In my life, I have operated under the belief that there are few things more boring than soccer. Off the top of my head, I'd say HGTV, watching paint dry (which I've also done), and reading the dictionary may be more boring than soccer. Conversely, things that are less boring would include watching the Weather channel, online solitaire and mercenary spelunking (though that one is awesome). You would think, given that attitude, that I would be avoiding the World Cup like some sort of weird, international plague. And I was. Oh golly I was.
Then something magical (and possibly concerning) happened. My friend Tim realized that there was a way to get me to do just about anything this year.
Tim: Hey, Kristen, you should come watch a World Cup game with me at Conor O'Neill's.
Me: Oh Tim, soccer is awful.
Tim: So... then you've never watched a World Cup game before.
Me: No... of course no- I see what you did there.
So, semi-begrudgingly, I agreed to watch a World Cup game with Tim. I decided that I would give liking soccer the old college try, instead of being cynical and silly about it. It also helped that he asked me to join him at Conor O'Neill's, which fancied itself the official World Cup bar for Ann Arbor. It definitely lived up to that reputation. When we walked in, I instantly felt very... American. Given that the game was between Germany and Argentina, that's code for "I felt really out of place".
We would, apparently, be cheering for Germany.
Justin and I weaved through the crowd to find the table that Tim had staked out. He had to get there an hour before the game started to snag the table. By the time we got there, it was standing room only. There was definitely a higher level of energy in the room than I expected. Having been up until 2:00am the night before and only woken up a few minutes before heading out to the bar, it was definitely more energy than I had. It was infectious though. After a little while, I perked right up and by the time the game started, I found myself ready to cheer along. The vuvuzelas may have assisted in waking me up.
We decided to cheer for Germany because, well, in the words of Ingrid (who joined us later): "I'm a bit concerned about this many Germans, this excited, in one place". It seemed better to go with the crowd. Well, that and between our group of five people, everybody had at least a little German heritage. My grandmother was German, Tim is like totally German, as is Christine. Justin has some German background, I'm pretty sure. I should ask. I should know this. And of course, there was Ingrid, who, in addition to being awesome, is pretty darn German.
And the German soccer team was really hot.
It would appear that, as semi-fair weather fans, we picked the right team to cheer for. Germany got one of the fastest goals in the history of the World Cup and maintained that lead for the rest of the game. Not unlike the energy in the room, the excitement when the team gets a goal is utterly and completely infectious. By the time Germany got their third goal, the celebrations were lasting more than a minute. I know that doesn't seem very long, so I took a video to give y'all a better sense of it.
Epic.
See, I stand by my belief that soccer is a pretty darn slow game. However, I will eat my words about it being boring. I don't think I'd ever sit at home and watch it, but I am all about going out to a bar and cheering for a team with a bunch of people doing the same thing. Soccer is not so much a sport as it is a cultural celebration. Each missed goal, each stolen ball, each blocked shot is a chance to lean on each other and wait for the next exciting moment. And goals. Goals are are like mini-independence days. They are raucous celebrations of joy and unity.
It wasn't the soccer itself that was amazing. It was the atmosphere at Conor O'Neill's, the amazing German crowd and the feeling of being in the middle of something that so many people care so deeply about. So, at the end of the day, I'm still not a big soccer fan. But I am a huge World Cup fan.
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