Loving the Cup

When I made the decision to take a year off of watching sports, I did not think to look ahead. Doing so, I could easily have changed my mind simply based on the fact that it was an Olympic year. Now, just a few weeks later, I'm forced to miss another global sport spectacle, and the secret truth is, this one hurts even more. If missing the Olympics was like losing JFK, then missing the World Cup is like losing Bobby.

At this point in the experiment, I have ignored a Super Bowl, a Stanley Cup Finals, an NBA Finals, a near Triple Crown, March Madness, MLB Opening Day, and countless big match-ups, grudge matches, and highlights. It's a surprise to me that the hardest things to ignore have been the two international events. Even more of a surprise is that the one thing I have found myself the most tempted to cheat over has been the World Cup.

As it was getting started, I had a great conversation with my wife about which event was "better". She made some bulletproof points that have convinced me that the Cup has it all over the Olympics, despite all the lofty claims I made about it in my previous post. Disagree? If you look at them as sporting events, and if you are honest with yourself, the Cup is where it's at, sorry. Let me explain.

CEREMONY

The opening ceremony of the World Cup has certainly been growing over the years, but it remains a fairly tame production, at least insofar as length. A quick YouTube search shows that while the most recent show came in at about 22 minutes, earlier editions were a fraction of that time. After that, it's on with the games, and isn't that what we all came for? Meanwhile, the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies are starting to feel like spoken vows at a wedding. The true goal is less an authentic expression of love than an attempt to outdo all those who have come before. Eventually, you each a point of diminishing returns, and I think if we crane our necks around to Mohammed Ali in 1996, or perhaps the archer who lit the flame on the first arrow, we may see that point quite clearly.

COMPETITION

The Olympics offer a dizzying array of battlegrounds and tests of skill. Tuning in, one is never quite sure what one will see on the screen. For years, even after the advent of cable, networks have struggled with how to show everything that is happening to television audiences. Some events are cut away from, some are shown entirely on replay. Spoilers are always an issue, though that can certainly be the case for the Cup as well. In my lifetime, many sports have been excluded, included, and even excluded again, like Baseball. This can make it hard to even know what you are looking for. At the same time, there are several sports, like Curling, whose actual rules seem to escape us Olympiad after Olympiad. No such confusion with the Cup. We're all here to play or watch one thing. The only issue we have is what to call it!

SOCIAL IMPACT

I'm sure nothing beats the feeling of winning a medal for one's country. To stand on the podium and especially to hear your anthem played if you won gold must be an absolute honor and, perhaps, the pinnacle of human athletic achievement. For those of us watching, it's easy to shed a tear as we watch our young representatives stand, hand over heart, at the top of the athletic world. We are filled with pride, patriotism, and validation for where we were born (or where we chose to move to). Too often, though, as soon as the medal ceremony is over, the converge cuts to another sport where, likely as not, we are getting our asses handed to us. That's a downshift that can really strain the gears. It's just not advisable! In no time, you are forced to start paying attention to medal counts. You might find yourself muttering, "Well, we don't have as many golds as OTHERCOUNTRY, but we have twice as many silvers!" In this way, the Olympics start to feel like the youth soccer leagues where they don't keep score. Didn't medal in the 800 meters? Well, try the 400! Or the 200! Go get 'em!

Contrast that with the Cup, where we start out all playing soccer, and we keep playing soccer until only one team hasn't lost. You want to win? Keep winning! There are no second chances, and only one team will raise the trophy.

INTANGIBLES

This was the biggest point my wife made. The World Cup is a single tournament of a team sport. As such, it's inherently more inclusive and approachable as a casual fan. Few of us can imagine the pressure it takes to win gold in downhill skiing, or swimming, or the decathlon. And though it may be hard to imagine scoring the winning goal, we can all identify with the idea of going out there with some friends, or coworkers, or family members, and accomplishing something together. I know there are team sports in the Olympics, and I know that perhaps the most talented team of all time in any sport ever was the US Men's Basketball team in 1996, but overall, the number of individual events dilutes the pool.

A group of people will always have an advantage when representing something as vast and diverse as a nation. We can each find our favorite player, while still rooting on the whole team. Few individuals have managed to become a solo national hero and avoid the fall from grace. Thoughts turn to Ali again, and few others in the athletic realm.

INJURY TIME

I've often heard it said that there is nothing quite so exciting as overtime hockey in the playoffs. I couldn't agree more, but what if I told you that there was a sport where every single game goes into a short overtime style period before the game is over? Every. Game. Can I interest you in that?

FINAL WORD

I know there is much more to the story. I saw John Oliver's amazing piece on the corruption of FIFA, and that has to be taken in to consideration. Still, it's hard to imagine that the IOC is much better as a governing body. Any group of businessmen who make money off the the accomplishments of others and the enjoyment of those accomplishments by still others while basically fronting some cash are not to be trusted any further than they can be thrown (now that would be a great Olympic event!).

The Olympics are like JFK. They are the pinnacle of idealism. They are youth, and promise, and opportunity. They are our best and brightest on display, and it's not a great idea to miss them. But The World Cup is Bobby. More focused, more cutthroat. Bobby got things done, and Bobby was always a team player. For me, missing the Olympic Games was awful, but missing the Cup has just made it worse. From where I'm sitting, it seems like it'll be forever before I get the chance to watch again.