2010 World Cup

Congratulations to Espana y Netherlands for making it to the final game of the 2010 World Cup. While watching the majority of the soccer matches of the Cup, there are some observations that I like and others that I don't care for.

My observations of the 2010 World Cup:

1. The biggest winner of them all: the continent of Africa

Africa has been in the news for the last twenty years for all the wrong reasons, whether it is for health reasons (Hunger; HIV/AIDS epidemic) or political issues (Apartheid, Rwanda genocide of 1994; Somalia.) It was great to see Africa, specifically South Africa, receiving positive news for a change. The World Cup has generated a lot of money during its one month run, hopefully the cash will end up with the citizens of Africa and not into the pockets of business leaders or crooked politicians.

2. Soccer does not suck!

My first experience with soccer took place about thirty years ago when my brother took up the sport. We would go to a empty field and just kick the ball around and that was a lot of fun. Who knows, one of us could have been the next Pele ( I remember seeing clips of him playing in for the New York Cosmos in a match at Yankee Stadium, yes that Yankee Stadium.) It was not the first time that the United States has tried to warm up to soccer. During the 1970s, a soccer league was founded to get people interested in the sport. Unfortunately, the league disbanded in 1984. A few years earlier in 1978, the Major Indoor Soccer League was founded and the league eventually had 31 teams throughout its history, including a team in my area (Cleveland Force.) Even though the league folded in 1992, people were still interested in soccer.

Today, there is a soccer league (Major Soccer League) that has teams in New York; Los Angeles (Carson, Calif.) ; Columbus, Ohio; Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Kansas City, Missouri; Salt Lake City; Commerce City, Colorado; San Jose, Calif; and Houston.

People here in this country has to realize that futbol is the number one sport in the world. Even though there is really a strong international support for American football, people like futbol better.

3. Vuvuzelas

The vuvuzela is a great invention. I want that as a Christmas gift! Anyway, when you heard the sound of a number of vuvuzelas going off in unison during a match,it sounded like a swarm of bees. During the first week of the World Cup, people were complaining about the sound by saying that it was a distraction and they could not stand the noise. The only that I can say about that is: Stop complaining! This is a country where if you go to watch a game at a stadium or arena, the public address announcer has to instruct the crowd to generate noise, or use piped in sounds to get them going. To me, the vuvuzela is a great tool to use and it's better than those annoying thundersticks (which was a good idea when it came out, but it just got on your nerve after a while.) OK, so it did not work as a promotion in Miami for the Tampa Bay Rays-Florida Marlins game in June, but give it time, you will see the vuvuzelas in stadiums and arenas around the United States.

4. Unless there's an injury on the field -No unnecessary timeouts

It was great to see a match where there wasn't any necessary timeouts to pay the bills or use a two minute warning (who's sole purpose is to advertise the sponsors.) If you noticed on the wall of the stadium in Johannesburg, the ads where plastered on the wall and it would change from one sponsor to another after a few minutes. Stadiums and arenas in Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League uses that technique (in baseball: it's at the backstop and the NBA and NHL, it's on the side walls) but you only wish that this is the only and best way to advertise instead of spending millions of dollars on television commercials.

5. The player's theatrics after scoring a goal

I have no problem with a player expressing themselves after scoring a goal. Actually it's quite entertaining. It's too bad the National Football League (or as I call it the No Fun League) doesn't take some notes on this. If a player demonstrated or choreographed anything after scoring a touchdown, he would get fined tens of thousand of dollars for "showing up the opponent." Ask Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco about how outrageous the amount that they're being fined for celebrating in the end zone .

What I don't like about the World Cup:

The World Cup takes place every four years

I truly understand now why the World Cup is every four years: it's all about creating enthusiasm interest and anticipation in the sport. You want to get everyone's attention to soccer without worrying about over saturation and if that occurs, the public would not become interested in the sport anymore. You want to draw to as people all around the world as you possibly can to your sport (maybe gain some new soccer fans) and I believe that FIFA has done a great with that. Hopefully here in the States, people are still interested in soccer after the conclusion of the World Cup.

Actually, that was my only beef with the World Cup. I like soccer and hope that the sport continues to gain new fans and flourish over time.