IT’S THE BIGGEST DEAL IN SPORTS

Things to Love. Things to Hate. Things That Make the World Cup Great

No opinions, of course. All factual

The author’s image of his semi-deflated soccer ball autographed by not-quite-famous players. Imagine scribbles from World Cup stars on a fully inflated orb.

LOVE: Watching the woman at the railing on the second deck lose her phone when she rises to do the wave.

HATE: Sitting below the woman at the railing on the second deck who loses her phone when she rises to do the wave.

GREAT: The enthusiasm of the fans who are so, so happy to be there cheering for their national team.

HATE: Shots of celebrities who have nothing to do with the sport while the ball is in play.

FUHGEDDABOUDIT: The ticket prices, the scalping, the inflated parking, and local travel costs…it is what it is, and obviously, from seeing all those butts in the seats at the stadiums, many, many folks did not care about the cost.

HATE: Stub Hub reneges on tickets, providing only a ticket price refund to fans who have traveled internationally.

LOVE: The Colombian guy with his team’s shirt painted on his bare chest done so well that you would not realize he was painted without a second look.

MAYBE BOTH LOVE AND HATE: Ref cam. It shows the ref’s view, but not necessarily what he’s looking at. But it does provide a different perspective.

Screengrab by the author from Google Maps, which got its satellite imagery from NASA and others.

GREAT: Teams from countries you have to look up making the knockout round. The island nation of Cabo Verde has a population of less than one million people but will compete with soccer giant Argentina. Who ya gonna root for?

DISLIKE: Unnecessary “Hydration Breaks”: They disrupt the flow of the game. They help the team that is under pressure by allowing rest and a chance to regroup. They may even lead to more draws.

HATE: Deceitfully naming them “Hydration Breaks.” And they are mandatory, regardless of the weather. You’re not fooling anyone, Gianni Infantino. They’re time for commercial breaks you’ve sold for billions. It’s all about the money.

MEH: Draws in the group stage. Better to have a clear winner, but in a round robin, a draw is a good result for evenly matched teams.

HATE: Draws in the knockout round. Does anyone ever score in extra time? Infrequently. Then on to…

REALLY HATE: Penalty kicks (PKs). There has to be a better way. PKs are not a measure of which team is better. They show which team is better at penalty kicks. But video providers and sponsors love them, because they provide high drama and excitement, particularly for casual fans.

MEH: The offside rule is the most difficult for non-fans to understand. It probably improved the game compared to when it did not exist (instituted in 1863), but offside calls often reduce scoring in a low-scoring game.

HATE: When the ref calls a player offside because his toe is in an offside position. Ridiculous. This can only happen in the age of too many cameras. The rule should be changed so that only the position of the player’s head counts for offside.

LOVE AND HATE: The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) is great when a call is reversed because VAR has shown that a player took a dive but not when it is used to make inconsequential “touch fouls” into important calls or to delay the game interminably after a goal is scored so that the position of every toe can be checked.

HATE: VAR provides simulations for us fans, not video proof. Should we trust these simulations?

LOVE: The athleticism of the players. All of them. Some must have a waiver from gravity. Others have the reaction time of a hummingbird.

GREAT: The Cup is proving once again that no particular body type has a monopoly on the sport. If you saw most of the stars on the street, without knowing who they are, you’d never guess they were making millions kicking a ball.

HATE: Extremely rough play. The refs let too much go.

HATE: Fakery and diving. Did that nasty opponent breathe hard on you? Is that why you’re writhing on the ground?

LOVE: When the ref or VAR catches a dive and gives a card.

LOVE: Messi smiles. He’s scored at least one million goals (1.24 according to social media) but always grins like a little kid whenever he scores.

HATE: Stupid contrived goal scorer celebrations. Almost as bad as the NFL.

LOVE: Unrestrained and unscripted joyous celebrations by a team when a goal is scored.

SUGGESTION: If the teams go to penalty kicks or some other artificial means of deciding which team should move on, there should be some penalty for doing so in their next game. Perhaps a limitation on the number of subs.

ANOTHER SUGGESTION: In the final game, eliminate penalty kicks for declaring a winner and designate the teams co-champions. Do we need a single winner, particularly in a sport where draws are common?

GREAT: The attention of the entire world on a sporting event rather than the result of our usual human self-destructive tendencies.

LOVE: The majority of Americans are watching, at least as long as the US is winning. GO USA!

Author’s image of the author’s shirt

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