I didn’t know about it until now but I think it is cool. It is amazing how much money they spend on those yachts.
No; and no. Actually technically yes and no – one of my carpoolers told me yesterday that it was forthcoming, because he is very much into soccer and was very stoked. And hinted broadly that he would enjoy watching it on my new HDTV. Fat chance.
Since the Sharks tanked, there are no sports until August, and that’s only preseason crap.
I’ll watch some of it. I’m not a great soccer fan, but the later games (when the literally world-class teams are playing each other) are enjoyable to watch.
Also, I’ve decided that I am rooting for Trinidad & Tobago, so I’ll watch those as well.
I’m pumped. I’m psyched. I spend my days in a state just short of vomiting, I’m so nervous.
Got me the bigscreen . . . check. Got me the high-def satellite . . . check. Note to self: remember to put in for time off the morning of June 12 (USA/Czech Republic starts at 8:55am local time.). Do I do the same for the second-stage game that might feature USA/Brazil, 8am on the 27th? Hmm . . . maybe throw a little party for the Saturday 6/17 game?
CRAP! I NEEDS ME A NEW JERSEY AND SOME FACEPAINT!
I do know that it’s 102 days until Cal - Tennessee, and I’ve got baseball (although the Giants are going anywhere this eyar) to tide me over until then.
Psyched. Watching as much as possible. Love to watch Brazil, will be rooting for the USA. Confused as to why Brian Ching is on the team, I loved watching Taylor Twellman and thought he should have made the squad. Is Keller the world’s best goalie? By the way, USA is playing Morocco RIGHT NOW. No score yet, but USA dominating so far.
OK, but which is your favorite? (I gotta go with Tobago – their cheerleaders are cuter. Also, Serbia over Montenegro, all day long).
OK, we lost, and Keller should have got a hand on that goal. So, no, he’s not the best in the world.
USA looked . . . OK. Just couldn’t convert, and Morocco had a nice play on a breakaway. We’d better start looking a lot sharper, or we won’t get out of the group.
I love soccer. I just need to remember to watch it. 
Heretic!
I have been excited about the upcoming World Cup for quite some time now and I am really looking forward to watching the matches.
Yes and hell yes. I’ve been an avid watcher of the World Cup since Mexico '86, went to five of the US '94 matches and watched just about every game of Japan/Korea '02. Fortunately, just about everyone else in the office is also a big soccer fan, so there’ll be no recriminations for staggering into the office late after watching matches until 4am.
I will be watching as much as I can. I went to the USA vs. Morroco game in Nashville tonight and it was embarassing to see us lose 1 to 0 on a break away score in the 90th minute. THE 90th friggin’ minute! Hey, at least it wasn’t the world cup yet.
I am a big fan of the standard American Sports: basketball, football, baseball, both college and pro. I’ll go with my family to ice skating, tennis matches, college volleyball (if you want to watch an intense women’s sport- watch top level volleyball- it is amazing).
I know that the World Cup is coming up, mainly because of all of the stories of the drive through brothels and stuff. I just can’t get into soccer. The field is huge, the game is long and the scoring is few and far between. I would much rather watch a camera pointed at the stands and watch the fans act as if they are getting their kidneys removed without anesthesia everytime someone touches the ball. From what I have seen, soccer fans take the game pretty seriously and that would be the only reason I would attend a soccer match.
World Cup. That’s where the American team and the European team play golf on bicycles throughout France, right?
I heard some buzz about the World Cup recently, but not specifically about when it was coming up.
And even if I had known when the game dates were, the phrase Rat’s Ass comes to mind, as in Not Giving A.
It seems to me that the Average Joe American doesn’t care about soccer/football nearly as much as the Average American Corporation is eager to part AJA from his money in support of it. It’s hard to get interested in it when the marketing sounds so desperately keen to make this a Major Moneymaking Sporting Event.
“No, really, it’s a sport! And lots of people play it and they think it’s really exciting — stop laughing, it’s true! No, we have to get out and support our — come on, guys, it’s a bunch of people kicking a ball? Isn’t this cool? Isn’t it worth some money? Tickets? Flags? Logo jerseys with Nike’s name on them? Please? Anyone?”
Rightly or wrongly (I’m not here to judge; just to educate 
), there is a perception amongst Europeans (and probably other “soccer” playing regions) that Americans don’t enjoy “soccer” primarily because their attention spans are too short. The argument goes that they can’t appreciate the skill or the grace of the game, and lose interest if goals aren’t being scored often enough. Thus, games that are popular in the US are designed exclusively to ensure that points are scored every minute or so. Lest this shouldn’t be enough to hold the American viewer, any pause in the action is punctuated by scantily-clad dancing girls with pom-poms. I’m not here to start a debate on whose sports are “better” (I don’t know enough about baseball or hockey to comment on those, although the above descrition would seem to be about right for American “football”, but grossly unfair on basketball), but chriscya’s post doesn’t do much to dispel the stereotype.
Incidentally, am I right in thinking that, by and large, Americans only follow those sports at which they are either vastly superior to other nations, or where no other nations compete for the title of “world” champion?
I’m capable of not knowing the Superbowl is happening. And in the U.S. you have to crawl under some rock to miss that.
I knew, but only because one of my best friends will be in Europe for work at the end of June, and had been considering a side trip to Germany for the World Cup (he’s a HUGE soccer nut, to the point that he had the inside scoop on advance tickets a year ago through whatever the American soccer fans’ association is). But watching pretty much any team sport bores me to tears.
Plus watching soccer just makes me depressed that I can’t play it myself anymore, since I busted my leg some years back. Playing was much more fun than watching, even if I sucked at it. But eevry once in a while I will flip on the Spanish channel here and watch a bit of a game, because soccer players are by far the hottest athletes. 
Word.
I knew the World Cup was coming, I guess through osmosis as I don’t watch enough TV to have seen any commercials for it.
Soccer scores seem to run like this:
0-0
1-0
and in a veritable explosion of scoring, you may get the occassional 2-0!
Now I am a huge baseball fan and can appreciate the nuance and tension (not to mention the pitchers’ mastery and great supporting defense) in a 1-0 game. But I just don’t get that from soccer. Baseball is 90% static and only about 10% motion, so you usually don’t expect a ton of scoring, though it does happen. But soccer is *constant * motion. And they still can’t hardly score! Guys running back and forth with no payoff makes about as much sense as guys driving cars around a circle for 3 hours.