Saturday, June 14, 2014

The Rest Of The World's Game

The World Cup has been going for a couple days, and my interest level is at an all time low. I care specifically about the sport of soccer as little as I ever have. As I have said during attempts to take American sports overseas, it is fine by me if they never care about our games just like it should be OK by them if we never like their games, but for some reason there are people on either side of the ocean who bemoan this state of affairs with bizarre passion.

In the World Cup they make much of patriotic spirit. I do love my country and in theory wish for it to succeed at all endeavors, but I just don't value success in soccer enough for it to matter whether the US team does well or poorly. I feel as if there are more practical measures by which I would like for America to out-do other nations, most of them having to do with material prosperity in some way. Wouldn't it be nice if we beat the world at math aptitude?

We seldom do seem to perform well in soccer. That really says something about our lack of enthusiasm for the thing, because with our wealth of athletic talent and resources, we could conceivable dominate or at least hold our own by dedication a fraction of what could hypothetically be brought to bear if we went all in. We could probably rise above most nations by giving ten percent, but that's just more than we care to give.

I'm not really hostile towards the World Cup. I try always to remember that anything which is someone else's interest and not my own is not automatically a bad thing. It seems like most of the world really gets something out of this game and this event, and while I think they ought to have some sense of perspective (which might serve to cut down on the cartoonish corruption that seems so systemic), I'm glad they're enjoying themselves. Just leave me out of it.

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