I am excited to announce that I have finally figured out what I want to do with my life. A recent birthday means I am eligible for early Social Security, so it’s about time.
My new career is really going to be two careers. Bilingual daughter Abby has drawn my interests to all-things Spanish. So I plan to be a professional soccer player during the “futbol” season. More than likely this will take me to Europe, perhaps with Real Madrid or Manchester United. I see myself as a Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo type.
Then in the off-season, I’d like to try my hand at international Latino singing star. Picture a cross between Enrique Iglesias and Marc Anthony. I’m going to have to drop a few pounds and buff up. Women around the globe will be drawn to me, but Pam knows I am ever-faithful.
Okay, you’re thinking I’d better stick with my day job. But I have become a fan of those things. For a kid who grew up on polka and baseball, Latin music and soccer are fun, invigorating, and a little bit mysterious. We are just back from visiting our daughter in Spain where Abby is going to graduate school. There I was immersed in these things, along with the sangria.
Son Ezra also gets credit for piquing my interest in soccer. He played a few summers with the New Ulm Soccer Association. The coaches and parents there were patient with me as they tried to explain offsides to this old dog. I came to enjoy the games even if I didn’t understand the subtleties. In baseball I know the corner infielders shade the line late in a tight game to prevent an extra base hit. I have no comparable knowledge of inner soccer.
Abby and I went to see a La Liga (the Spanish professional league) match when we were there. FC (Futbol Club) Barcelona is one of the top teams in the world. Camp Nou Stadia is a legendary venue in soccer, the site of many historic matches. It is like getting to see a ballgame at Yankee Stadium.
The capacity is 100,000. We were in the cheap seats, but even up there the atmosphere was intense. Here in America, it seems half the fans at sports events are looking at their phones. There, everyone was watching closely. Till halftime, when everyone gets up. Good luck going to the bathroom then.
The match ended in a 0 to 0 tie between Barcelona and Getafe. I’ve always liked a pitcher’s duel in baseball, so was not disappointed. There was a lot of up and down and some good scoring chances. Several times the crowd let out a collective “AWW!” as a shot went just wide.
Despite my time watching soccer at the New Ulm fields, there was much I didn’t understand. Play would stop, and I was the only one of 100,000 who didn’t know why. I didn’t understand what led to a free kick and what was ignored. I know you can’t purposely trip an opponent, but with that many athletic men kicking at a ball, how does that not happen? Often a player would turn to the referee with his hands out asking for a foul to be called. In that way, it was like every incomplete pass in the NFL nowadays.
There are a couple of soccer pitches near Abby’s apartment. (The field is called a pitch.) They are on a bike-walk path that runs along the Mediterranean Sea and beach. I like Sleepy Eye’s lake trail. But this is a little more exotic, and I went there whenever we had free time.
I stopped most days to watch practice or a game. The players ranged from children to high school age. Adults played pickup games in the evening. Up close, the athleticism, skill, and grace of the players is clear. A good player maneuvering the ball is striking. It is a beautiful game to watch. The constant movement and flow of action with both sides seeking advantage is alluring. There is something attractive about the spareness of it: a ball, two nets, a piece of ground and “Let’s play.”
Soccer shares elements with other games where a ball or puck is propelled toward your opponent’s side. Basketball and hockey, even football are relatives. In each, momentum, positioning, and controlling space are important. The good players anticipate and have a sense of the play that will develop. Wayne Gretzky famously said, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”
I have friends who roll their eyes when I bring up soccer: “Paint drying.” I might have thought that in the past, but now I find myself wanting to understand the attraction. It is wildly popular around our planet. An estimate is that 265 million people play, an astonishing 4 per cent of the world’s population. It’s like there’s a party going on and I want to be invited.
For whatever reason, the U. S. veered in a different direction. That’s not to say that might not shift. Seventy-five years ago, our most popular sports were baseball, boxing, and wrestling; the NFL was barely known. Unfortunately while the world’s best players in baseball and hockey want to play here, our best soccer players for now go to Europe.
As friends approach retirement, many want to travel. I assume along with that is an interest in other people and how they live. There are many ways to know another culture: work, religion, art, food. But the games people play belong on that list.
There is a well-known quote about baseball by the writer Jacques Barzun. “Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball.” Since that was written in the 1950’s, other sports have taken up some of baseball’s prominence. I think the essential truth survives though. And in wanting to know the heart and mind of Spain and many other countries, it is good to learn “futbol.”