Viva la FIFA

I'm actually kind of excited for the World Cup. I don't know who is on the US team (although I'm rooting for them), I didn't really pay much attention to Olympic soccer, and I don't really follow sports. Sometimes, I think that I really should for networking and businesses purposes, like some people take up golf. It's a safe topic of conversation for breaking the ice, meeting people face to face and talking about something other than business. It strikes me almost as a standard of normalcy, especially for men, and especially in the midwest. If this guy can talk about the latest baseball or basketball or football game, then I can understand him, I can work with him. I feel really awkward when people in the office make small talk with me, opening with, "man, that was really tragic with the suns, huh?" and I'm gulping and nodding, "I know, right?"

So why am I excited about the World Cup? Part of it is being part of something the entire rest of the world gets swept up in. Sure, North Korea issues press releases that sound like someone's been smoking banana peels over there, but they still sent a team. Argentina, France, Brazil, Italy, most European countries go completely crazy during those two months. Yes, the Olympics are nice, but there's much more emphasis on country's performance as a whole rather than on the individual events. It feels more egalitarian, more formal, more ceremonial, like the parade of nations. The Olympics are like the UN.

The World Cup is all about soccer. It comes down to the games. Two teams, facing off against each other as they work their way to the top. There's only one event, one master tournament to determine who is the best in the world, and our country is there. It's got action, nationalism, passion. You never see fans rioting and setting cars on fire after their country wins the Ice Skating Couple Dance.

Sure, there's also a bit of eclecticism, the fact which landed soccer on the list of "Stuff White People Like." Let's face it, soccer is not a popular sport in the US, definitely not as popular a spectator sport as the baseball, basketball, or football, and trails even behind hockey. It's a yuppie/hipster thing to "appreciate" foreign sports that don't have mass appeal.

There's been some really good commercials associated with the World Cup. My favorite was from the last one, although there's a fantastic commercial from Nike which you'll find below that one.