World Cup: Is it a political thing?

The US National Soccer Team's Hollywood story-so-far is catching the attention of millions of people across the United States. Let's face it, soccer has been slowly creeping up and catching on all across the country. It's even caught on so much that Philadelphia - a very unfriendly environment for soccer fans at one time - was awarded a Major League Soccer team last year.

It's the most popular sport in the world except for in the United States. As the World Cup matches play throughout the day and as USA takes on Ghana this weekend, many Americans are still scratching their heads, though. "Why the hell are people calling this football?", "Why do they call zero nil?", "What is up with all of those ties?" and, my favorite, "What's that damned buzzing sound?" (in reference to the infamous vuvuzelas).

Another debate that seems to be popping up on Twitter is whether liking soccer is a "Liberal thing" or not. After all, it is an international game and we were terrible at it for so long in this country. One of the other reasons soccer never, ever caught on in the US - besides the common opinion that it's boring - is partly due to some of its smug and elite fan base here in the States.

Back when the USA was gearing up for the 1994 World Cup, they played a "Friendly" match against England, somewhere up in New England. The American fans booed the American team and cheered for England. Of course, this was reported in little blurbs in newspapers all across the country. Certainly a lot of patriotic people saw that and decided this wasn't a sport for them.

Then there's guys like former US National Team player and current ESPN soccer analyst Alexi Lalas. The guy is just so smug. He's always talking about how Americans "don't understand" certain things and how "stupid" we are because we don't know who the hell Wayne Rooney is. (Note: this writer is a huge Manchester United fan and certainly knows who Wayne Rooney is). People in this country do not enjoy being talked down to or told that they're too stupid to comprehend a sport that they're trying to serve to us on a silver platter (and as some may feel, shove down our throats).

Those kinds of aforementioned events can lead people to think that it's a bunch of hippie Liberals who cheer for guys kicking a ball around. Soccer fans, for years, complained that soccer would never catch on but instead of trying to find a forum to present the game on, they simply painted imagery of dumb, redneck Americans who prefer watching cars drive in circles at speedways.

Some Liberals on Twitter are still saying that people who don't enjoy soccer are Neanderthals. This is simply not true. Sports is like music, to each their own, and for whatever reason we prefer the kind of football where you can actually use your hands and clothesline people. It's just how it goes. It doesn't make Americans any less "dumb".

Besides, who in their right might would want to watch a sport where, for years, the USA constantly lost? Who would want that agony every four years? Soccer is maybe, at best, the seventh most popular sport in the United States. That's fine if you like it. If you don't like it, you're not a terrible person.

If you're a true American, a true Patriot you'll cheer on the US National Soccer Team, though. Just like you'd cheer on the US National Curling Team or the US National Women's Field Hockey Team. My favorite part of the World Cup is the possibility of the US taking on Socialistic nations that everyone says we should be more like and trouncing them.

You know we're a polarized nation when we're turning the world's largest sporting event into a political debate. If anything, the United State's success in the Cup is a healthy distraction from an inept President, a terrible Oil Spill and even a corrupt political environment here in Philadelphia. Most soccer fans I know and discuss the game with never "go there" with politics because it's not the place for it. That is, unless the US is playing a team with which you have scant or torrid political ties with.

The fact is that if we win the World Cup, it will be the ultimate in sports bragging rights and it's something that we - as a regionally and now politically divided sports nation - can really all get behind.

- AP

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