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Keith Strudler: Kids And The Cup

We had the odd occasion last Friday afternoon that everyone in my family was home at once. That was a confluence of summer Fridays, end of sports seasons, and all the other things that tend to happen when the days get longer and hotter. So I was home when my 10-year-old son Sloan returned from school and literally ran through the door as if chased by a lion and started yelling, “Spain vs Portugal is on! Spain vs. Portugal is on!” Then without so much as a simple pleasantry, he turned on the TV and stared at it like it was an apostle. Nice to see you too.

Sloan was speaking, of course, of the World Cup Soccer match between these neighboring countries, the opening game for both. He was rooting for Portugal because Ronaldo plays for Portugal, one of a handful of global megastars with singular name recognition in the US. He’s like a modern-day Pele boosted by the Internet. Spain was the stronger overall team and has a better shot at winning the title, but American kids tend to fall for the star. Call it the NBA effect.

When we picked it up in the second half, Spain led 3-2, which, in soccer terms, can be insurmountable. I know, it’s strange. We watched for a while, then I had to run up to Main Street to drop something off at the cleaners. There, a small television in the corner had the match on, and one of the owners sat watching intently, not unlike my son. Since there were only a few minutes left and Portugal was pressing, I hung around. With time nearly expired, Ronaldo lobbed a penalty kick into the upper right corner of the goal from some 30 yards out to knot the score, essentially securing a tie. Which, in that particular moment, felt like a win. We both screamed on the goal – the dry cleaner and I – and then I went back home to hear Sloan and his younger brother Elliot tell me all about the play I just saw.

Now, that’s a long story about a game that most of you don’t care about and may or may not be consequential in the overall Cup standings. But it does cut at the heart of where soccer is as an American sport, and perhaps more ambitiously, the contradiction and complexity in globalization. As you likely know, the US Men’s Team did not qualify for the Cup, and a lot of experts assumed our absence would torpedo Americans’ interest in watching. I haven’t seen numbers, so it’s hard to verify, but certainly a US team would bring so-called casual fans to the table – and sports bar, iPhone, Play Station, and however people watch sports these days. But don’t confuse lower ratings with disinterest, especially among kids and the millions of Americans who came here as immigrants. I have never in my life seen Sloan so interested in a sporting event – Super Bowls and NBA Finals included – and I’ve never watched a sporting event at the dry cleaners before. I know this is anecdotal, but don’t assume that all Americans still need a home team to enjoy soccer, especially when their favorite player hails from Portugal.

Speaking more broadly, it shouldn’t be forgotten that this Cup is held in and hosted by Russia, and likely was granted by FIFA through predictably corrupt means. A host of sports journalists have detailed both the filth of the bid process and the extent to which Vladimir Putin has used these games as form of personal and national propaganda, not unlike Hitler at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. That’s on top of Russia’s systemic human rights violations and the ill fate met anyone who dared challenge this event from within. In other words, despite the excitement of global sport, we shouldn’t forget that this event is run by a really bad man that currencies in bribes and fear. So there’s that.

Which really brings us to the crux of the issue. Building a generation of Americans who see a world with fewer borders – or at least without walls – is a good thing. I think knowing that kids might root for European and South American and African athletes just like they would American ones is a good step towards that ethos, and a happy reminder that America doesn’t have to be the xenophobic refuge it’s trying to be. But I also think there’s something inherently wrong about celebrating an event used by a thug dictator towards his personal grandeur. Ignoring the political realities of this World Cup, in that context, would be hypocritical, if not full on ignorant.

So what does it all mean? Should I be excited that my kids run home to watch this World Cup? I suppose the answer is a qualified yes. Which I suppose is the answer to a lot of questions these days, especially when it comes to global affairs. Which makes this event, like last Friday afternoon, just a bit odd.

Keith Strudler is the director of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University. You can follow him on twitter at @KeithStrudler

The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.

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