Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Living in America


Today's dual 1-0 victories for the US and England that advance both squads to the knock-out phase of the World Cup should bring extreme joy to my dual-footballing allegiances, being someone that passionately supports USA! USA! USA! and Inger-land.

So, why just the twinge of melancholoy?

Because I suspect supporting both squads will never again be as easy and uncomplicated as 1990-2010.

On one hand, supporting the US afforded the privilege of living in an underdog's world, one where you simply enjoy the football (soccer) unattached to expectations and greeting each new, positive development with joy.

Case in point: the 2002 loss to Germany in the quarter-finals. Yes, there was huge disappointment, sure, but also satisfaction in a great tournament and no lingering heartache over what could have been. The experience was whole and complete unto itself, especially since the American sporting media's attention quickly turns elsewhere and there were relatively few fans still discussing “what if” scenarios. No repeated discussions about THAT phantom foul. It's done. It's gone. Amen.

On the other hand, following England took effort. Effort to find matches on cable, and later, satellite TV. Effort to follow England on the internet. Effort to find a pub that showed big or impossible-to-find England qualifying matches.

It's also effort that allowed the luxury of detachment, as you could avoid the media maelstrom following big England losses to the likes of Germany, Argentina, Brazil, or Portugual by simply not surfing to your typical football websites.

Now, all that has changed.

We've gone from a world where Brit's pub in Minneapolis took major cajoling to put the 1996 European Championships on a TV in the back room for 25 football fans to world where an estimated 2,000 people packed the place for USA v England 2 hours before kickoff. Yes, at capacity 2 hours before kickoff. Stunning.

We've gone from a world where football (soccer) gets exceptionally poor TV ratings to one where ESPN/ABC shows every freakin' World Cup game and the reported ratings are very good. When you combine youth soccer participation rates with exposure on this scale, and the drama that is this edition of Team USA, you've just got to believe there's a whole generation of children and possibly some adults that stand the chance to fall for the beautiful game. By contrast, I was born in 1966 and we couldn't watch any World Cup group play until Mexico '86. And that was on Univision. My football fanaticism took root only after some serious exposure while living in Denmark in 1988, where I simply went bonkers for the high-quality action of the English First Division, Bundesliga, Serie A, and La Liga. And oh, the Dutch team of the Euros were a joy to watch too.

We've gone from a world where non-football fans never mention boo about the World Cup to me to one where I've been asked constantly about the rules, Rooney, Ronaldo, vuvuzelas, Team USA's chances, and even the French squad's antics by non-footballing folks. It's incredible. I can't tell you how many non-soccer-types have told me they're going to watch “some” soccer this go round.

I've always wanted the US to understand and show some interest in the beautiful game, as I find the overall ignorance bothersome and even embarrassing on some level.

Now that this new day may be dawning, what I didn't count on were the costs.

Gone are the days of carefree US and England collisions. Gone are the days of supporting the US without expectations. Gone is the luxury of on-call detachment from the football world.

We now live in an era where fans were found still celebrating an hour after the match, dancing to James Brown's “Living in America” at a soccer-themed bar in Milwaukee. As in Wisconsin. On a Wednesday. At noon.

Such is life in the new era. Embrace it. I'm sure there's more drama and fans yet to come.