Sunday, June 22, 2014

Why I Love World Cup

I am not much of a sports fan.  I enjoy going to the occasional live sporting event, and of course some WWE here and there, but aside from that I am not the guy you will find counting down the minutes until "the game" comes on.

Once every four years, when the World Cup is held, this changes, and I become a fan.

I become a fan not because I love soccer so much, (I do enjoy soccer, but not enough to get me to sit still and watch it regularly,) I become a fan because I love the atmosphere that is created by the World Cup.

I love seeing people from all around the world come together to cheer for their respective countries.

I especially love seeing this in my home country, the United States of America.  I love seeing people proudly wearing their red, white, and blue colors.  I love seeing people enthusiastically waving the American flag and painting their faces.

I have seen a lot of posts on Facebook over the last couple weeks saying, sarcastically, something to effect of: "All of a sudden everyone is a soccer fan now."

I don't think it is so much that everyone is suddenly a soccer fan, I think deep down, people want to feel like they are a part of and belong to something bigger than themselves.  World Cup provides this opportunity.

I wish this level of Patriotism would be displayed in day to day life.  Not just in the USA, but around the world.  Would it make a difference in people's day to day lives if they all felt they belonged to something larger than themselves?  I certainly think so.

The below video sums up my feelings much better than I could ever articulate in writing.  It is one of my favorite videos I have ever watched on Youtube.  It is from the 2010 World Cup when USA player Landon Donovan scored a last minute goal against Algeria.  It is one I will turn on from time to time, when I need a little extra inspiration, and when I need to remind myself that I am a part of something much bigger and much greater than just my self. I still get goosebumps every time I watch it. 

I hope you enjoy the video and I hope you all are enjoying the World Cup.

Carpe Diem,

Jesse









2 comments:

  1. Sweet sassy malassy Jesse! A stellar view on what it means to belong to or feel like you are apart of something bigger than yourself! Love the video too! One that truly gets your heart strings a going for sure~ Cheers!

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  2. This video is powerful. I like soccer, I'm from Europe and there's a lot of soccer fans in every European country, but I agree that especially Word Cup (and for us also European Cup) got this unforgettable atmosphere. People are nice to each other, showing respect for every nationality, because during the Word Cup we are one nation. We our proud of our national team, but we also can keep the fingers for the other country. Word Cup, it's a festival of tollerance, of national proud, of loyalty, of respect for one to another, of love especially for those playing beautiful football. I love it so much! You don't have to be a soccer fan to participate in this colourful time ;) XXX

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