The Birth of My New Passion

I was a typical American who loved football and thought soccer was probably the most boring sport to watch in the world.

I am now still your average American who loves American football, but I think that “regular” football (a.k.a. soccer) is also a terrifically interesting sport to watch.

What caused this huge change in opinion? Thank the World Cup and my recent travels to Europe:

After I graduated on a Saturday in June, I left the states the following Monday to travel to Denmark, Germany, France (don’t ever go there!), and Great Britain. Many exciting things happened on my trip overseas, but for this blog, I am choosing to focus on the soccer-related stuff that happened.

In Europe, soccer is HUGE. I mean, everyone plays it. Literally. And, I happened to be lucky enough to find myself over there while the 2010 World Cup was happening. I am also someone who is now obsessed with Africa and all things African, so the fact that the World Cup was being held in South Africa made it that much better. But anyways, I came to Europe with the average American thoughts on soccer: it’s boring to watch two teams run around a huge field for ninety minutes, and it’s especially boring because the match might end in a draw. But, as I travelled throughout Europe, I found myself talking to more and more soccer fans, and going into more and more soccer stores, and sitting down to watch more and more World Cup matches. The sense of patriotism that people have when they watch their national teams play in the World Cup was amazing over there, and people lived and breathed just to watch their team compete. Soccer is a way of life to most Europeans; many regard the stars of their teams like Catholics regard the Pope.

I started to become intrigued with the teams that played, and I started to dig further into the “inner-workings” of many teams and their players. I also discovered that watching a 90-minute game of soccer can be very interesting, as long as you have an interest in at least one of the teams. (It’s kind of sad to say, but I now find that watching soccer can be much more interesting than many baseball games. Sorry Prince.) The fans that these games attract are also amusing and hilarious, and there are so many die-hards out there. But, after looking into the teams, I discovered that soccer has also literally saved nations and brought them together. Example: The Ivory Coast, located in Western Africa, was in the middle of a bloody civil war a few years back. Atrocities abounded, and the end of the war seemed to be nowhere in sight. However, a soccer player from the IC, named Didier Drogba, was sick of what had become of his home country (Drogba is a huge star for the Chelsea soccer team, located in London, England). So, Drogba returned to the Ivory Coast and pleaded his case to the leaders of both sides of the conflict. He, acting in vein of a president or foreign leader, helped to draw up the peace accord between the two sides, and he effectively helped to bring an end to the civil war in the Ivory Coast. Now, how many US athletes can say that they’ve done something like that? Yea, I think like zero.

But anyways, I found myself completely caught up in the games for the remainder of my time overseas, and I followed the action furiously when I returned in late June. I am not a fan of the Spanish team though, so I was disappointed when the Netherlands lost to them in extra time in the World Cup final. I am now fully interested in soccer and all of its worldwide stars, and the sport offers so much for everyone. Every country has its own league, and there are literally hundreds of teams to choose from when picking whom you want to follow and cheer for. Soccer is also the universal sport, whether America wants to admit to it or not. You won’t find kids in the slums of Haiti or shanty towns of Ghana or villages of Vietnam playing basketball or baseball or football. No; you will find them playing soccer. Soccer is the sport that connects everyone, and America should wake up soon to it. If not, we risk falling behind all nations in terms of the sports that we support, and we will find ourselves completely clueless in the evolving sports world of the 21^st century.