The Real Football

Not many people know what the real football is. If one would ask anyone around La Crosse, he/she would most likely get an answer about American football and the Green Bay Packers, which really is my favorite sport, but the real answer to what is the real football is soccer. Sounds boring right? I used to think so until I actually played a game of soccer. When I was done playing, I thought to myself, "Hey, this is fun." A short while later, I heard about the United States Men's National Team was going to play a world cup qualification game and I decided to watch it. My first thoughts about what was happening were not really all that good. I thought that the game was slow and nothing was really happening. After not liking that game so much, I decided one day to try out a game called FIFA 09. FIFA 09 is a video game for the xbox 360 that can be compared to Madden 09, but for soccer fans. Playing the game, I learned about the rules of offsides, peanly kicks, substitues, free kicks, passing, and so on. Thanks to FIFA 09, I am now a passoniate fan of soccer. Everytime the US plays a game against another country, I turn up the volume, cheer at our scored goals, curse at every concieded goal, and celebrate or weep depeneding on if the US won or not. Just recently, the United States played their arch rival Mexico and lost 2-1. It's safe to say I was very depressed that whole day. But the main reason why I am sharing this is because an event of great perportions is going to take place this summer in South Africa. Every soccer fan from the United Kingdom to Uganda are counting down the days (275 days left to be exact). That event, of course, is the 2010 Fifa World cup. Thirty two teams compete over a one month time span to see who is the best country at soccer. I am very optimistic that we will do well but I am saddened to think that I am a rare minority of people who will be yelling at TV set at every goal the US conceides and will be hurt if the US fails to win the precious world cup.