And so it begins. My personal transition. Can I love both? Will I be a house divided? Or…can I successfully merge these two sports and receive double the sports pleasure?
My journey begins in Grenoble, France. The FIFA Women’s World Cup. Yeah, I went all in. Let me start by saying the NFL needs to step its game up. Holy crap. The fans are on another level. Entire countries pour out to support their team, and they mean business.
My problems however, wasn’t the crowds. To the contrary of everything I’ve heard and seen on tv, the fans were quite respectful and fun. Later I realized they weren’t serving alcohol in the stadiums during World Cup. I see what you did there France, well played……
My issue going forward was the game itself. Sure I could name every penalty and foul in NFL football before the ref even throws a flag, but soccer reduced me down to a clueless housewife at a NFL Sunday Ticket party. “Honey, what’s encroachment?”
My ignorance was palpable. “Babe, why is the goalkeeper so far out of the net?” “What does a yellow card mean?” and “How is it offsides when there’s no line?”
I took notes and got up to speed pretty quickly. And if you didn’t already know, SOCCER IS VIOLENT. With no pads. I watched a girl get clotheslined by another girl like a Ray Lewis hit. It was like hearing and seeing a car accident live. She trotted off the field like a champ but I’m sure they activated some kind of CTE concussion protocol.
I also have to say that my first experience with soccer and the World Cup was a little jaded because I was traveling with a soccer celebrity’s mother. We couldn’t get 500ft from the train station or the stadiums without a reporter shoving a camera or microphone in our faces for a statement. At some point, we fed her to the wolves and ran.
Did you know fanbases had after parties after the matches? No? Neither did the host city. It was awesome to witness. It’s a safe bet that I’ve become a budding new soccer fan. Now my summers won’t be as boring when the NFL is off season.
I could go on and on about my forage into the world of soccer but sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.
The Economy of Words 