Even if you're not a soccer fan, it was pretty hard not to be entertained by Manchester United's victory over Chelsea on penalty kicks for the UEFA Cup Final. Awful Announcing has the highlights, and the entire penalty kick sequence, which was ripe with drama. I watched what I could of the game and at work, and watching a masterpiece of a game like this only reminded me why I fell in love with soccer in the first place.I know, I know, soccer will never catch on in mainstream America, and that's fine with me. Even though some people will just never "get it", it's the world's most popular sport for a reason. But as I've grown older, I've found that you either love soccer, or you hate it, and there is no inbetween. I've never met a person who told me they didn't like soccer, and that was the end of the conversation. They've always had to proceed to tell me all the reason they hated it, why offsides is stupid, and how the game is too boring and slow. It seems like many of these people also try to convince me to hate soccer right along with them, because there is no logical reason for me to like it.
Fact is, as awesome as the match on Wednesday was, it's just never going to be an American sport. I'm reminded of that everytime I bring this up. I was reminded of just how little people care tonight at the news station, when instead of running highlights of the UEFA Cup final, the sports department ran a version of this:
A bear twirling a stick beats the UEFA Cup Final! However, you gotta admit that bear is pretty awesome.
3 comments:
Its the UEFA Champions League Final. The UEFA Cup was won by Zenit St. Petersburg over Rangers back on the 14th.
Also, I care. You do the state and university of Wisconsin a great disservice by taking football so lightly.
UW Men's Soccer 1995 National Champions.
Sorry, I meant "assuming" everyone takes it so lightly. There are plenty of fans, its the minority of idiotic vocal haters that make it seem like no one cares.
I and many others have also noticed the continued rise in coverage of international football on major sports networks. We get to watch a large portion of Euro 2008 on the ESPN networks starting June 7th. Plus ESPN is considering buying rights to EPL coverage in the future. Can't say that its not catching on. This coming from someone who absolutely loves to watch but has never, ever played.
Rant over, now come on you Spurs!
Yeah, I botched the whole Cup/Final thing, thanks for the catch.
I absolute love your passion for the game, and wish there were more people like you. Seriously, football, futbol, soccer, whatever you call it, it's a great game.
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