Just wondering what others are thinking... In the past I've been a causal observer (at best) of World Cup Soccer. This year I actually find myself checking the Internet, the newspaper for scores, updates etc. Last week I was in Chicago eating lunch downtown by myself and found myself so engrossed watching the Poland game I was almost late for my 1:30 meeting.
I'm sure my interest will wane a bit now that the American's are out but does anyone (besides myself) think World Cup is finally relevant?
UT Astrophysics Wrote:I'm sure my interest will wane a bit now that the American's are out but does anyone (besides myself) think World Cup is finally relevant?
I'm sure many others do. I don't care much myself.
Frankly, I think soccer is to blame for much of our country's woes. We're becoming complacent modeling ourselves like the rest of the world.
I think peoples interest is getting stronger, but it will never become what it is anywhere else. I doubt it will even become what hockey is in the U.S. I myself have watched about 3/4 of the group stage, and I plan on watching all that I can of the knock out stage. Of course, being in Germany for the past 2 weeks helped out greatly in seeing most of the groups. You couldn't walk more than 30 feet without passing a cafe with 50 people huddled around a tv watching a match that they didn't even have interest in. Its very infectious. Plus I had tickets for the USA vs. Czech Republic game.
It sad that most people have so much annamosity towards football, but know absolutly nothing about it. I think most americans don't want to take the time to figure out the game, because our sports "market" is over saturated anyway (Football, baseball, basketball, hockey, Nascar, etc.) They all just look at a 1:1 tie and say the nothing happend in the game...when in reality the Italy game had 3 suspensions, a whole lot of awesome shots, some spectacular saves, and lots of constant action.
At the risk of incurring wrath, I think our philosophy about the World Cup could be considered a sample of our conflicts and our reputation in the world. Almost the entire world is a spectator of the WC, its a spectacle everywhere but here. And since we're not very good, people don't care mostly dismissing it as unimportant and trivial.
However, we love to call our our World Series winner, "World champ" and our Super Bowl winner, "World Champ" and our NBA Winner "World Champ" when in reality, the rest of the world doesn't really participate or even care.
We're a member of the world. The furious pace of technology is forcing us to recognize that. We need to begin securing a safe place for future generations by recognizing we're just a member of the world's community. Unfortuantely, our soccer showing didn't impress anyone regarding our preparation, ability or athleticism...
MH55 Wrote:At the risk of incurring wrath, I think our philosophy about the World Cup could be considered a sample of our conflicts and our reputation in the world. Almost the entire world is a spectator of the WC, its a spectacle everywhere but here. And since we're not very good, people don't care mostly dismissing it as unimportant and trivial.
Maybe. I just think it's a weak sport. So call me an ugly American. I think the big fans of soccer are weak too.
NOW, world cup Rugby? Cool. I think it's a great sport, and have no problem with it.
Quote:However, we love to call our our World Series winner, "World champ" and our Super Bowl winner, "World Champ" and our NBA Winner "World Champ" when in reality, the rest of the world doesn't really participate or even care.
Point taken, it's time to change that. I think the baseball challenge this past spring was a cool idea.
Basketball could do a final 4, since it's popular around the world.
Quote:Unfortuantely, our soccer showing didn't impress anyone regarding our preparation, ability or athleticism...
Big whoop. Let the other countries gloat.