Conversations with my non-soccer friends as they pick a bad time to show interest

I would trade places with you to a certain degree: here in Europe the tyranny of soccer is absolute. When your team is having a crap year (which, if you support Fulham, they invariably are), there's no other sport to turn to for solace. At least you have the choice of a St. Pauli's or a Bud. We have to take the warm bottle of Newcastle Brown scooped up off the dusty bottom shelf.

 

You've always got cricket!

Nasser Hussain rulz!!! (yes, I know he's retired, but he's the only cricketer I know by name.)

 

I got that a lot.

Friends put me on suicide watch after United losing.. er.. tying... Roethlisberger cracking his eggshell head and the USA getting waxed.

No one called me to taunt though. I guess my friends like me.

Sachin

 

Well, I'm having another great day. I am a fanatical USMNT fan and we all know how that went. My second team? Ukraine! Gaack.

 

Yeah, i'm in the same boat. Disappointing performance Sunday night, and then news of Big Ben hits my cell RIGHT AS I sit to watch the US game.

That was one bad 16 hour span for me.

Only Saturday will tell whether this could turn out to be one of the worst weeks ever or one of those dark clouds with the silver lining types of weeks. And things are looking up! Our boy is recovering, hopefully Saturday will be a great day to be a US/DC fan and all will once again be right with the world.

 

I have been down this road too many times. I can not tell you how many times I have had to explain just simple rules of the game to friends and family the past couple days. Even if I explained this to them before. Something about most Americans and not understanding the game. It is like if their is not blood or crashing they don't get into the game.

As for me I am a US fan first, England being my second team. And Club wise I go with Reading first and foremost. And as for the obsession I have with watching the sport I forgot to tell my fiance when we started dating that I was such a huge fan of the sport specially during cup time. Needless to say I am DVR'ing every game and watch them when I get home because I live in the states. My fiance thinks I am a bit crazy sometimes specially when I skip dinner to watch the US game.

As for US press on it I looked in the paper this morning as well as when the US played CZE to see the differnce in coverage...needless to say when the US played the paper was covered with Soccer news. When anyone else plays the WC is lucky (ex today) if it gets one column in the back section of the sports section. It is very sad to see.

Bill

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one feeling heat from friends and family. After the US shit the bed, later that night I had to play cards with about 15 Italians and you can just imagine how that went. Being Italian is going to make Saturdays game fun, I pray to God the US can shock the world and pull this one out. Another embarrasing performance and i'll be skipping cards on Monday.

 

Being that this is the second World Cup during which my wife has known me, she is beginning to understand. She actually read the headline on the Intenet and only saw, "3-0". She immediately assumed that they wrote the US score first and turned to my mother-in-law to say how happy I'd be.

Then she actually read more carefully. And she knew it would be a bad day. When I got home at the end of the day, she gingerly asked if I still wanted to see the game her mother had recorded on the digital cable. I did. I needed to see it clearly, not with the bad reception I had with which I had viewed the game earlier.

Working as a teacher in Santa Ana (called the "most Mexican city outside of Mexico") made the day even worse. I came to school in my 1995-1997 jersey. I put up the "Slide of Truth" [A power point slide I put up whenever the Mexican kids try to insist that Mexico is better than the US. It lists every top 4 finish in every World Cup, at any level (including Futsal and University), in all of history. Then it lists current facts like: the current CONCACAF champion, US-Mexico head-to-head since 2000. Needless to say, it shuts the kids up--until they claim, "Yeah, but the US always cheats!"]. I was ready. I was sure my team would make me proud.

The tv in my room gets horrible reception, so we watched the game while the kids did a simple worksheet. The snow on the screen could not hide the sick feeling that came over me when the US got down. One of the girls in class, immediately told the others to behave because now I'd be in a bad mood. In fact, that class had the game turned off since they were too loud. (Subconsciously--or not so subconsciously, as my wife insists--I needed to take a break from the sickning depression.)

Then I had to endure a day of, "Iran at least scored!" "See, the US sucks." "La Republica Checa! La Republica Checa! La Republica Checa!". "US plays Italy next? So, the US will have 2 losses."

Even now, a few days later, kids are still making comments. The slide of truth isn't even working anymore.

 

Well Cav, maybe Angola and Portugal will quiet the kids down...if not, there's always detention during a Mexico game

 

My response to co workers who just decided to watch soccer starting June 9:

"I felt like you did in 1986 when my mets beat your precious red sox"


I am happy to see I am not the only one pulling out my hair at the comments of "soccer is low scoring", "the news just shows what important stuff happened" and "I cant believe you took the day off for soccer"

irony of it all? they all are hardcore baseball fans

 

Get used to it. I don't even botherh arguing anymore. They are all Jim Romed and know nothing. Just tell them to imagine a perfect game in baseball and walk-away...no run.

 

i sat quietly and kept my mouth shut



low scoring baseball game? "pitchers duel"
exciting 1-0 soccer game? "boring and low scoring"

 

I watched a bit of "Around the Horn" on ESPN and they were discussing USA chances against Italy...these dudes don't know the first thing about our game...they were equating 1990 USA with the NT today.

 

hey there guys, it's been way too long sense my last post. but can anyone even tell me what the hell Jim Rome has been up to regarding the World Cup because we all know just how much little Jimmy loves our wonderful game.

 

But all i want to say is to just forget all the smarta$$es out there who hate soccer and only slightly pretend to be interested in the game when it's world cup time. this is our game and we akll know how to stick together. The USA will be just fine, regardless of the outcome on Saturday. But i know as much as everyone else that our boys have the talent to play with anyone, but do they have the heart? Regardless, this United States Navy Sailor will be cheering our "Boys" on this Saturday with every ounce of energy and passion that I have. "C'mon Boys, Beat Italy, and GO USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

Win or lose they are still our lads. If we as soccer fans are going to be so thin-skinned as to let the casual observing soccer ignorant masses get to us... then shame on us. It is the beautiful game, we know that and they don't and no one can ever take that away from us. Too many are acting like nobody ever stunk up a game in the World Cup before. I continue to question the overall lack of interest and what convey is saying was complete confusion, but time to put that behind us and them and kick some Italian butt.....

 

"the overall lack of interest" meaning the lackluster effort that was put forth by most of the team.... if you are going down 3-0, then fight back until you collapse at the final whistle..

 

My absolute favorite dumbass comment from the soccer-ignorant masses - "So, if he plays for a team in Spain how can he play for England? Thats stupid!" Or some variant of that. I can't tell you how many times i've heard that question.

 

The fact that they understand how a Serbian can play in the NBA, yet play for their national team in the Olympics doesn't help these people either. It's mindblowing.

 

Could you tell the difference watching that performance?

 

I get so nervous whenever the USA goofs on the international stage. There's always this paranoid part of me that things any loss will set soccer back years in this country. I think I'm going nuts!

And why is everyone I know, who doesn't care for soccer, want to root for Brazil??

 

Because everybody loves a winner.