For what I've really learned about soccer, and the results of all I've been researching go to my other blog here: http://politicalpitches.blogspot.com. But that's a less fun blog and more focused on compiling everything I've learned, but seeing as how someone else is footing this bill on this football-related adventure, I figured it was best to churn out some actual knowledge. It will be updated as I have time to collect my thoughts and put them in paragraph and blog post form.Now, for the fun, travel-blog.So today marks the end of what has been 21 days of football. Spain v. Germany. I'm still not quite sure who I'll be cheering for when kickoff comes at 8:45 tonight, though I'm tending to lean toward Germany at the moment, which belies everything my Dutch fandom from the first half of the tournament has taught me, and my three semesters as a Spanish student.Two historically powerful teams still proving that they're powerful. Three weeks of soccer. Vienna is overrun by Spaniards and Germans. It is game 39 of 39. The tournament is over, and club seasons across the continent are over. Tomorrow morning we will wake up and there will be no more international soccer. Actually, there probably will be. Somewhere in the world someone will be playing to qualify for the 2010 World Cup, or nations will be playing friendlies for no apparent reason. On top of that, Major League Soccer - America's wonderful league - is just ratcheting up.I guess that's the first thing I've learned.1) Football is never over. There is very little offseason for a football player, especially a good one, who goes from regular season games to national competitions to international club competitions to international competitions. Every two years there is either a European Cup or a World Cup, and the previous two years are spent qualifying for these tournaments. Or, if none of the above is going on, nations will be playing friendlies against each other or doing charity or showcase games somewhere in the world.2) Despite wanting to be, I am still no better than when I got cut from the Green Hope team after one round of tryouts. Nor do I have a left foot. I have played in a few pickup games (mostly while I've been out for runs because that's the only time I've really been dressed for it) and I've kicked the ball around with a few strangers or roommates, and I've come to realize that I'm just not very good at the sport, and that maybe the coaches were justified in not seeing my potential, which I'm starting to see might not have ever been there.3) I do have the potential, however, to be a very good fan. I've realized it takes a few things, but I think I've got them down. First it takes a willingness to forget about everything else while a game is going on. Check, I've done that. I even lost a notebook during the Russia-Spain game, which was horrible for this project (sorry, Foundation) but made me realize that I actually care. Second, it takes an uncanny ability to rhyme. Check. I spent all last summer coming up with post-meal, pre-activity cheers for 10- to 12-year-old boys. I even rhymed with Cardigan. Third, it takes a willingness to blow substantial money on the sport. I think we can all tell from the simple fact that I'm here that I'm capable of that. Reading up on the sport? Check. Knowing random statistics and facts? Check, that's what this project is all about.So while the dream of playing football at a high level might be all but dead, maybe a new dream of being a fan at a high level is just being born. Besides, I think American teams could use a little of this European fandom I have come to understand so blindingly well.4) The Dutch have the best fans in the World. While the Irish I have met assure me that their brand of cheering is head and shoulders above the Dutch, and they just haven't had the opportunity to show it, I don't think I believe them. After 80,000 Dutchmen invaded Bern, Switzerland, in the first few days of the tournament, painted the streets literally orange, and provided the whole city a reason to celebrate, I think they easily take the cake. On top of all that, when they beat Germany in the 1988 they threw bicycles in the air. Bicycles. In the air. Think about that.5) German fans drink more than any other nation's fans. All the bartenders I've talked to (which really isn't a lot) want Germany to win because it will be so good for business. Russians might drink faster (and harder), but the Germans drink more.6) Calling American football "football" really doesn't make any sense. I already knew this, but every European I begin to talk to about football has to inform me that our version of football neither uses feet (except in a few rare instances) nor does it really use a ball.7) When there's soccer, everything stops. Today is the final, and not a single store on the main thoroughfare will be open. Austria isn't even playing, yet everybody has closed down shop and8) It's more of a people sport, I think. I got tickets for the Spain v. Italy match, a quarterfinal in what is the third largest sporting event in the world, for cheaper than it costs for a decent Carolina Hurricanes ticket. The people that have travelled all this way, especially from countries like Turkey and Croatia, are not executive, business types, with lots of money to spend on their team. They are everyday guys who are really passionate about their team and are willing to give up three weeks, or one week, or one night of their life to follow them to a foreign country to cheer them on.9) It's the perfect length for a sport. It's long enough to be worth your money, but its also short enough to stay interested the whole time. I can even stand around and watch without being annoyed by the predicament. It's long enough to be a challenge, so that only really good athletes can participate at the best levels, but its short enough so that nobody is completely destroyed by it, unlike marathon running. It's also short enough, and consistent enough, to eliminate the need for commercials, which is always a plus for the viewer.10) Everybody is a soccer fan. Even people you wouldn't expect. In fact, especially people you wouldn't expect. It's strange seeing the gothic, anti-social looking people who we Americans so accustomed to thinking hate sports actually passing around a ball. And the hippie types who usually look to lethargic to pass around a ball are juggling instead of hacky sacking. Businessmen open to the sports page on the subway. Old ladies are adorned with face paint.But even after all this, men, aged 20-35, are by far and away the most dedicated and enthusiastic fans I've seen. Nowadays I don't see any of them in shirts that aren't somehow related to Germany or Spain, and they're usually already drunk, even if its 10 in the morning. Actually, they're drunk, but not too drunk to pay attention to games and football talk. They're really a breed of their own. They can pull facts and stats from nowhere, give play-by-play replays of the previous night's (or week's) match, and inform you of who will be traded where and when.11) One day, maybe not soon, but not too far in the future, American soccer will be good. We've been flirting around the edges for the past few decades, and I wouldn't be surprised if in 2 years or 6 years, the national team starts looking really good. It's going to take some time (and quite a bit of investment) to make the league good, but I disagree with all the American sports writers who say that soccer will never be big in America. It's too big around the world never to catch on. Plus its such an amazing sport, and every little boy and girl in America plays it.And finally, I've learned that I really like the sport. A lot of people said I would get tired of it, that after three straight weeks of soccer that I wouldn't want to watch it any more. But that really hasn't been the case at all. In fact, I find myself more invested in following the sport than when I started, knowing more about the players, teams, and world of the sport than I could have fathomed two months ago. I'm truly a fan of the sport (and a few choice teams and players), and that's something that I think will stay with me.
