By nature, I am not a sports fan. I am especially not a soccer fan... but there is something infectious about the FIFA World Cup. It is a global sports competition with a fanatical fan base.Living in Toronto, I think that the World Cup really showcases the diversity of the city. In the past few days, I've seen more flags than I can recognize being mounted on cars and worn on T-shirts.
At work, we took a few hours to head to the local pub to watch the Germany vs. Costa Rica match. My co-workers and I are part of a World Cup pool, and the winner stands to win quite a bit of money.
Since I know next to nothing about the World Cup, my picks were pretty terrible at first. My Italian friend pointed out that I had eliminated Italy too soon. My Portugese friend told me that Portugal should be in the finals. My Dutch friend insisted that the Netherlands would do very well.
Most agreed that my random predictions were unlikely to win the pool. I've tried to take everyone's advice into consideration, and come up with more realistic predictions. Only time will tell if I'm correct.
In the meantime, I have to pick a team to cheer. My personal favorite will be Korea, who did better than expected last time. While nobody expects them win, I would like to see them do well... at least until the final 8. Go Korea!!!
3 comments:
I have been excited about the World Cup as well. Watching it is like watching a slower version of hockey, which I used to be fanatical about, and its international competitors reminds me of the Tour de France, which I am fanatical about.
But it takes just one bad nationalist apple to ruin it all. A few years ago, there were complaints that German fans were making "jungle sounds" to taunt an African player. What the hell?!
In a multicultural place like Toronto, this kind of nationalist pride for one's homeland makes me uncomfortable. Everytime someone with a particular flag drives by, it excludes me from celebrating. Or as my coworker says, "I'm only going to watch the games with (insert country). I don't care about the other countries." Comments like that make my stomach turn.
In countries where everyone can come together to support one team, I'm sure the World Cup feels like a family reunion. But until Canadians have a national team to back up, the racism and friction between competing homelands will ruin the whole thing for me.
World Cup sucketh!!! Honking @ 3am in the morning, riots over prelim games. Get off my line you whippersnappers!
Oh and trade Portugal for Brazil. Portugese fans end up rooting for Brazil.....alot.
That's right. It's the crazy soccer fans that really make the World Cup exciting. If your nationality is not in the World Cup, you can be a poser... like Portugese fans who cheer on Brazil, or a Chinese guy that cheers for South Korea.
PS: Korea beat Togo today. Go Korea!
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