Watch the 2006 World Cup, and you'll gain a whole new appreciation for the sport. The sport in question is not soccer, however. If you don't appreciate soccer by now, a single event -- even one as cool as the World Cup -- isn't going to convert you.
So don't watch the World Cup to appreciate soccer. Watch it to appreciate tennis, and to appreciate golf.
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| When taking a dive in pursuit of a foul call, be sure the referee sees your theatrics. (Getty Images) |
This is about cheating. They do it at the World Cup, and they do it so brazenly -- and so badly -- that you can't help but notice. Watch for yourself. Keep notes on the number of times a soccer player dives like a third-grader at the city pool, flopping about in a childish call for attention (and a penalty kick).
Count the number of players who try to draw a yellow card by writhing on the ground, clutching their leg as if they've been shot. Faking is so prominent that soccer players have a universal signal for a real injury. As they're writhing, they wave one arm over their head to let their coach know this one is serious. No wave means no injury. Fakers.
Count the pulled shirts. Or the number of times a wall moves from the minimum 10 yards away from a spotted ball to 9 or 8 or 7 yards, however close the wall can get by tiptoeing in unison as the referee walks away.
You might call it gamesmanship. I call it cheating.
Which makes tennis and golf look so good. Understand something. Tennis and golf need all the help they can get to look good. Despite trying their best to grow their games beyond the highest tax bracket, tennis and golf remain elitist, country club sports. In most cases they still require equal parts athletic ability and cash. Rooting for tennis and golf is not an easy thing to do.
Still, try. Watch a tennis match. Tennis players complain about calls, but they don't ask for advantages they haven't earned. They do, however, give back advantages they haven't earned.
Last year Andy Roddick beat Fernando Verdasco to advance to the quarterfinals of the Italian Masters in Rome. Or he could have beaten Verdasco. On match point for Roddick, Verdasco double-faulted wide. That was the line judge's decision. Roddick overruled the call, checking the clay and pointing out that Verdasco's serve had been inside the line. The line judge changed the call. The match continued.
Roddick went on to lose.
"I didn't think it was anything extraordinary," he said afterward.
Maybe not ... if you follow tennis or golf, where sportsmanship is treasured above winning. Golfers are so honest, they're anal. They penalize themselves to the point of disqualification.
