대한민국! Go Korea! Fighting!

The streets, bars, stadiums, supermarkets and middle school hallways
of South Korea are all shouting red - the Korean (Konglish) term for
cheering on Korea's mighty red devil soccer team in the World Cup. I
can call it soccer because they call it that here, too.

I have never cared about soccer, at least not since I quit my
neighborhood team at age 11 after one too many losing seasons. I have
never cared about professional sports in general - even when the
Broncos or the Seahawks made it to the Superbowl, or when the Rockies
played in the World Series. I almost got into rugby during the Rugby
World Cup which France hosted in 2007, the same time I was there
studying in Grenoble. I watched a few games in the background at bars
and jumped on the bandwagon at the last minute to cheer in the streets
then slink away in shame for France's last two games (shocking victory
over New Zealand then crushing defeat by England).

However, World Cup fever has seized me and now I'm chanting and
cheering like my high school self, decked out in spirited red from
head to toe, shouting and jumping for my team. I stay up all night to
watch the games, I've set fifa.com as my homepage and I've developed
an irrational disgust for Argentina and off-sides calls. I have to
support the USA as well as Korea.

I talk soccer with the other teachers at work, gesturing wildly as we
celebrate Korea's first victory over Greece, mourning their loss to
Argentina. Resentment twists my lips as they tell me how the USA tied
England in their first match out of sheer luck. They laugh as my voice
gets higher and louder when I describe the last-moment goal that led
to the US defeat of Algeria and propelled my home team into the Round
of 16.

This week I've been giving my students a speaking test, asking them
whether or not sports are important. They struggle through forming
sentences about health and exercise. I just smile. I agree with them,
but in the midst of the World Cup, I see that sports are important
because they bring us together.