I didn’t know how much I’d enjoy watching the women’s World Cup but there are literally no other sports on that I could care about right now. I’m looking at you “baseball America’s past time” and you too, NASCAR. It was fun, though, to turn on the TV Thursday and totally by accident catch the first kickoff of the NFL season. It was only the Hall of Fame game (so kind of like the Pro Bowl… who cares) but it’s always a good feeling when football’s back, even if it’s just the start of preseason games and I’m not in a fantasy league yet.
That’s neither here nor there because I want to talk about fútbol. Soccer. There are two teams I’ve kind of latched on to during the women’s World Cup: Japan and any team playing against the United States.
#1 – Japan. They’re just fun to watch. Lots of talent, lots of scoring, lots of defense. They won their first game in the elimination rounds this morning with a score of 3-1. They play the winner of U.S. vs. Sweden which airs in about half a day, Sunday 5am Eastern. The women are smiling, happy, joyful. It’s so refreshing to watch a team in sync with each other and besides that, they’re very good.
#2 – Any team playing against United States. Yeah, I said it. I’ve come to terms with what seems to be such a conflict of interest. I live in the United States. I love my country. I love the diverse people here. But kind of like a tight-nit family who fights sometimes, the international stage of the World Cup isn’t the place to air our dirty laundry. Like stories you hear of brothers. They fight like mad at home but if someone outside the family starts a fight with one of the brothers, the other is there to stick up for him Hell or high water. How we present our country through the lens of the women’s soccer team matters and the women (seems like it’s mostly led by Megan Rapinoe, to be perfectly honest) give off an air of disdain for the country they’re representing. Entitlement. Arrogance. Like I said in this post, I wouldn’t hate for the team to be humbled.
Dang it! I didn’t mean to go on and on about that particular aspect of the World Cup. Moving right allllooooooong… some of the games are in the wee hours of the morning. I’ve watched a few at 3 or 4am. It feels weird. My body isn’t used to it and feels all squirmy as if we should be eating breakfast or sleeping; but I do neither. I kind of like it, though. Waking up when everyone else is asleep. Stars overhead. Quiet. Just the light of a TV illuminating my camper.
There’s a late game tonight (Saturday), 10pm, then the next game is the United States game against Sweden, Sunday 5am Eastern. The U.S. is favored, at least according to betting odds. But if you troll around the internet, you’ll probably encounter the opposite among soccer watchers. Sweden has a lot of people rooting for them… Swedes and Americans alike.
-Out of the Wilderness
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