Why is the US not "into" the world cup? It's quite simple really.

Here is My Hypothesis [based mainly on me and my observations]:

a. I am very competitive. I like to win. I am American. By the commutative property, Americans are competitive and Americans like to Win.

Things the US win at:
1. Baseball [sometimes--more than not]
2. Tennis [atleast womens]
3. Golf
4. Football [ok so no one else plays, but we're still really good]
5. Skiing, Snowboarding, Ice Skating [We Rock the Winter Olympics]
6. Swimming, Running [And we rock the summer olympics ]
7. War [or atleast we spin the media to look like we did]

But soccer, we're not quite there. So until we are, It's just not that enjoyable.

b. I believe in games there should be a winner and a loser. In soccer [atleast in the first rounds] you can tie. TIE. You can go an ENTIRE 90 Minutes and feel like you are no better or no worse than you started. That bothers me.

3. I can't get into the other teams/countries--I like rooting for the US. I would never call myself overly nationalistic, but I like the US and I like it when they win. [Maybe it's because we have cool colors?]

I must admit, when I watch a medal ceremony [we had 25 to be exact in the last Olympics-but who's counting?] and the US flag goes up, I feel proud to be an American. By the way, I'm not quoting Lee Greenwood's song here [p.s. i had to look up who sang that song] but i do feel like I get a teensy bit more patriotic every time I watch a US sporting event. Atleast the ones we win.

But back to soccer. We suck. The last game against the Czech Republic was one of the most frustrating and uninspiring games I've ever watched. We got our asses kicked, and none of the US players seemed to care. No, I did not talk to any of them, and Yes, I do believe they cared, but they certainly didn't show it in their play. Now a team like Trinidad and Tobago kickin it against England yesterday, that's a team that has heart. Trinidad's population is about 1 Million [yes I had to look that up too] and their tiny little country has more heart in in their goalie's pinky finger than our entire US team. Quite impressive.

So why doesn't the US soccer team have heart? Maybe it's a classic chicken and the egg story. For a team to have heart and start winning, does it need a fan base with heart? But to get a fan base with heart, do you have to win? One thing to note: there are some hotties on the US team--but they're kind of few and far between. Maybe there's a correlation between ratings and hot guys on teams? I'm just saying. Might mention it to the coaches when they are doing try outs next time round. Nice food for thought on a Friday.

Happy weekend!