World Cup 2014: Love It While You Have It

For exactly 16 days, the United States was in love with football.  Excuse me, futbol. Excuse me, soccer.  What ever name you give the fever, America had it.  People chanted that they believed, groaned at offsides calls, asked the person next to them what offsides was, and cheered, loudly, proudly, obnoxiously.

Since the start of the tournament, it was clear that the United States was invested in this World Cup to a level dwarfing past support.  Many pundits have logged several hours and cups of coffee wondering aloud whether or not this excitement will translate into sustained support for the game.  Most of the factors that supporters of the game point to as indicators that the game is about to boom in the US have been chirping the same talking points since the mid-90s (we're still waiting).  But not even the games greatest detractors can deny that soccer is receiving unprecedented attention state-side.  The two sides will most likely continue to argue about it until the rapture, but that shouldn't keep you from enjoying soccer in the here and now and all THIS very special World Cup has given us.  Cherish it, because you may find, history is not certain to repeat itself.

"American" Score Lines

If Motely Crue had been a band outta São Paulo they may have released a song called Goals, Goals, Goals.  It would have made a good theme song for the 2014 World Cup.  You know, it isn't every World Cup that Brazil loses.  And it certainly isn't every World Cup that Brazil (or any team) loses 1-7 in the semi-finals.  There have been a lot of goals this World Cup.  In fact, despite a whopping 7 different games making it to penalties after a 0-0 120 minutes 2014 is on pace to be the most goalful World Cup in history.  Americans have long bemoaned the lack of scoring in soccer, while it hasn't been a problem during this very exciting World Cup, there are no guarantees that it will be the same in the future.

 Prime Time Viewing

You know something really awesome about having the World Cup in Brazil?  It is in the Western Hemisphere.  Allowing most everyone in the United States to be able to watch the games during the day or early evening.  Being able to watch the games at a reasonable hour is a great rarity when it comes to the World Cup.  Remember the time delay of the Sochii Games or China's Olympics in 2008?  Networks are going to have a difficult decision in 4 years when games are being played at five in the morning East Coast time in Russia.

This guy could be dead of old age before the United States hosts their next World Cup.

 U.S.A. May Not Get a World Cup For a LOOOONNG Time

With the explosion of excitement around the 2014 World Cup, a lot of added attention has come to the growing controversy around the site for the 2022 World Cup:  Qatar.  With the myriad of issues arising from the selection (untenable heat, rampant corruption allegations, slave labor) it seems hard to believe that FIFA will not pull the plug in the next few months.  But, the 2022 World Cup may not leave Qatar, or it might... for China.  FIFA will think long and hard before pulling the World Cup from Qatar.  To do so now, after the country has already committed billions of dollars to the project could see FIFA's relationships in the region disintegrate.  Remember, the entire reason FIFA ostensibly chose Qatar was to build its relationships and popularity in the Middle East.  The prevailing feeling is that if FIFA head Sepp Blatter has the balls to cut the cord on Qatar the United States is next in line. But word is that Blatter's dream locale for a World Cup isn't sponsor rich USA but largely untapped China.   While less likely than USA, it should surprise no one if Blatter pulls a fast one, after all, this is the same guy that gave a World Cup to Qatar.  The United States has vowed not to bid for another World Cup until the rules in the bidding process are changed and if they don't get the 2022 Cup retroactively, Tim Howard could be an old man before one comes state-side.

The U.S.A. Isn't That Close to Greatness

Added Interest in the sport does not ensure success, just ask England.

This goes back to that original debate:  is this World Cup fever a summertime dalliance or is it an indication of growing love for the beautiful game?  My heart wants to say yes, but my head says the U.S.A. is probably still eight years away from having a realistic chance of winning the World Cup.  The truth is the United States has led the charge on youth level soccer world wide for years now, but it has continued to struggle to keep those young players involved as they grow up and are given more visible and lucrative domestic sporting options.  Even if the United States does begin to see a sustained growth in talent, it would probably be at least 6-8 years before they are able to really reap any benefits from it on the global scale.  Remember, the World Cup only comes once every four years, and even the best teams can do poorly (see Spain 2014).  The United States might be dreaming big but in the reality of sports only two things are certain: there are no guarantees, and there is no crying in baseball.

The Beauty of a Busted Bracket

One Game.

That’s how long it took before I was out of the running for Warren Buffett’s Billion Dollar Bracket Challenge.  It all seemed so possible at first.  My first two upset picks, Harvard and Pittsburgh, were well on their way to making me feel like a genius and Oregon and Syracuse were dispatching their competition with savage efficiency.  All I needed was for Ohio State to get it together and take care of this silly little team from Dayton. 

But they didn’t take care of that silly little team and with one game in the books my bracket was 0 and 1 in picks and my chances at a billion dollars evaporated as if it had never been.

In reality, it might as well have never been.  The college game has become less and less predictable as potentially great college players cut their careers shorter and shorter in favor of the NBA.  The most generous estimates on the odds of actually picking a perfect bracket in the lead up to the tournament were somewhere in the range of 7.4 billion to 1.

With the best players going one and done, every team is suseptible to the "improbable" upset.

That of course didn’t stop me from dreaming up what my life would be like if I suddenly was getting an extra 40 million dollars of Warren Buffett’s money every year (The prize money was set to be paid out in 40 million per year increments).  If I’d somehow be able to go on living my life in Brooklyn and whether or not I’d have to get a bodyguard in the wake of the frenzy of becoming the “luckiest man alive”.  How much of the money I should donate to charity annually to constitute being a philanthropist or, at the very least, a decent human being. 

It was absurd how much time I put into that bracket.  Reading everything I could find about possible upsets and likely winners.  Making picks, going back, changing picks, fully aware I was completely wasting my time.  It was all a ridiculous pipe dream, of course, but one that was too much fun not to consider the possibility.

That is what March Madness is all about, after all: pipe dreams and possibilities.  Despite the hordes of screaming fans, very few people have vested interest in any school’s success in the tournament beyond picking them in their bracket.  My own school, Providence, did manage their first tourney appearance in a decade but their time was but short as they exited after a close defeat to UNC in the first round.  Long dead are the days of UCLA dynasties and Phi Slamma Jamma juggernaut teams, the big money of the NBA has seen to that.  If anything, disdain for NCAA basketball is at an all time high as corruption seems to seep through every crevice and whole conferences cannibalize themselves in a frenzied cash grab.  But fans keep coming back every March, and they don’t need Warren Buffett to put up a billion dollars to do it.  All they need are pipe dreams, and just the slightest possibility that they could come true.

It only takes a minute to fill out a bracket.  No matter how little you know or care about the college game.  No matter how much the quality play has dropped off over the years or how “tainted” big money makes it, how imperfect the system is for finding the best team, the bracket is just too good to pass up.

Breakout players like Sabazz Napier give us a reason to keep watching after the bracket are long forgotten.

Even when it all inevitably falls apart, we’ve gained so much appreciation for what we’ve seen we can’t look away.  That is the real value of the bracket.  We play for the dream of greatness for ourselves and we watch for the dream of greatness for others.

When it is all done, we count the days until next year and the possibilities are endless once again.