An American Sports Fan in the World Cup

Every four years the World Cup brings out a different side of the American sporting identity.  The World Cup changes the usual formula by having Americans revel in playing the role of unlikable underdog rather than our usual status as hated favorite.  It is a thrilling switch to the submissive that excites both the ardent sports love and the casual S&M fan (two of soccer’s biggest markets).  As an American who roots for the home team, the highlights of the World Cup will be reading the great guides to the games provided by the Onion and also watching the rest of the NBA finals.  Aside from my petty jesting, I do enjoy the World Cup.  I love the possibility of witnessing imperialist matches and a chance for a rectification of history’s greatest travesties.  I want to see Portugal take on Portugal Brazil or England face any other nation.  There and only there can historical grievances be rectified and finally put to rest.

As an American watching the World Cup and soccer in general, the intense nationalism that turns into horrific xenophobia and racism is always jarring to witness.  This is a turn from the racism shown in our sporting events which is usually perpetrated by the owners and fan twitter accounts, but rarely at a game.  Don’t get me wrong, I hate the Red Sox as much as any right thinking Yankee fan, but the farthest I go in my slurring is to unleash a collection of word vomit heavily featuring the phrases fucking pussy, mother fucker, and this fucking scrub piece of shit.  Never in the darkest places of sporting rage would I ever unleash full hearted racist slurs that seem to freely populate many a soccer match and a soccer think piece.  It’s one thing to berate a player for having the gall not to sign with your beloved team, but to berate them on the basis of race and xenophobic impulses is just disgusting and on top of that, they commit the sin of spawning the worst comment sections outside of a men’s right post.

In closing the World Cup is here I will readily admit to my bandwagon fan status.  I’ll root for the United States until our inevitable defeat and then probably go for Brazil because they’re the home team so why not (even if their win today was rather shady).  So let’s take in this wonderful world event and patiently bide our time for the next great sporting event to begin: the World Baseball Classic (I support ya still).