![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I actually sort of miss the vuvuzelas
Jun. 13th, 2014 05:45 pmEver since I read up on all the match-fixing in football, I've been leery of every World Cup game and questionable reffing call. Two penalties already in just three games? I've also been cringing at the obvious dives (my god, Spain, try a little more subtlety), but on the whole I am just really excited because WORLD CUP.
I haven't yet settled on a favorite team I want to go all the way. Germany, perhaps. It's just so exciting to see football on such a large scale, and so many players I like, and so many different countries so excited! I like Brazil booing the traitor Diego Costa every time he touches the ball; I like Kaká and son Luca hugging Neymar. Ridiculous fans dressing up! Catchy music (even though the Pitbull official song is meh, I've really just been replaying Waka Waka and Wavin' Flag and La Copa de la Vida) and snarky commentary!
It's unfortunate that such huge international tournaments like the World Cup attract so many blithely smug casual fans (especially in the US: this why soccer will never be popular!*) and also calls easly to surface a lot of racist and xenophobic comments. On the whole, though, it's still a much more diverse and welcoming fanbase by sheer dint of its size. World's most popular sport? Hell yeah, world's most popular sport.
*It's not that diving isn't an issue; it's that I'd rather talk about it to people who typically watch football and understand how some form of it is part of the sport and can criticize it in context. But it's not like diving doesn't exist in other sports (cough, like hockey), as smug as fans or players of those sports try to be about it. Players sell their injury if they think it'll get a call in their favor; it's neither a brand new thing nor exclusive to any one sport. Yeah, sometimes too much takes away from the game, but it's also frankly tiring to hear nothing but patronizing complaints about diving from people in the U.S. because it reeks of condescension about how their football is superior, which just comes down to a personal preference (and statistically, the popularity of futbol says otherwise), or from hockey fans/writers because, holy god,the hypocrisy and the cringe or rage inducing unconscious showing of their racist/xenophobic ass as well.
But the games themselves have at least been fun, even with the questionable reffing. Oh and football commentary.
NED: *scores 4th goal*
COMMENTATOR: Spain's embarrassment is complete!
NED: *scores 5th goal*
ME: Guess it wasn't quite complete...
At least Xabi Alonso remains beautiful.
I haven't yet settled on a favorite team I want to go all the way. Germany, perhaps. It's just so exciting to see football on such a large scale, and so many players I like, and so many different countries so excited! I like Brazil booing the traitor Diego Costa every time he touches the ball; I like Kaká and son Luca hugging Neymar. Ridiculous fans dressing up! Catchy music (even though the Pitbull official song is meh, I've really just been replaying Waka Waka and Wavin' Flag and La Copa de la Vida) and snarky commentary!
It's unfortunate that such huge international tournaments like the World Cup attract so many blithely smug casual fans (especially in the US: this why soccer will never be popular!*) and also calls easly to surface a lot of racist and xenophobic comments. On the whole, though, it's still a much more diverse and welcoming fanbase by sheer dint of its size. World's most popular sport? Hell yeah, world's most popular sport.
*It's not that diving isn't an issue; it's that I'd rather talk about it to people who typically watch football and understand how some form of it is part of the sport and can criticize it in context. But it's not like diving doesn't exist in other sports (cough, like hockey), as smug as fans or players of those sports try to be about it. Players sell their injury if they think it'll get a call in their favor; it's neither a brand new thing nor exclusive to any one sport. Yeah, sometimes too much takes away from the game, but it's also frankly tiring to hear nothing but patronizing complaints about diving from people in the U.S. because it reeks of condescension about how their football is superior, which just comes down to a personal preference (and statistically, the popularity of futbol says otherwise), or from hockey fans/writers because, holy god,the hypocrisy and the cringe or rage inducing unconscious showing of their racist/xenophobic ass as well.
But the games themselves have at least been fun, even with the questionable reffing. Oh and football commentary.
NED: *scores 4th goal*
COMMENTATOR: Spain's embarrassment is complete!
NED: *scores 5th goal*
ME: Guess it wasn't quite complete...
At least Xabi Alonso remains beautiful.
