Between the Lines
by JASON GORDON
Let’s get this out there first – I’m not a big fan of soccer.
In fact, I don’t like the sport much at all.
That said, there are coaches, players and teams I’ve come to enjoy following throughout the years in the Hays CISD.
I appreciate the hard work the players put in, and I would argue that the Hays Free Press covers soccer better than any newspaper around, many of which seem to not think it exists.
We have covered the many deep playoff runs the Hays Lady Rebels have made the last decade, and have watched the Lehman boys grow into an area power in a few short years. And watching the Hays boys win two straight playoff games this past spring to break a long postseason victory drought was one of the most exciting sports stories in 2009-10.
For the first time ever, I actually got emotionally involved in the World Cup over the last month or so.
I don’t know if it’s because of the fact I was involved in a serious rollover car wreck a month ago and am still feeling the lingering effects of a pretty good bump to the head, but for some reason the World Cup drew me in this year.
I think it actually may be the fact that so many people around the globe get so pumped up for the event, and that the fans in the crowd during every match played look like their lives depend on their team winning. Or it may be the fact that this time of year there’s not much at all for me to get excited about in the world of sports.
Whatever the case, the United State’s team provided many chills and spills, while advancing to the round of 16 with a thrilling Landon Donovan injury-time last-minute goal against Algeria before finally using up all of their nine lives in an extra-time 2-1 loss to Ghana.
Those have been the plusses.
Now, the things that will almost certainly keep me a non-fan of world stage or professional soccer until at least another four years when the World Cup resurfaces in Brazil.
I thought I had seen bad refereeing at the middle and high school level through the years, but the officials at the World Cup now top the list by a mile.
They absolutely stole a U.S. comeback victory against Slovakia with a phantom call, didn’t give England a goal that would have tied Germany in their Round of 16 match on a ball that was a full yard past the white line, and allowed an Argentina goal in the same round by a player who was offsides by 10 yards or more.
Still, FIFA, the organization in charge, refuses to use instant replay.
It seems with the technology available now, that an event that is one of the most important in the world to just about every nation would use every resource available to make sure they get things like this correct. But what do I know?
And those godforsaken giant vuvuzela kazoos everyone in the stands seems to have purchased. I’m surprised anyone using one doesn’t pass out from lack of oxygen by halftime. Other than the times my chemistry teacher in high school used to toss me out of class with the most annoying voice you’ve ever heard, I don’t think I’ve ever listened to a more annoying sound.
I actually know a guy who took his family to South Africa for seven weeks this summer for what he called a once-in-a-lifetime chance to watch the World Cup in such a setting.
I don’t know what sounds more frightening to me, having to spend seven straight weeks with my family or having to watch soccer virtually every day for seven weeks.
I think the one thing I would actually be scared of the most watching World Cup are all the snipers in the stands, picking off player after player in open space, sending them flailing to the grass in writhing pain.
Thankfully, the trainers on staff in South Africa have healing powers of biblical proportions, and most of the players are back up and running at full speed in a minute or two, even the ones carted off on stretchers and in neck rings. I thought the National Basketball Association was bad when it came to guys flopping, trying to draw a foul, but those players have nothing on the ones in international soccer.
I think the one thing the World Cup has taught me more than anything is just how much I’ll appreciate it when the round “fútbol” changes into a more oblong object and becomes a good ol’ American football this fall.
