So, I am a soccer fan, but there is a catch

Well, it’s official, I am a soccer, er, football…whatever. The round ball game, played by the world’s masses, I am officially a fan…but with a catch.

Last week I wondered if I indeed liked to watch soccer. After nearly 13-hours spent perched on my recliner in front of the idiot-box watching “the world’s most popular sport” this weekend, I knew that I was a soccer fan at the conclusion of the Costa Rica vs. Greece match. The match was excellent, a back and forth tilt in which the team from Costa Rica was forced to play with one less player on the field than Greece following penalties. I knew that my newfound passion for the FIFA World Cup was cemented following the broadcast of the match when ESPN previewed the next event on the channel, Yankees vs. Redsox in “America’s Sport,” baseball.

Maybe it was all the excitement of the four soccer matches over the weekend in Brazil, or maybe it was because my rear-end had fallen asleep after so many hours spent on my recliner, but whatever the reason, I had no desire -- not even a little bit -- to sit and watch one of the best rivalries in American sports when New York and Boston started playing on the diamond.

Maybe I am just a lemming caught-up on all the hype of the FIFA World Cup and I originally thought my interest in soccer was due to team USA playing somewhat well. That theory was corner-kicked out of my brain this weekend as each of the last World Cup matches I have watched did not featured the boys in Red, White and Blue, but rather teams with players I had never heard of.

The more I think about my new soccer passion, the more it becomes clear to me why I have become a fan. It is not because soccer players are superior athletes to those who play regular, “American sports,” because that isn’t true. If you put Minnesota Viking running back Adrain Peterson into a soccer outfit, he would run through defenses like a hot knife through butter and be the best player in the sport. Now, take the best player in Soccer, that guy from Portugal who looks more like a member of the Mexican boy-band of the 1980’s Menudo, and place shoulder pads and a helmet on him, line him up behind center and let him run some plays in “real football” and he would be carted off the gridiron before third down.

The reason, I have decided, that I am a World Cup fan is because of patriotism ... that is my patriotism for my country and the patriotism that people from other countries show for theirs.

One of the most enjoyable parts of watching the World Cup on television is the crowd shots. People crying, screaming, cheering, snot flying, crazy hats and face paint. These people in Brazil supporting their teams look as though soccer is a life and death proposition. Their excitement is infectious. The flags of their countries wave wildly as they cheer, not just for their soccer teams, but also for their countries.

The revelation that I enjoy soccer comes with a stipulation, however, as I know that once the World Cup is over, my soccer passion is over as well. I know this because once every four years, I become a rabid fan of curling, a sport that requires players to slide stones down an icy alley into circles. I totally love this sport ... once every four years. I haven’t spent 10-seconds watching curling since the last Winter Olympics, so it is my guess that soccer will follow suit in a few weeks.

By the time you read this, America will have most likely been ousted from the FIFA World Cup, but if that is the case, tune on a match just to people watch, it’s dang fun.