The Inevitable World Cup Post

It would be nonsensical to keep a sports blog and not write about the World Cup. I've known this post was coming for a while now, and have been waiting for the right moment to strike. As I've joined the rest of the world in watching as many games as possible, catching "World Cup fever" and hearing vuvuzelas in my sleep, for a while I also had the mindset of many other American viewers: "I just wish I was in Europe right now watching this, it would be so much more fun!" I was convinced that watching a game from a pub or a town center would just be so much more legitimate than watching a game in America. America, where we don't care about soccer. It would be so much more gratifying to watch with real fans, not American bandwagon fans.

And then I got off my high horse and realized I'm a moron. I'm the number one bandwagon fan in the United States. I grew up with soccer being a huge part of my life, I genuinely enjoy watching games, but I definitely don't follow the sport year round. My sister's a high school soccer prodigy. I've been to more games in the last 16 years than I often care to remember, but when it comes to professional, I generally don't pay any attention until World Cup time.

But really, who does? Is there some rule that you have to put in a certain number of pre-World Cup viewing hours before you're allowed to cheer on your team as a real fan? I certainly don't follow curling on a regular basis, but that didn't stop me from turning Olympic Curling into a drinking game last winter.

And with that, a video that sums up American World Cup fandom better than I ever could.