This week the World Cup Soccer Matches begin in Brazil.
I am not a soccer fan, have never been a soccer fan, and never will be a soccer fan.
I am an American. I like American sports. Football. Baseball. Basketball. These are sports that were invented in America. American baseball is popular in other parts of the world, and there is some exportation of basketball. But for the most part, these sports belong in America. They're part of our culture--competitive, complex, fascinating to watch and speculate about.
Soccer was invented abroad, and has thrived there.
Previously, I wrote a blog about how dull soccer is--dull to watch, anyway.
Part of the campaign of what has become known as "globalism" is the promotion of sports that all nations can participate in.
The Olympics, held every four years, has often been regarded as a favorable occasion for international cooperation and friendly contention. Contestants compete in sports that otherwise have little interest in the individual nations. Only hockey seems to stir much interest, at least in America or Europe.
The World Cup has been around since 1930. It didn't draw much interest in the U.S. until the 1980's, when promoters began to push it in the media. Over the last three decades, interest in the sport has spread like wild-fire across the U.S.
As I said in my previous post from October 2009--
"The movement in America to expand soccer in the schools and professional venues is regressive. Believing, perhaps, that soccer is more fashionable and "universal" than our homegrown sports, middle-class parents and public schools have allowed soccer to shoulder aside traditional sports. Everywhere you look today, you see stripe-shirted youngsters running in circles in the grass. Hardly understanding what's happening, they spin around and dart back and forth, aimlessly, as the parents and "coaches" scream instructions to them.
People will say that children get more exercise playing soccer, but exercise per se has never been the main point of sport in general. And for players in childhood years, soccer participation lacks focus, as the tots wander from place to place on the field, trying to understand how to engage in the action. Because it's a game more about "position" than engagement, anticipation and accident are more important than any kind of physical skill.
As an opponent of globalism--and all it stands for--I would like to see soccer remain a popular sport outside of America. American sports are superior to soccer. I might even go so far as to say that advocating soccer participation in America is un-American. We should be encouraging kids to play baseball and basketball. Tackle football may be inappropriate for most kids, so I wouldn't promote it in the schools.
The World Cup is a boring event. Whenever I go into a tavern where there's a television showing a soccer event, I respectfully request they change the channel. If Brits and Aussies and other foreign birds want to watch these boring games, they can bloody well do it in the privacy of their own homes, or not at all. Or go back home where they'll be among their kind.
Enough with your stupid World Cup.
Boring!