It's just one of those things isn't it. The Yanks just can't grasp what football is all about.
Football is part of our heritage, it's part of our lives. Yanks don't care about football because they suck at it and a major part of that is because they lack the passion. If the Yanks had a passion for the game the National team of the U.S.A would be transformed through the sheer energy back home. Everything would become more vital.
The only real reason I don't care for soccer is because it's excruciatingly dull waiting for something to happen. Those guys don't take dives, they fall asleep while kicking the ball around. Games like basketball or football, every second counts right to the end. Soccer, a fella might score in the first two minutes and decide the game right there. That means another two hours of "Kick the ball and run that way. Okay, now kick it and run this way." Christ, you don't even get a zamboni to break up the monotony every period. If it weren't for the psychopaths in the stands, soccer would be thoroughly unwatchable as a televised sport.
I just don't know how to express myself and tell you how wrong you are. There is NOTHING like being in a pub in England surrounded by the crosses of St George and watching the National Team play on the World Stage. The ENTIRE country is buzzing. And EVERY SECOND counts.
Boring?!! BORING?!!
That is something that cannot be leveled at the game if you have something invested in it. With a win the country is united and you instantly identify with every stranger in the street all together under one flag and pride for England and to be English is a powerful thing as it is for other nations home pride.
Lose and the sombre cloud decends on the country like a cloak of despair and dissapointment. It's like the country has been held up and gutted.
So when you see those eleven men on the pitch representing their ENTIRE COUNTRY no matter which footablling nation they are from it's serious buisness. The importance of English football (and the same goes for so many other countries around the world) is absolute.
I don't think you can even fathom the pressure that the players are under to perform. Penalities which are the very bane of our country are one of the most nerve-racking things a player can ever be asked to do. They're ALL world class players, they can all sink a penalty under normal circumstances 95% of the time, but on the world stage with your entire country hanging on your foot connecting with the ball in a certain way at the right moment is as serious as it gets.
I've had my chest literally clench up during penalty shoot-outs. You look around a PACKED english pub, every single man, woman and child flying the colours, wearing the shirt, and it's nothing but silence and trepidation around you. It doesn't get anymore serious.
Do I expect you to understand the emotion inolved? Nah -- How could you? You have to experience it. It's a powerful thing. And yes, it's only a sport but to many of us it's a lot more than that. It's our identity as a nation and that's why when we lose it's THAT painful. And when we win it's that exciting and joyus.
So don't tell me that football is boring. From your perspective perhaps. you have no investment in it. But for many of us it's a passion that you have to live to understand. Calling the team pussies for crying when they get kicked from the World Cup after losing on penalties yet again is a clear indication that you've missed the point in spectacular fashion.
Watch this and maybe you will have an inkling of what it's all about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H3f9oTyi8s
