Page A4 Berthoud Weekly Surveyor July 3, 2014

AND RECREATION
O
k, I will ask the question: have you
been or were you before the Unit-
ed States Mens National Team got
eliminated on Tuesday infected with World
Cup fever?
My answer, when asked that question, has
been an emphatic no.
I just cannot get into soccer.
I do not know why. I just cant. Im sorry.
Soccer is just not a sport I nd enjoyable to
watch.
And I know I am not alone.
It is not that I do not respect or lack appre-
ciation for the athletes who play it, because
I do; the skills and abilities required to play
the beautiful game at its highest levels are
on par with those who compete in any other
sport.
Yet it has been hard the last couple weeks to
escape the pomp and circumstance surrounding the
World Cup. So as one who enjoys just about every
sport in the known universe, but
has been unable to nd the ap-
peal of soccer, I set out to discover
what, if anything, I was missing. I
wanted to learn what all the hub-
bub was about.
The World Cup is a big deal
because its the World Cup, said
fellow Surveyor writer and fervent
soccer fan, Heidi Kerr-Schlaefer.
I hear people compare it to the
Super Bowl, but its not the same
at all. No matter the race, creed or
religion, soccer unites much of the
world around us and I think thats
pretty amazing.
The truth is the quadrennial
event that is the World Cup does
garner a lot of attention, at least a
lot more than your ordinary soccer
match.
According to Nielsen Media,
the recent June 22 World Cup
match between the United States
and Portugal, an affair that ended
in a 2-2 draw, was watched by
18.2 million viewers. It was the
highest rated non-football (American football, that
is) telecast ever broadcast on ESPN. The match
garnered a 5.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic
coveted by advertisers. For comparisons sake,
the Dec. 10, 2013, Monday Night Football game
between the Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys
earned a 5.7 rating for ESPN in the 18-49 demo.
While television ratings are not a full measure
of a sports popularity, the numbers generated by
the World Cup are impressive, and to reach near-
NFL levels really says something about the bur-
geoning popularity of the World Cup in the U.S.
Yet in an effort to nd out as much as I could
about the appeal of soccer, I had no choice but go
watch a match with some acionados of the game.
I did not nd anything out of the ordinary
fans had packed a local sports bar, were enjoying
food and drinks and cheering on the American
team. It was not anything surprising or unex-
pected; there was little difference, in that respect,
in the atmosphere for Tuesday afternoons U.S. vs.
Belgium round-of-16 match from late Januarys
Broncos-Patriots AFC Championship Game.
Actually, that is not entirely correct.
Perhaps the more apt comparison would be the
U.S.-Canada or U.S.-Finland hockey games at the
2014 Winter Olympics.
The reason I say that is, in speaking with as
many people as I could, as casually as I could, I
learned that the fans were as much whipped up
into the event as they were the actual sport. It was
not unlike the Olympics; the excitement seemed,
at least among many with whom I spoke, to be as
much about national pride as anything. It was far
from a scientic study, admittedly.
Many people with whom I spoke, not just Tues-
day but over the last couple weeks, admitted they
do not follow (American) Major League Soccer
(MLS), the English Premier League, or any such
other marquee soccer league but love watching the
World Cup. One gentleman with whom I spoke
said he was excited to take Tuesday afternoon off
of work to watch the U.S. - Belgium match but
would not be making time in the foreseeable future
to watch, for example, a MLS match between the
Rapids and Galaxy.
Soccer certainly has its die-hard fans, regardless
if its World Cup or MLS or EPL, and God bless
them, yet by my humble estimation the sport has
not reached, and frankly is a long way from achiev-
ing, a status equivalent to one of the big four.
And there is nothing wrong with that. However,
this soccer hater (as yours truly has been called)
will freely admit that he enjoyed watching the
match Tuesday afternoon. It was a hard-fought af-
fair; it was actually, dare I say, exciting.
I was disappointed when the U.S.A. team lost in
extra time and was eliminated. I would have made
time to watch their quarternal match. I am not
going to watch Brazil-Columbia, France-Germany
or any of the other matches, but it was a small
step.
FYI, Broncos training camp opens in 21 days.
Berthoud Blaze and Fury softball
teams compete head-to-head
The Berthoud Blaze 14U girls softball team and the Berthoud Blaze
Fury 16U girls softball team went head-to-head Sunday, June 22, after
both teams defeated all other teams in their respective brackets. At the
end of the day there has to be a winner and the Berthoud Blaze 14U
nished rst while the Berthoud Blaze Fury nished in second place at
in the Dont Call Me Blue United States Specialty Sports Associations
16U softball tournament in Arvada, June 21-22.
Team members are girls primarily from the Berthoud, Longmont,
Loveland areas.
Head Coach for the Berthoud Blaze 14U B team is Don Johnson.
Head Coach for the Berthoud Blaze Fury 16U B team is Sean Lynch.
Congratulations to both teams.
Berthoud junior varsity team wins big in Cheyenne
Submitted photo
Top Row (l-r): Noah Purdy, Trinity Buckley, Joshua Doyle, Braden Hull, Karsten Bump, Coach Jimmy Sherwood, Bottom row (l-r): Justin
Bauer, Derek Sandstedt, and Cally Castles. The summer basketball Berthoud High School junior varsity team took top honors, winning the
division championship game the weekend of June 28-29 at the South Shootout in Cheyenne, Wy.
Are you infected with
World Cup fever?
Surveyor
Columnist
Dan
Karpiel