For people who have only warmed to footie in the last few years it’s hard to explain how much has changed in 16 years. In 1990 the World Cup was hardly on the radar. In 1994, despite hosting the tournament, the majority of the media coverage was negative along the lines of the still-prevalent and still-tiresome “Why Americans Will Never Love Soccer” rant, and 1998 was only marginally better. The US’ failure at that tournament seemed to underline the critics’ statements that we, as a nation, just don’t get it.

The US’ success in 2002 did wonders for soccer’s profile in this country and as time has passed, more writers and editors who grew up playing the game now have some say in how the sport is covered in the American media. Thank God.

It’s an absolute pleasure to live in a time where the US media runs intelligent essays regarding the beautiful game. I’ve read several of the below Slate authors’ stories linked below and, while I don’t always agree with the content, it’s a breath of fresh air to read anything that doesn’t try to explain the rules, share the tidbit that it’s called “football” everyone else on the globe, or belabor the point that fans all over the world really, truly love the game.

• Luke O’Brien, Tommy Craggs, Charles Duhigg, and William Saletan have filed Dispatches From the World Cup.
• Dave Eggers told the true story of American soccer
• Bryan Curtis revealed why intellectuals love the game
• Nick Schulz discovered why Brazilian soccer players have names like Ronaldinho, Cafu, and Fred
• Daniel Engber found out what’s in that magical World Cup spray and asked whether the World Cup has a lingua franca
• Robert Weintraub blamed U.S. Soccer and Nike for the Americans’ early departure from the tournament.
• Austin Kelley defends divers and has a World Cup blog here.

Oh, did you know it’s 30 minutes to Germany vs. Argentina at the time of writing? Just thought I’d mention it…

Current Mood: Good |
Currently Listening To – Leadbelly – “The Titanic”