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SPORTS
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Photo by TIM MANDELL
Owen County junior lineman Neil Simington works on a drill Monday
at practice.
Rebels
back on the field
Sports
photos
Sports
Briefs
On
the sidelines
Spreading soccer around the world
TIM
MANDELL
Soccer always seems a
little more interesting after the World Cup.
I played soccer as a youth and participated in the circuit of
pickup games in college and beyond, but haven’t put on a
pair of cleats since 1998 when I scrimmaged with a high school
girls team I covered for a newspaper.
I’m too fat and out of shape to play now, but I’m
hoping to one day get back out on the field and at least attempt
to play the game.
I’m not as athletic as I once was, and I’m slower
and clumsier than in my youth, but mentally, I’m on top
of the game.
When I was a kid, I just played.
Now, after years of watching high school, college and professional
games I understand the way soccer is supposed to be played —
I’m just not so sure I have the ability to play it at that
level.
I love watching the World Cup.
It might be the greatest event in sports.
Every nation in the world has a chance to qualify, and the 32
that do, meet for the world championship.
Maybe the only true world championship in sports.
And it only happens once every four years, so it seems even more
special.
Usually after the World Cup, the money mongers go overboard trying
to proclaim soccer as the next great sport in America, and that
it’s going to be as huge (at least in television and advertising
revenue) as the NFL, NBA or MLB.
It won’t ever reach that level in this country — mainly
because a mainstream audience won’t follow an entire season
of a sport where games end in 0-0 ties.
We crave too much scoring and action to fall madly in love with
a sport that’s traditionally lower scoring and played in
a strategic fashion.
Plus, all the best players don’t play in this country.
But where the World Cup succeeds the most in America is that it
introduces soccer to kids, or inspires those who already play
to dream about one day representing their country in the World
Cup.
And that’s why the first high school season that follows
the World Cup is brimming with the possibility of excitement.
All the new faces that decide to give soccer a whirl, all the
old familiar faces that are striving to raise the level of their
game, and all the coaches and players and parents who walked away
from the World Cup with big dreams.
Sometimes those dreams never materialize, but being able to dream
about greatness is what makes life so special.
Because those dreams sometimes come true. |
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