So with the arrival of the World Cup at last, I want to endorse the virtues of liking a sport just as much as you want to and when you want to. I am a classically casual American soccer fan: I watch the major international tournaments like the World Cup, the Euro Cup, the Confed cup, etc. I’m not casual about it during those tournaments; I’ve been reading predictions and analysis of this tournament religiously for weeks, and I have a good grasp of the major players, contending teams, group dramas, and so on. But I don’t follow club soccer; I just find all of the leagues and associations too hard to keep track of, and it’s still too difficult for a guy without cable to consistently watch games.
I’m thrilled for my American soccer fans who do follow league and club play religiously, and I wish them a great Cup. But I feel no shame at all for just following the international teams. (Even while I acknowledge the conventional wisdom that the best club teams play at a higher level even then World Cup football.)
There’s a similar phenomenon with sports fans who only follow the playoffs. Hockey is notorious for having fans who are only interested once the Stanley Cup playoffs begin. With baseball, I get excited for the first couple months, then the unbelievably long slog of the season saps my interest and I only get interested again in September. I watch a lot of NBA games, but I definitely get more interested after the All-Star break. In contrast, I watch the NFL religiously throughout the season, and college basketball with nearly the same consistency. I think part of it is simply a matter of fewer games, so each game counts for more both in terms of championships and in emotional terms. But either way: those are my habits and I’m unashamed of them. I’m not doing anybody any favors if I try to force myself to follow sports that I’m not naturally interested in.
I highly recommend it. Like what you like, in sports, and like them just when you want to.
#Signaling
😉
Blatantly!
This is fairly closely related to the topic of your post: Did you see this hilarious column by an Englishman on why he hates American soccer fans (the hardcore ones)? http://online.wsj.com/articles/why-i-hate-american-soccer-fans-1402012291
I really, really got into the World Cup in 2010, and I thought ESPN did a great job covering it, though of course they shoved it down their viewers’ throats for months, much longer than the Cup itself. Landon Donovan’s goal against Algeria is something I’ll never forget. Then of course I emptied all awareness of soccer from my mind until I found out just a few days ago that the World Cup started this week. I assume it’s on ESPN, which I don’t pay for anymore, and it’s been a given for four years that Brazil is going to win this one (disappointing performance in 2010 followed by hosting in 2014? forget about it), so all I’m really interested in hearing about this one is how woefully ill-prepared the country is to host all those games and handle all those visitors, and what kind of fiasco is going to result. (I mean, I hope to god no one gets seriously injured, but it should be entertaining in an embarassing, slow-motion train wreck kind of way.)
I love soccer but don’t get the way other fans get snooty about casual watchers, especially in this country. The more people watch and get into it, regardless of whether they’re casual or not, the less I’ll feel like I’m a follower of some weird cult. Please watch, everybody!
Casual soccer fan myself, can’t get more deeply into it because aspects of it drive me crazy. For instance, Spain just went up 1-0 on a penalty. The penalty rule is ridiculous. The equivalent in basketball would be if you committed a touch foul on LeBron in the paint and he gets 20 free throws as a result, or any penalty committed in the “red zone” in football being rewarded with a couple of free touchdowns, or a base on balls resulting in your best hitter getting to hit the ball off a tee with the bases loaded. Soccer goals are so difficult to come by in the regular flow of play, and penalties so dependent on the whims of the ref that it seems very silly to adjudicate it this way. And I’m really getting tired of seeing Spain go full Lee Strasberg every time they get so much as a cross look from the Dutch. And there are other things, but I think I’ll stop there, don’t want to step on too many toes.
I just saw this post from Atrios, partially channeling my comment:
http://www.eschatonblog.com/2014/06/my-deep-thoughts-on-soccer.html
His suggestions are interesting. I’ll throw out the suggestion, make goals scored in the course of normal play worth two points and penalty goals worth one. I realize this will cause purist brains to explode.
Good piece. Life is short and there are lots of great sports teams out there to enjoy. Here is a college football-centric article on the topic that you might like. And in the end, can’t we all passionately root against Alabama?
http://www.theandrewblog.net/2012/08/27/college-sports-and-the-plight-of-the-t-shirt-fan/
I wrote that article. Thanks for the shoutout!
And I approve of this article. Not every fan of every sport has to be a diehard, or even a devotee. That doesn’t make you a phony or a fraud when you do devote your time and energies to following a sport.
i like soccer but only to watch it with family.