Soccer: The Final Super Frontier
Growing up in America, I've developed a deep appreciation of sports and I relish sports on television (i.e., Notre Dame TV, Super Bowl, NBA All-Star Game, US Open Tennis, World Series, Kentucky Derby).
As a youngster, I played soccer, tennis, and cross-country. My favourite American tennis player was Jim Courier. I also followed the career of US national soccer team star Landon Donovan. Donovan has a profile page on Facebook now (surprise).
While I love many sports, even lesser appreciated ones like badminton, and I'm a huge Duke Blue Devils college basketball fan, I have to lean towards soccer.
More Americans need to get behind soccer, so the successes of the US national women's team (multiple World Cup victories) will be better praised in the arena of gender-sports dialogue.
I've followed the UEFA Champions League soccer tournament since the days of Pablo Aimar (Argentina) and Luis Figo (Portugal).
My old school fave soccer star was the magical Roberto Baggio (Italy), but now it's the energetic
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal).
This year, Ronaldo sits atop high in the tourney goals stats board, and I like the chances of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, and Juventus, and Atletico Madrid is my alternate favourite (since they boast the unusual Fernando Torres [Spain] on their roster).
Kun Aguero (Argentina) and Neymar (Brazil) are the new hotshots out there, and they remind me of the talent of the American soccer phenom Freddy Adu.
If we hype soccer in the USA, we'll fare better in perhaps the only sport Americans have not conquered (on the male side!).
So join me in toasting this year's exciting Champions League tourney, and it will help you get over another NBA All-Star loss by the East.
UEFA Champions League
