I love the game, just as I love a few others. I'm loving this wacky tournament. Around my house these days oft is heard a refrain: "oo. ooo. OOO. Aww..." And of course, rarely: "AHHH GOOOOOOOOAAAL."
But the part at the end, when all the decisions are made and questions answered, when the hitherto all-out competition has been won or lost, that part is my favorite.
Not necessarily the parts I enjoy watching most at the time. The juke n' jive seeming to dance ever closer and closer to the goal, the blast out of nowhere in the top-left corner, the leaping kung fu save that bounces off the upper bar, the surgical cross that seems to place the ball almost dead in space relative to the forward's head. That stuff, all that stuff, it's just awesome. Epicamazingawesome. Also, too, heartbreaking.
But the moments I remember most afterwards happen at the end. I think they're the moments that really scare the wits out of the Ann Coulters of the world.
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And another
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Because losing is hard. It's tough. I played in high school, and it's been a little while but I remember it well.
Losing is hard.
But things like respect, friendship, empathy, sportsmanship; these things make it easier. They make the game what it is. To see it on the world stage, well I think that is simply awesome.
I often can't stop myself from seeing the shade of history, of the often bloody context, behind everyday events. I look at these sorts of acts, and I think of war. I think sport is a sort of proxy for war. Conquest by other means.
The aftermath of old-school conquest never looks like that. Not ever.
Losing a soccer match is hard, and losing your shot at the World Cup is harder. But relatively it ain't so bad.
And the likes of Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh are scared of that. Because, I think, it may signal a long-hoped-for decline in their favorite sport.
Namely old-school conquest