From the IL Tenth Wrap-Up:
It’s Not Football
WRITTEN by Keith Brin
| Let there be no equivocation: America owns the name, “football.” I don’t care that football evolved out of rugby and soccer. I don’t care that it came later as a professional sport. We own it. What we’re experiencing right now is “soccer.” Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, I’m learning a lot about soccer thanks to the World Cup. For whatever reason, no matter what sport, once the competition hits a near-professional level I’ll be a captive audience. That includes soccer – and I don’t like soccer. To me, soccer is just a lot of running, with the game being timed by one guy in his own head, and the real possibility of things ending in a tie. That’s just not the American DNA. That’s not how we do sports. We like our shot clocks and last second goals. There is nothing more intense than witnessing the seconds left on the game clock when a team is down one score. Even though it’s been embraced from Clearwater, Florida to Sacramento, California, soccer just isn’t “our” sport. The way soccer plays out is somewhat out of sync with our American sporting tastes and expectations. And to me it’s a lot of passing forward, then backwards, then sideways, then backwards again. So…much…nothing. Despite all of that, I’m glued to the television watching the World Cup. The players are truly outstanding athletes, and I can’t help but feel that I’m privileged in being able to watch them compete at such a high level. And they are playing for the glory of country. Wherever they call home, they aren’t playing for salary but are instead playing to hold their country’s flag and bathe in the triumph that only comes from real sport. I seem to get sucked in the same way to the Olympics, as well, for the same reasons. Bring on the biathlon! |
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By the time I’m done watching a World Cup match I’ve got favorite players, I know the dramatic stories of the good guys, and I know who is guaranteed to flop on the field if someone just looks at them wrong. Do I now know all about Cape Verde? Yes! Ronaldo and Messi? Of course! Do we want to join in with the Norwegian fans rowing to cheer on their team? Absolutely! None of this would have occurred but for the World Cup. But I learned something even more. Never in a million years would I have thought I would learn even more about America during the World Cup. Like many of you, I’ve also been glued to the social media accounts of so many from around the world experiencing America for the first time because of the World Cup. And in a time where American patriotism feels almost illegal, it’s the foreign fans that have been America’s greatest defenders. Headlines like, “They came for the World Cup. They fell in love with Buc-ee’s and ranch dip,” (NBC News) and, “World Cup tourists swoon over the real America — and they’re making us fall in love, too,” (NY Post) is exactly what we all need. This transcends a game; the experiences of World Cup fans from around the world are everything that we take for granted in America, and it would behoove us all to be reminded from time-to-time just what a wonderful place America is to live in. When is the last time you sat at a small-town diner and admired how friendly the people were? Or marveled at the size of the stack of pancakes you received? Or maybe just didn’t take for granted that your coffee cup was refiled like magic? This is so “common” to our American experience that we don’t realize how uncommon it really is to the rest of the world. I’ve recently had a “European visitor moment” of my own, when I had the chance to visit a Buc-ee’s on a road trip a few months ago. Let me just say that if you haven’t been to a Buc-ee’s then you are missing out. Trying to describe the experience is basically like trying to compare a small grocery store to a Costco. As one European visitor commented, “A gas station mixed with Disney World wrapped in a gift shop.” Do yourself a favor – get the brisket sandwich, the banana pudding, and at least 3 kinds of jerky. You’re welcome. This is the experience that so many foreign fans are having. For example, the Scots in Boston. “The Tartan Takeover”: from bagpipes to beer (the city required emergency beer deliveries – no joke), the people of Boston embraced the Scots and the World Cup in an unlikely but fantastic mix of cultures. Some of most celebrated experiences came with Europeans hitting rural America. Japanese visitors gushing over country-fried steak; Englishmen losing their minds over Chick Fil-A; Spanish attendees eating Nashville hot Chicken for the first time…free refills and country music! You can’t even imagine the wide eyes and unbelieving stares of foreign fans visiting Walmart for the first time. I am both humbled and proud that so many fans from around the world are experiencing what we all know and love in America for the first time. They report back that the truth of America is not what the world media would have us all believe – America is amazing, its huge, its friendly, and its accepting of people from wherever they come from. Americans find joy in sharing our way of life with the world, and we get excited when you see what we’re all about. Why did it take the World Cup to remind me how wonderful America really is? Not bright-lights-and-big-show wonderful, but wonderful like Algerian fans in Lawrence, Kansas. Those fans made a temporary home of Lawrence to send their team off to play in Kansas City. In a place that uniquely celebrates the University of Kansas Jayhawks right up against church and family, Lawrence instead rolled out the red carpet for Algerian fans and made them feel welcome. The fans commented that the warmth of the community made Lawrence a must-visit stop. That was not on my bingo card in 2026. But it reminded me about what makes America so wonderful – the people. That’s all of us. And in case anyone is doubtful, from Buc-ee’s to Walmart, and from Lawrence, Kansas to Boston, the World Cup has brought visitors from around the world to admire the American experience. From sea to shining sea, no matter what the rest of the world’s media might say, America will remain a place that welcomes the tired, the poor, and the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. And now that the USA team ended its exciting run, only about 2 months to real football. |
