The culture of the United States, particularly the Midwest, doesn’t exactly encourage the appreciation of soccer ( or football as the civilized world calls it and how in the world did the sport that Americans call football come to have the name football? It’s pretty much rugby with more padding, how in the eff did they get football out of that?!?) It is considered by some to be somewhat effeminate and not worthy of the respect granted to more ‘manly’ sports like American football, basketball or baseball. That baseball is considered manly is in itself beyond my comprehension in the first place, but that’s another topic altogether. The point of the matter is that in many ways the common American conception of soccer is that it is ‘for pussies’ if you will excuse the strong language.
Not being too much of a free thinker growing up I just accepted that soccer was not cool. I think the way that people went about defending it just made things worse. Somehow being told that the rest of the world loved soccer and America was just backwards made me want to hate it all the more just to spite all those Europe and South America loving traitors.
Living in South America had a way of changing all that. For those that have never lived in Brazil, nor ever spoken to a Brazilian about soccer it is hard for me to convey just exactly what I’m talking about. Perhaps a few anecdotal stories from my mission will better illustrate the Brazilian mindset concerning soccer.
It just so happened that I served my mission during the summer Olympics of 2008, a.k.a. the Olympics in which the U.S.A. women’s soccer team defeated Brazil for the Gold Medal. If that wasn’t enough, the game was extremely close and Brazil ended up losing because the officials took away one of their goals. Based on some peoples sentiments expressed to me after this game you would have thought that I was the ref who had taken the goal away. You would have thought the United States had invaded Brazil and destroyed some of its cities or something. At the time I was thankful that lynching is generally frowned upon in the 21st century.
But my very favorite of all happened when I was at the doctor’s office. Having had my large toenail removed (epic awesome story which I will have to save for another day) I was having some bandages placed on my toe. In the course of being treated I happened to overhear a nurse playfully chiding a man for having missed his daughter’s baptism into the Catholic Church. “I can’t believe you would miss your own daughter’s baptism!” she declared, “But they had it at the same time as soccer comes on t.v.! How was I supposed to miss that?” The man had missed his daughter’s baptism to watch a soccer game on television!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Roman Catholic Church is certainly a powerful force in Brazil; but it’s got nothing on soccer.
Interestingly enough the soccer fever didn’t actually strike while I was in the field. Such was my condition, that when the 2010 world cup rolled around I wasn’t even sure that I was going to watch it. Having watched a few Ronaldinho and Robinho clips on Youtube however, I decided that I would watch one Brazilian game and see if anything cool happened.
Brazil’s first game was against North Korea. Seeing that it was playing on the t.v. on the bottom floor of the Wilkinson Center I sat down on the couch to watch my very first full soccer game. After a few minutes and a few missed goal attempts by Brazil I began to feel a strange sensation rising in the pit of my stomach. I was getting stressed, I was getting into it. By the beginning of the second half I was at the edge of my seat, desperately wanting Brazil to score a goal. And then it happened. Maicon scored a beautiful side net goal and I was jumping up in the air, screaming, and beating my hand against my chest in pure joy and adulation. All of the sudden I had transformed into the crazy soccer hooligan, ready to riot and tear down a city in a wave of enthusiasm because of a soccer game…………and it felt wonderful. I then of course made sure I watched all of the following Brazil games. I really thought they had a chance to win it all, but those bloody Dutch effers turned things around and ruined everything. I can think of but few times in my life when I have been as deeply disappointed and upset as when they lost that game. “It’s just a game!” you might wish to say, and that’s certainly what my pre-mission self would have said. But oh!! you just don’t understand!!!!!!!!!
Now I have switched completely over to the soccer enthusiast camp. I don’t have much time for following sports, but when I do it is invariably to see how Brazilian teams are doing and what my favorite Brazilian players are up to lately. More than anyone else I follow the careers of the before mentioned Ronaldinho and Robinho, and guess what? They are on the same team right now! It goes without saying that AC Milan is currently my favorite team, and I would totally root for them even if they played Real Salt Lake (sorry, I’m a traitor). Right now im looking forward with great anticipation to the next Olympics and especially the next World Cup, both of which will be held in Brazil. Here’s hoping that the greatest soccer nation in the world can get that sixth star on their jersey.
So there you have it. In a few years I went from your classic American soccer hater to your stereotypical soccer fanatic. Some things you just can't judge until you've given them a chance!
