In the summer of my 14th year, I spent my days running a VCR, pausing to edit out commercials in real-time as the World Cup was beamed from Italy to a TBS feed and into a basement VCR and television. Those 1990 World Cup tapes were a fantastic soccer fix for the following year.
In the years that followed I lost a lot of my memory, but what I do remember is highlights of Tony Meola and Walter Zenga in a match that was considered a giant step for American Soccer. We didn't score that day, but we hung with the Azzuri. It was an amazing result considering the disaster that was our opening game against Czechoslovakia. The broadcast team heralded our efforts despite the result, and everyone felt a little bit better about the state of our national team.
Forgive me if I'm having a little bit of deja vu.
I had a horrible feeling about our chances going into today's game; I had decided to forgo asking for a two-hour lunch on Thursday because I had the overwhelming feeling that it wasn't going to matter. As it turns out it is going to matter, maybe even too much. I haven't read through all the scenarios that could take place Thursday. I've got all week for that. What I am sure of is that a win today would have helped more than anything.
Yes, we played with heart and skill, and surely the refereeing could have been better, but this World Cup was supposed to be the one where we eliminated all the excuses and showed the world that we were for real. Ties with Italy aren't going to shake off any of the naysayers (perhaps myself included), especially when you consider that we still haven't scored a goal.
I suppose this game was a stellar introduction to casual fans (or non-fans) about how a low scoring tie game can still be exciting, and our fans at the game were spectacularly loud and representative of what's possible. Michael Davies' reported a 10 to 1 Italy to US fan ratio, and (at least judging by the television broadcast) our fans have now let the world know that we're really taking to the game, and we'll only get more vocal (and better yet, more annoying).
But the question remains: Are we really getting anywhere? After 16 years, I'm still not sure.
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Gina and I would like to offer our thanks to Scot and Jim for being fantastic co-supporters at Radio Radio today. It's fairly rare that I get to spend a couple hours spouting out my limited soccer knowledge, and your conversation, hospitality and insight were greatly appreciated. We hope to have a chance to do it again soon.
4 comments:
I didn't make it today to radio, radio. I coach little league and our team surprisingly won and had to play at 3. I watched the game tonight even though I knew the result. Perhaps, I'll catch you guys next time.
It was great meeting you, Mike. I hope you are able to make Thursday work out.
Likewise, Mike. I hope to see you (and Torpor) there on Thursday. My good friend Bryan will be joining us, so you'll have one more soccer nut with whom to converse.
One other thought - There's no question that we've come a long way in 16 years. But it's obvious that we've still got a long way to go.
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