt.
But he was right. Soccer had made great strides during the tournament, and even the crappy officiating made for good print—any publicity is good, right? But the anticlimactic final left us not wanting more—just wanting out…
In the end, I thought back to an episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” celebrating the Laker championship, featuring some of the Laker team. Sasha Vujacic was one Laker, and the program was taped the same day as the controversial tie between the U.S. team and Slovakia, Sasha’s country, and Kimmel and Kobe Bryant were chiding him about the phantom off side call which cost the U.S. team a win, and Kimmel said, “If you think we’re mad now, just imagine if America actually cared about soccer!” Truer words were never spoken.
FINALLY—One sports event passed by recently with nary a word. In the world of sports, great events are often based on great rivalries. You have the Lakers vs. Celtics, Yankees-Red Sox, Michigan-Ohio State , Ali-Frazier, on and on. But one of the best and more compelling was the annual 4th of July Hot Dog eating contest pitting American superstar eater Joey Chestnut against legendary Japanese chomper Kobayashi. After years of dominating the sport and breaking records with ease, Kobayashi had his win streak broken and sense of invincibility stripped away by Chestnut, and their contests, if not aesthetically pleasing, were full of drama as they would gorge themselves with hot dogs at such a rapid pace I would find myself gagging just watching them. But, this year, due to some contract dispute Kobayashi sat out and All American Joey eased his way to a big win, as Kobayashi eyed him down from the crowd. There was no excitement, no gripping drama, it was almost, well, like soccer. Please Kobayashi, come back! Now the eating contest is just like an exercise in American excess instead of sport…
