Apparently "Fútbol [Truly] Is Life" Now
My new addiction to "The Beautiful Game"
Beginning a few years ago I found myself in the midst of an existential sports journey. I was feeling mild twinges towards possibly-being-somewhat-interested in learning a little bit more about soccer.
I’ve gotten worse. Much, much worse.
Last November I wrote a post highlighting some of the events and experiences that piqued my initial interest in the sport.
The more I fed my curiosity, the more I became convinced that soccer football truly is “The Beautiful Game”. I mentioned this to a friend of mine, hoping to find an ally in my newfound love. Instead I was met with his simple retort, “Oof, being a soccer fan is…a lot.”
“It can’t be any worse than being a baseball fan!” I thought. I know plenty of diehard baseball fans and they all seemed crazy to me as they would watch multiple games each week both on and off season. “Who’s got time for that?” I would ask my maybe-watch-two-NFL-games-per-month self. Plus, there is so much movement on the roster with players and pitchers getting shifted around for each game. Nah, too much to keep track of. No thank you.
Yet, here we are.
Being a soccer fan is…a lot
A bunch of football related events have happened since my November post. Living in Raleigh, I hauled my whole family out to Charlotte so we could watch Charlotte FC take on the NY Red Bulls. We’ve attended multiple NC Courage games and I find myself absorbed in the stories behind the players, formation shifts, tactics, and tournament cup structures. I suddenly cared about games being played in between regular season games. My wife and I even ended up spending a full Friday with some friends attending The Soccer Tournament; a first of its kind competition that brought in teams like Ryan Reynolds’ Wrexham Red Dragons.
And then the U.S. Women’s National Team friendlies began.
For those unfamiliar, friendlies are non-competitive games that are played outside of any recognized competition or cup tournament and don’t count towards any kind of league ranking. So, why even bother playing these games? Friendlies are a chance for players and managers to try out new tactics, roster line ups, and strategies against other teams that may or may not even be in your league. It keeps players fit and familiar with teammates while also sometimes supporting charities or other events.
I started watching these friendly games leading up to this year’s Women’s World Cup. I became heavily invested in the individual players and how they contributed to the build and style of the team. Once the actual World Cup began my fandom kicked into high gear. Fortunately, at least one of my kids was willing to get up at 3am with me to catch the games being played live in Australia.
Several moments contributed to my initial interest in the sport, but women’s soccer is what ultimately broke me. Something about the passion, dynamics, talent, and pace of the women’s teams in particular completely sucked me in.
I was grateful to know that I was not alone in this realization as Rebecca Lowe (a delightful British sportscaster) and Brendon Hunt (Coach Beard on Ted Lasso and diehard soccer fan) discussed the impact women’s soccer had on the birth of their own fandom during a recent episode of their podcast After The Whistle.
I knew this was something that I was now chronically infected with when my subconscious decided to publicly announce where my headspace is at right now. I had to go in for an endoscopy (unrelated to anything else that we are talking about here) and needed to be knocked out as part of the procedure. The anesthetist told me I was going to have a very nice little sleep while the doctor performed the procedure. I would then be taken to a room where it would take about 5-10 minutes for me to “wake up” and recover. My wife was brought in to help me wake up during this recovery process and, like an amazing partner should do, captured all of my drunken proclamations on video.
It should be noted that I have absolutely ZERO recollection of this “conversation”.
I clearly have NWSL on the brain and am also apparently playing enough Manager Career Mode in FIFA that I think I would make a decent Coach (or whatever a Coach Advisor is?).
Heads up US Women’s National Team. I know the position is currently available.
Give me a ring.