I don’t get this soccer thing. A bunch of guys running around a field that is 120 yards long at full speed for 90 minutes chasing a ball and they can only use their feet, body or hands to touch it. Only the goalie inside the box can use his hands.

And most games end in scores like 1-0, 2-1, and zzzzzz, you know what I mean.

But FIFA has accomplished something not even the NFL (the most powerful USA sports organization) has: Created the most watched game in the world. Heck, a small stadium in S. Africa holds 200,000 fans. So much for the Big House.

I have to admit I found myself watching TEAM USA this past Saturday and my interest piqued when they tied the score. But it was more than that.

World Cup Soccer is really no different than the Olympics. It galvanizes countries and takes their best athletes to represent them. You can see the expressions on coaches when their team scores a goal or allows a goal. You sense that same expression is found on the country’s leaders.

Team USA represents the USA. They won more medals in the last Olympics than any other country. Ratings for NBC were the highest. Ratings for soccer in the USA have been the highest ever.

Bottom line is that national sports teams competing against other countries is an amazing thing when you stop to think about it. Who in the USA doesn’t want TEAM USA to win? Who in Brazil doesn’t want TEAM BRAZIL to win?

And here’s the other thing: Competition is fierce but teams play against each other regardless of politics, business, allies, enemies, religion or skin color. Everyone is equal, everyone is the same, and everyone plays by the same rules.

Here’s what I propose for the G20 countries: Bring in FIFA and the Olympic Committee and have them figure out how we can use their models to help eliminate all the hatred and animosity that seems to never end, both within each country’s residents and their neighbors.

Now that would be using their heads wisely.

Happy Wednesday!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 7:39 am and is filed under World cup soccer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.