April 1998
Issue 001COVER
The Return of a Legend
What the Hell Is This Thing??!!COMMENTARY
How it all began.
Clinton versus PalmerCOMMENTARY
An eerie coincidence? I don't think so.
Homer Did ItNEWS
Home denies he did it, surprise, surprise.
Rage Against the MediaCOMMENTARY
The media blames the public for the media's faults.
Apple: It's Own Worst Enemy?COMMENTARY
After years of loses and controversy, suddenly Apple's Wall Street's darling.
Giant Alien Maytag Cuts FingerNEWS
David Van Wagner stitched.
Publisher Hangs Himself!NEWS
Read how the publisher of the Havoc killed himself back in 1991.
World Cup 94 ReportNEWS
With World Cup 98 nearly upon us, this ancient report is curiously appropriate again.
The Guilt-free Drink for LiberalsADVERTISEMENT
The Ultimate Refreshment.
World Cup 94 Report
by
Originally written in summer 1994, this article was never published. For info on World Cup 98, starting in France on June 10, see France 98. (Note that in uprecented coverage, all 64 World Cup games will air on ABC, ESPN, and EPSN2.)
For one month this summer everyone on the planet joined hands and sang songs of peace.
Well, not exactly. But there definitely was a sense of international community shared by at least the couple billion who watched World Cup '94.
For Americans, who live in such a large country they tend to think the globe is the United States, it was a rare "international" feeling usually reserved for the Olympics: a feeling that we're not alone, that those "foreigners" are people too.
For myself, an avid sports critic, I found the experience revealing. I've never understood the sports mania of the Americans. It has always seemed frighteningly obsessive and presumptuous.
But this summer I understood Americans better. Because I was caught up in the drama of the world's largest sporting event. (On several occasions I actually found myself shouting at the television -- logic and sense forgotten. I even shouted at games I'd taped.)
I comforted myself by considering the scope of the games. This wasn't a neighborhood scrimmage or a high school showdown. This wasn't even the annual championship. This was an event of a lifetime, a contest that only takes place every four years and takes two years of playoffs just to qualify!
I was captivated by the history of the game. I was thrilled watching the legends playing for maybe their last time. (Maradonna of Argentina and Roger Milla of Cameroon -- the oldest player to ever score in a World Cup, come to mind.) And who knew but that the next legend was there scoring his first World Cup goal?
I was fascinated by the drama of the tiny underdog nations winning their first World Cup game -- every player would be national heroes when they returned home.
We have nothing like it in the United States. America is flooded with sports -- football, baseball, basketball, tennis, golf, hockey, bowling, etc. How can we possibly comprehend a single-sport nation's feelings?
The World Cup brought home the meaning behind sports. It isn't about winning. It isn't about money or insane screaming and delirious behavior. It's about a challenge. It's about national pride and identity.
Sporting events have a degree of reality that people find appealing. It's not ambiguous like most things in life. Someone wins or loses, period. Watching it you are watching history happen.
Now I understand why Americans go crazy over their sports teams, why they wear those stupid hats and scream like banshees. Why they root for losing teams and argue insessantly about the merits of a particular play, technique, coach, or player.
No, I don't plan to join their ranks anytime soon. I still find American sports boring and excessively loud. And with my pitiful knowledge of American sport history I find very little drama in the games (although I have found hockey to be entertaining).
Still, I feel I understand America a little better. Americans aren't quite as crazy as I thought -- or perhaps Europeans are crazier than I knew. (But at least here no one murders you for a miskick.)
World Cup '94 was a tremendous sucess -- both here and abroad. The games were exciting and the crowds massive. In the eyes of the World America grew a little.
The U.S. showed it could perform well under tremendous pressure in a game where we're considered novices. And Americans caught a glimpse of the world's greatest sport -- and continued watching.
That's good news for the United States as well as the rest of the world.
