Soccer - I wish to feel the passion

Soccer is anathema to many American sports fans, but I get the feeling that it may be verrrry slowly gaining a foothold.

So to this end, I feel the time is ripe to jump on this delightfully festive bandwagon. I'm tired of the same old same old parochialism of American sports. Football, baseball, basketball, and golf. Football, baseball, basketball, and golf. I want to shop in some new sports aisles! You know that ethnic aisle in the grocery store, with the huge bags of dried beans and the dusty bottles of things like coconut soda? Well, that's soccer, man! Soccer is the coconut soda! And you know what? The rest of the world is hooked on this stuff! They can not stop drinking it! But we're all so stuck on our Diet Coke (and our Mountain Dew on weekends) that we're in a rut. But I, for one, wish to drink the coconut soda. I wish to feel the passion of The Beautiful Game. The passion. The rhythms. The beauty. And let us not forget, of course, about the passion.


This is soccer. Any questions?

So I'm climbing on board. I'm camping out in soccer bars (there are some good ones in D.C.) and watching these matches. I've been reading up on it, and America seems to have an uphill battle. We've got the powerhouse Czech Republic to contend with. We've got the always brash, always entertaining Italians (don't know anything about their team, though). So we'll see.

My first order of business is to simply witness a live-action goal, which I have never done outside a shootout or highlight package. So if I can do that, and learn the game (my friend Rishi has pledged to help me out on this one) I'll call this a success. And if I can get into the World Cup, maybe I'll parlay that into an increased interest in four-time MLS champions D.C. United, easily the most successful Washington sports team of recent years. Might be nice to support a winner for a change. So hey. Go Yanks!

Hyperlinks:
Washington Post story on some soccer injury
Full Washington Post World Cup primer

Technorati tags: World Cup, soccer, Sports, Football, D.C. United