Having watched several World Cup soccer games, I am left wondering why there have been no national flags covering the entire soccer field before the game, as is customary at American professional (and some college and high school) football games. Where are the fighter jet flyovers? Why haven’t any of the teams switched to camouflage uniforms like we do in this country? Why are there no coaches on the sidelines wearing camouflage pants, as one can observe at American football games? So far, I haven’t seen any rifle-toting soldiers pacing back and forth on the soccer field before the games, as we do in America. What’s up with that? There have been no cannons fired on the field before the game, and no old geezers dragged out in wheel chairs to be “honored” for their “service” to the state in one of its wars. There hasn’t even been a single dude dressed in a military uniform parachuting out of a helicopter onto the field, as we sometimes do here. What’s going on down there in Brazil? The ungrateful locals in the stands even booed the Brazilian president the other day.
Even the commercials have been weird. Not one military recruitment ad; just ads for food and drink and cars and other civilian fare. No wonder so few American kids are watching. But then, maybe they’re saving it all for the final championship game this Sunday.
12:12 pm on July 10, 2014
