Football/Soccer: The Dilemma*

A Story by Abishai100

Narrated fan-diorama about the legendary 'football-soccer' dualism in sports today, symbolic of this iconic year in sports design.

A sports-writeup for what will certainly be a year-to-remember in sports fanfare (Super Bowl, World Cup, Winter Olympics). However, I have no personal ties to either sport cited/cheered in this work of fan-diarism. Hope you like it (signing off),

----

====

I love sports. I love all sports, really. However, my two favorite sports are American football and world soccer. Did you know 'soccer' is called actually 'football' in places outside the USA? Well, we call it soccer here in America. American football and world soccer are at the headlines this Winter Olympics year, since the Super Bowl and the World Cup will both be played in 2022, offering modern sports-fans a nice cup of coffee for table-talk about this strange duality between football and soccer!

I'm a sports-writer. I consider myself a fan of multiple teams in both American football (Buccaneers, Raider, Eagles, Bills) and world soccer (Argentina, Netherlands, Italy, Spain). This year, I'll be writing/cheering for my teams in the Super Bowl (American football) and World Cup (world soccer). I'll be a 'bard' or 'pirate' of 2022-sports this year (yes). Call me...Shadow.

Why was soccer once called football? Well, once 'American football' took off in the USA, 'football' was renamed 'soccer' in the USA. In its storied histories, American football and world soccer has generated outstanding matchups. I know them. The 1992 September 13 game between the Buffalo Bills (Jim Kelly) and San Francisco 49ers (Joe Montana) was considered one of the finest regular-season games...ever. The 1978 World Cup stunner between 'upstart' Argentina (Mario Kempes) against still-fiery Netherlands generated much world tales, despite the fact that the Netherlands lacked its captain-star (Johan Cruyff). This football-soccer duality in sports today is all about...design.

The Qatar World Cup 2022 will see favorite teams of high world-rankings (Belgium, Argentina, France) gunning for the title, and I think that Belgium-Argentina should make for an unforgettable matchup regardless of when that might happen --- hopefully in the actual championship/title game! This is the first time a Muslim nation will be hosting the World Cup soccer tourney. Good television is good television. Qatar's promised to offer 'nifty' soccer arenas/stadiums, and the pre-event photos are quite impressive!

Super Bowl LVI will be played in the Los Angeles Rams area of Inglewood, California (USA). The Rams ironically do have a 'chance' of getting to the big game and playing in their home-area, which is not something that's happened to them since the '70s Ferragamo-era when they lost eventually to Bradshaw's Steelers (wow). Well, I don't think the Rams can make it back this year to their home-field big show. However, I'm writing a 'mock-design' fantasy outcome for Super Bowl 2022 in California, with the 'upstart' (and ever-defiant) Philadelphia Eagles facing the reliably strong Kansas City Chiefs in what just might be an American game of yesteryear proportions.

A soccer fan in Europe or South America will easily tell you that the draw of world-soccer is in the spirit of the populous and the waves of beauty-magic generated by legions of incredible cheerers wowing their teams onto glory in a game that's much more emotion-rich than anything we've seen in America. I know for example that Dutch soccer fans are among the world's most gorgeous.

If Argentina and Belgium, both highly-ranked in the world this year, face each other in the Qatar World Cup this December, everyone will be saying things like, "Argentina manages to 'show' up every time there's a symbolic soccer event or scheduling, as it did in the 78 and 86 World Cups and in the Athens Olympics of 2004!" I'd doubt anyone would dismiss an amazing Belgium-Argentina matchup in Qatar 2022, especially since Belgium hasn't been this good...ever.

Shifting gears from 'soccer' to 'football' brings us to my mock-design of the Chiefs-Eagles facing each other in the California Super Bowl this February. Oh, those Chiefs cheerleaders are nothing short of Charlie's Angels, and they'll be hoping the 'upstart' Eagles of Philly don't drown out their sweat-and-tears the way they did to Brady's 'demi-god' Patriots.

SPORTS-WRITER: Well, an Eagles upset over the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVI will generate the sort of folklore Americans dream!

If none of my predictions come through for 'soccer' or 'football' this year, and, say the Buffalo Bills win the Super Bowl in California in February; and Italy wins the Qatar World Cup in December...I'll still be playing my piano in Chicago and dreaming of the time when sports-writing was simply much more...democratic!