Opinionator at NYT: Soccer is “a game that teaches you that life is unfair. Because goals are so scarce, it is possible for a team to be outplayed for 89 minutes and yet still score one fluke goal and win the game. Superior performance often does not translate into victory.”
Exactly. That’s why I like football and ultimate frisbee. I realize what this means, that I may never make it anywhere but the US and North Korea—the only other nation in the world known to dislike soccer (at least that’s one possible explanation for why they hired Chinese fans to cheer for their team). I just don’t get the draw of a game with such low scoring. I’m open to learning, however, and the World Cup has been a good opportunity whenever I’ve gotten to catch a few minutes of a game. I’m also all for Africa raising its profile in the world, and vuvuzela is the coolest vocabulary word I have picked up this year.