Tunga Asked, "Do You Watch All the Games?" Yes, I Do. I Try to Keep Track of the World Cup, It Is One Way of Explaining the World (the Good, the Bad, and the In-Between)

I know my high school had a soccer team, and I remember going to my first game when they made it to regional championship my senior year...I was a Northstar and I had spirit for the class of 1990. But I don't think I ever kicked a soccer ball in my life.

Brown School had a soccer team and I loved it, because it was co-ed (at the time) and included the super-diversity of our school. Didn't understand the sport, but respected it. Louisville/Syracuse/Kentucky basketball held my attention more.

Football, as a universal sport, however, didn't make sense to me until I worked with Abu, Bior, Muhammad, Werdi, Edem, Kanyea, Lossine, Akech, and all their teammates in Syracuse. They helped me understand the spirituality of the sport, and its history, and from that point on I was convert. Yes, I love college basketball, but through listening to the brilliance of young people, I learned the faith of fandom and how much soccer really DOES matter. 

Bring on Ted Lasso. Soccer, football, is storytelling. World Cup is a narrative. The Olympics are part of the story. Athletes continue to be amazing.

In the years I taught back and forth in Denmark, I also remember that the football matches were like a religion, and listening to fans helped me to get a grasp of what this meant. It was there I realized, "Crandall, why have you missed out so much on this sport?" 

The boys, obviously, taught me more. 

I get it now. The passion, the drive, the inclusivity (and exclusivity), and the reason why the game universally unites (and divides) nations. 

This is why I now watch the World Cup, sir. When I was doing research in Syracuse, I remember vividly how the games made classes stop in their place. A school of many nations, these games represented home, culture, drive, and intentionality. Teaching was attempted during the games, but the kids were following an alternative literacy lesson. It was sort of like NCAA tournament time (the madness) and how it was impossible to get many to concentrate on academics when a game was being played. 

Reading Warren St. John's Outcasts United  brought me closer to the universal language of kicking a ball on a field, too - what it means for a global village (and the millions of people we tend overlook). I was easily hooked, and although the U.S.A. has not been a powerhouse until the women's team began rocking it in recent years, I think more and more people will join the phenomenon. Reading Franklin Foer made it clear. 

I'm a convert. So, yes, I do watch all the games...and I learn from them with admiration and respect.