Futbol!!

Regardless of the recent New York Post headline soccer isn't just for five year-olds and suburban high school girls, in fact, soccer is the World's Game. Take that baseball ball... The WORLD Cup actually has teams from all around the WORLD... odd how that makes sense... Team America had an awesome showing this year, making it out of the Group level for the first time- sadly they are out, but hopefully this game has sparked some soccer fever. I know I have a fever, and the only prescription: more soccer!

Everywhere I've been in Jordan in the past weeks has been filled with all kinds of sport-pride, and Jordan doesn't even have a team in tournament. Each night the cafes are filled with groups of friends smoking shiisha and yelling at TV's. When I was in Amman there was a whole group of international strangers huddled around a set soaking it all in. Millions upon millions of people are joined together in fandom- and just as appropriately in rivalry. Sure there is a lot of violence associated with some soccer fans and in large sporting events in general, but you have to agree- there is something strange in how competition can bring so many people together.

The lovely students of the UVA-Yarmouk Program recently found this out... We had been gathering together slowly- first three, then five, then six, just to kick the ball around so to say. We finally got enough to form a little team and play against each other. One night out on the pitch there was a group of guys playing on the other half of the field, so they came over and offered a game- Americans vs. The Gulf National Team (plus Syria and Palestine). We all spoke a little English and a little Arabic- but we all knew that one common language: GOAL!!! Of course, they beat us- but they didn't cream us, only 6-2 (whad up Korea!). We did get a, "you are not bad for girls," which made me wonder if any of those guys, who had been playing soccer all their lives, had played against girls- or at least American girls who are used to playing hard. All we had was a field, some nets, and a crappy ball- but we managed to break the language barrier, the gender barrier, cultural barriers, and in some way, a political barrier. Those boys came from places our country has bombed the shit out of or helped someone else bomb the shit out of it- but we were not enemies- just opponents in a game. We lost, but I had a GREAT time.

Competition isn't always a bad thing and it doesn't always have to split people apart. Sometimes, like in our case, it can bring people together like no act I have ever seen before. I have decided to love soccer, not because of any particular team, but because of all of them- and what they can give this world in terms of hope and joy, and yes, even competition.