Futbol

Did you hear the World Cup is going on?  Honestly, in any year prior to this one I would have answered news of the World Cup with either a sense of apathy or snide comments about grass fairies and rants about how horrible the sport of soccer is in general.  I have matured since then, and while I am far from prepared to call myself a full fledged soccer fan.  I actually gave soccer a clean slate, a fresh start in my mind and went to a few watch parties.  And I will honestly say that this year's World Cup has given me a greater sense of appreciation for the sport as whole.  I found myself attentively following the United States quest for acceptance on the global stage in a sport in which they've long been viewed as the tag-along little brother.  I knew my interest was went well beyond mere bandwagon US pride on Saturday.  I woke up early Saturday morning to watch Germany vs Argentina... at home, by myself, for no other reason than from watching previous matches I knew it would be a good game.  And I will say it was in fact a great game, an arse whipping if I've ever seen one, but a great game.  Not even Maradona's suit could save them, he is a very snappy dresser.

Embarrassing as it is to admit I was ignorantly a soccer hater for the bulk of my life, especially in college.  And while there are still many things that I don't understand and/or get frustrated about.  I actually enjoy watching the matches.  I think the United States has a golden opportunity here to capitalize on the World Cup popularity.  Hopefully they'll keep the momentum up and get some of their quality players back stateside to build US soccer up.  I know that that is probably still a long way off because competition here just isn't as good (so I've been told).  However, I'm one convert, I plan to attend a few Wizards games here in KC, so, they're making some progress.