Reflective Post Week 2

My experience at the DC United game was great, and I was very pleased with the experience. Except it was definitely not what I had imagined. I had been to my old school’s soccer games, but never have I been to a professional game. After reading How Soccer Explains the World, I had a very different idea of how a soccer game would be. I had imagined it would something more than just a game. But in fact my ideas would be proven false, it was just a game and nothing else.

The first thing that surprised me was the lack of fans in the stadium. There was a decent amount of people in the lower stands, but if you looked up there was no one in the top stands. After reading How Soccer Explains the World, I was expecting a ton of fans. I mean I knew that soccer was not as popular in the United States, but I was expecting a little more people than those who showed up. And then those who did show up, especially on the side of the stadium we were sitting on, were there to just watch the game. I mean I know everyone goes to watch the game, but Foer had me under the impression that people went to support there team and go all out, whether that be yelling, wearing team colors, having signs, noisemakers, the works.

Another thing that surprised me was the lack of rivalry in the stands. While looking around I could make out the red and black clad DC United fans and the yellow and black clad Columbus Crew. But there was no tension or passion between the two fan groups. I myself am a very spirited person and I love to get involved with the spirit of games. I noticed while I was making a fool out of myself, the Columbus fans just smiled and laughed politely at my efforts. I was expecting them to boo at me, or yell at me or something. But all I got was a chuckle out of an older man. I was expecting a fiery passion between the fans, but the emotion was nonexistent on our side of the stands. I trekked over to the other side of the stadium which was a bit more rowdy but it still did not have that extreme passion I had been expecting.

So overall I had a good experience at the game. I just had not imagined that US soccer would not be as popular as I had imagined. I have always heard people claim to be huge soccer fans during World Cup season, but does the love for soccer end there for most Americans? Maybe I had set myself up for disappointment after reading How Soccer Explains the World, for I was expecting something more like a high spirited European soccer match. This was not the case, but I did have a fantastic time. So I would like to give a big thank you to the UC program. I had a blast.