Disclaimer: This isn't coming from someone who is a total expert on soccer or would even call myself a "diehard." I enjoy watching Premier League games occasionally and watch the major world tournaments. I don't watch all the MLS games or follow everything soccer religiously.
I do watch as much of the World Cup as I can -- every second I possibly can that I'm not working or tied up with something else. Why? Because it's the top athletes in the game representing their country in a once every four years event.
Yet, some still don't understand the allure. And that's OK. It's fine if you don't get soccer or don't like it or just don't even care. But then there's another group of people -- oh, this group of people -- who refuse to believe that anyone can enjoy this "tedious, slow, mind-numbing" game.
Many of these same folks don't understand how the World Cup works. Here's an example of a conversation:
Guy: "What happened in the U.S. game?
Me: "U.S. lost"
Guy: "Figures."
Me: "But they'll still advance."
Guy: "Oh, I don't get that."
Some are actually willing to listen to the reasoning behind the goal differential tiebreaker. Others are appalled. A sport where you can lose and advance? Blasphemy.
How could anyone care about this "Cup" played for by the world? Some refuse to believe it's anything more than a byproduct of the media's fascination. It's not like 24 million Americans watched the U.S. match against Portugal on Sunday or anything...
Dan Shaugnessy of The Boston Globe has expressed his lack of interest in the sport on a major platform. That is fine.
It's ignorance that becomes bothersome.
"Soccer takes away our hands. This makes the game incredibly skillful and exhausting, but also robs fans of much of the beauty of sport. Hands and opposable thumbs separate us from creatures of the wild," Shaughnessy writes. "Most of the memorable plays in sports are accomplished with hands. How would we have even known the athletic greatness of Pedro Martinez, Larry Bird, Bobby Orr or Tom Brady if they could not have used their hands? Soccer takes our hands out of the game."
How would we have ever known the athletic greatness of Pele or Maradona or Messi if they could not have used their feet?
Heck, Maradona even once very infamously used his hand.
Shaughnessy's argument is silly. But people make silly arguments because they don't understand and are unwilling to learn more about the sport of soccer.
As I said earlier, I'm not an expert on the game. I don't fully dissect every tactic or formation or alignment. But I like to learn. I enjoy marveling at a skill I certainly don't have, the athleticism, endurance and drama produced by the tension of the plodding play on the pitch.
A low-scoring soccer match is no indication of its excitement level. In fact, those are often those most heart-wrenching, full of goals missed by inches, opportunistic defensive plays or great saves.
Futbol is not football. They are completely different stylistically and in their scoring, so comparing them on that basis is futile.
Again, apathy is no crime. Blind ignorance coupled with bold assertions are obnoxious, to say the least.
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