* I’m not a soccer fan, but I think that’s immaterial when it comes to the World Cup. It’s about channeling nationalism that doesn’t involve dubious foreign policy or “American exceptionalism” grandstanding. It’s pretty simple. It’s about rooting for your underdog home team.
But starting with that surprise 2-1 win against Ghana, there were a couple of stark reminders of why I will never be a serious soccer fan.
For one, why isn’t the clock stopped for all those times when the game’s action is halted? For substitutions. For injuries. For fake injuries. For posturing. For waiting for the ball to be retrieved when it goes careening off the pitch. Ostensibly, this is made up for at the end of each 45-minute half when the officials add time, which is always an approximation. And then it all ends. Not because the clock precisely shows zero time left, but because an official declares it so. I will never get it.
And did I mention fake injuries?
* A New York Times/YouGov study looked at the World Cup allegiances of 19 countries and came up with some interesting results. Almost everybody predicted a Brazil champion. The three exceptions: Argentina, Spain and the USA. Argentines predicted Argentina as the winner; Spaniards opted for Spain; and Americans picked the USA. Two of those made sense.
The intriguing part is which teams countries are rooting AGAINST. For Argentina, it’s England. For France, it’s Algeria. For Greece, it’s Germany. For Russia, it’s the USA. Can you say Falklands War, post-colonial immigration, EC austerity leader and Vladimir Putin?
* This might be a first. At the NCAA Division I track and field championships last Friday, athletes from Tampa Bay high schools finished first and second in the same event. And not just any event, but the glamour event of any track meet: the 100-meter dash. Trayvon Bromell of St. Petersburg’s Gibbs High–and Baylor University–won it, and Dentarious Locke of Tampa’s Chamberlain High–and Florida State–finished runnerup.