Day 24 - 7/11/10

First off, congratulations to the Spain National Soccer Team on winning the 2010 FIFA World Cup 1-0 against the Netherlands. In world cup final style, this game ended dramatically. Spain's Andres Iniesta cemented his name into soccer glory with a volley into the back of the net in the 115th minute of extra time. I was at the end of my seat the entire game. This World Cup definitely ended on the right note. Now for all you soccer lovers, this is for you. In honor of the jersey I call my own (Clint Dempsey)...

EIGHT REASONS TO LOVE THE WORLD CUP & U.S.A. SOCCER

8. The history of the game. Once every four years, one lucky country receives the honor and the privilege to host this tournament of the world's greatest soccer phenoms. The ultimate prize: the Jules Rimmet trophy and the title of the best soccer nation in the world. There is plenty of national pride, national stress, and national-level controversy. It is probably the most wonderfully amazing month of sports in the world.

7.Vuvuzelas.The echo of South Africa. These lovely little horns take maybe 2 dollars to make but when blown in unison with tens of thousands of others...they can be heard from continents away. There's even a petition to get these things at LSU football games. I think Tim Tebow's concussion was starting to come back as I was writing this statement.

6. The game itself. Soccer is known as the beautiful game. The World Cup has managed to supply top-notch competition without all the jumbotrons, media timeouts, and any other distractions that take away from the game. Soccer is simple. Goals are as precious as natural resources. Once I heard a guy say that he can not watch a game where a final score of 0-0 is the product of good play. Oh the things I could and should had said to him. The clock is either your best friend or your worse enemy and thus this creates the most stressful and joyous moments. All it takes is a second to bring a nation to its feet or its knees.

5. National Anthems. I find a neat fascination with the national anthems of various countries. Patriotism at its finest. Oh, little nugget of knowledge of the day...Greece has the longest national anthem in the world. I never would had known that if the commentators didn't make a note of how long it is. Seriously, you can probably call a pizza place and have it delivered to you before it ends. The anthem has 158 verses...thankfully FIFA put a limit on two.

4. Teamwork. In a sports world where individuals are paid massive amounts of money for their individual talents, it is nice to know that soccer is the ultimate team game. No one player can take over a soccer game. There are no LeBron's or Kobe's of the soccer universe, only superstar players at a particular position. Even then, a team with one superstar and no role players will go nowhere. Ask England or Portugal. I find it funny how Nike spent boatloads of money on the Write the Future Campaign focusing on how one player can place a nation on it's back. As much as I fell in love with that commercial, there is nothing true about it. Look at Spain, there "superstar" Fernando Torres was pretty irrelevant coming into the Cup off knee surgery. But Spain is one fine well-oil scoring machine and it takes the involvement of everyone to be that.

3. Passion. In the past month, I've never seen so much love and representation of one's country. Soccer is a way of life for many of these countries in the World Cup. Soccer is economy. Soccer is government. Soccer is life or death. Ask Andres' Escobar. Another great example...U.S.A.'s own Oguchi Onyewu missed his own club season with AC Milan (an italian team) before the World Cup because he was unfit to play coming off surgery. He felt terrible about it. What did he decide to do? He asked for none of the guaranteed money he was set to earn that season. Crazy? No, I see that as passion. He plays for the joy and love of the game, not for the money. I don't any big-shot NBA or NFL players willing to do the same.

2. U.S.A. soccer has officially arrived. They said in 1994 when Brian McBride's team made the quarterfinals of the World Cup,  U.S. soccer arrived. They said in 2002 when Team U.S.A. advanced out of the "group of death," U.S. had arrived. The door had been cracked to this point. Now in 2010, the goal of my lifetime in the 91st minute of stoppage time against Algeria by Landon Donovan and a U.S. upset over Spain in the FIFA Confederations Cup the summer before, the door has been blown off its hinges. We now have expectations of our team...REALISTIC expectations. And with the a restructure of the United States soccer feeder system, we are now getting more and more players to develop. We are all about potential. I honestly don't think we have reached our "golden generation" of soccer but with the World Cup in 2014 and in 2018 in the United States, we got plenty to work for and achieve.

1.Finally, remember the goal of my lifetime I was talking about? This explains its all.

Now that's beautiful.
-R.D.