Fan Reactions and Unity, From Sea to Shining Sea

Soccer is a funny thing.

It's just a game.  A two hour diversion from real life that serves as entertainment for the viewers and as exercise for the participants.  But yet it's that simple game that has the power to unify unlike perhaps any other thing on this planet. 

Time for an aside: I grew up in a town of immigrants, and back in high school I was one of the few Americans on the varsity team.  Every summer, the graduating seniors were replaced by a new influx of foreign talent, coming from every corner of the earth to this land of opportunity.  Each week of the season, it seemed as if there was a new prospect moving into town and getting his tryout with the team.  It was a perpetual ebb and flow of individuals and cultures that made my high school team the most diverse and enriching experience of my life. 

As the captain, it was my job to help integrate new players into the team and make them feel comfortable in such a new setting.  It doesn't sound like much more than pleasantries until you consider the fact that almost all of the newcomers could muster little more than a few phrases in broken English.  But all we needed was a ball at our feet, and the conversations started themselves.  That universal language, the same across all borders, oceans, and cultures, brought together a white kid from Philadelphia with refugees and immigrants from dozens and dozens of countries, creating an instant and lasting bond between people who otherwise really had nothing else in common

That's why I love soccer.  It has a power to bring together the world and unite entire nations behind a common goal.  Yet there are so many people, who can best be described as "haters" (synonym: sports talk radio hosts), that believe that, when it comes to the World Cup, the US just doesn't quite feel the same way as the rest of the world.  Americans might like soccer, but they don't feel the attachment that South Americans or Europeans or even Asians do. 

Oh, how wrong they are:



As happy as I was following yesterday's monumental win, it made me even happier to watch countless reaction videos from fans across the country and talk with many more in person.  Whether it was white collar workers huddled around an office TV, strangers crowded around a store window, or hordes of fans packed into bars across the country, you could find Americans of every age, color, and class standing shoulder to shoulder, hugging each other and reveling in one of the greatest wins in our national soccer team's history. 

I don't know how many strangers I embraced, high-fived, or simply cheered with as I joyously felt my white national team kit get soaked in a mixture of beer, water, saliva, and surely a few tears.  I felt like Jim Valvano; I was just looking around for someone, anyone to hug.  It was just an overwhelming moment of raw euphoria where nothing else mattered but the fact that we were all loyal to the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.  Quite simply, it was unforgettable.



I ended up going to the Phillies game last night but made my way to a bar in between, where I mingled with a couple of strangers who wanted to do nothing but talk about the US, Algeria, Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey; really anything relating to the game from earlier in the day.  A few of these guys were clear soccer nuts like myself, while most of the others were bar regulars who I could easily tell were usually engrossed in "Iggles" football and the Fightin' Phils, not the beautiful game.  Yet all of us talked and celebrated like old friends, with the diehards and new fans alike feeling a real bond to the team that represents their beloved nation. 

One old-timer summed up what made us all so proud with this succinct, drawl-filled statement: "Those guys...they play like Americans.  They don't quit for nothin'..."  That's something that everyone can appreciate, and something that should only garner more support from all walks of life for the Yanks as they continue their run in South Africa. 

I'll probably never see any of those people again, and I wouldn't even know it if I did, but we'll all forever share that moment and that day.  Unlike American professional sports, where one city celebrates while others watch in sadness or don't watch at all, this was a play and a win that fans from coast to coast can share, celebrate, and remember fondly for the rest of their lives. 



I don't know if this post has any real meaning, direction, or purpose.  I tried to convey the unity and joy that I felt and experienced yesterday, but I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be nothing more than loosely organized ramblings.  But I guess the bottom line is that all of you reading this know exactly where I'm coming from because you all felt what I felt and shared that moment with me, and that alone is enough for you to understand the jumbled, giddy mess that is my mind just a day after probably the greatest finish in US Soccer history. 

I'll get to Ghana and some more analytical business later, but I couldn't manage much else this afternoon with this whole thing still sinking in.

Yesterday was so much more than just another win, and my experience showed me yet again that soccer is so much more than just a game.

My oh my, what a day...