Every four years

    Every four years-here we go again.

    ...endless ink will be spilled.

    May even see families and friends split one against the other.

    Continous news cycle dealing win-loss scenarios around the clock.

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     Okay, so I have been subtly dealing a bit of misdirection.

    I am talking about the World Cup.

    See what I did there?

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    Like the Olympics and like election cycles, the World Cup offers uninterrupted spectacle, sage commentary from various talking heads or pundits, and new opportunities to embrace Cinderella stories. Climb to the top fueled by gumption or chutzpah and relentless hard work. 

    Maybe with a bit of luck thrown in.

    Except this time, the competition has returned to America for the first time in more than 30 years.

    Since 1994. 

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    Seems that soccer-futbol, excuse me-has been a growing sport on the cusp of national fervor as long as I have been alive. Maybe home turf will create a new opportunity. 

    Similar to how the 84 Los Angeles Olympics captured the whole country as Mary Lou Retton-Michael Jordan-Greg Louganis-Carl Lewis dominated their events.

    But what has been captivating me is the human interest angle of these games, the way America has responded to strangers flooding into its stadiums and arenas.

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•     Teams from around the world have made their base camps in American cities and towns large and small as they train and prepare. The Algerian national team is quartered in Lawrence, Kansas. The nearby University of Kansas has a large population of international students, so the town is accustomed to welcoming folks from all over the world.This explains the embrace of the visitors:

            Storefronts have been DRENCHED in the Algeria's colors.

            Local kids have flooded the free soccer clinics put on by the stars

            Local batting cages invited the players in for a swing or two at OUR national sport

            The University of Kansas marching band quickly learning the Algerian national anthem. Of course they did.

            Traditional Algerian music was blasted from street corners. The whole community rallied around them. Algeria were underdogs who fell to juggernaut Argentina. Alas and egad. What a Cinderella story that would have been, had they won....  

    Maybe the Algerian national motto "by the people and for the people" also explains why Algeria seems to be kin to the people of Kansas. 

    Shades of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address:  "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."    

    I just reread that last Lincoln quote to myself.  It resonates like our national DNA. 

            Shivers up my spine

            a flush of emotion constricting my throat

            goose bumps on my arms. Shall not perish from the earth, indeed. 

•     German soccer fan and influencer Freddy has been posting rapturously about Buc-ees and Waffle House, paying homage to the hugeness of America and cultural icons we all know.

•     Japanese fans, following their tradition that follows the saying "a bird that flies never leaves a trace", pulled trash bags out of their purses and pockets and cleaned up their stadium after their first match. This so moved commentator Jameis Winston that he pitched in, too. Later, one Japanese fan visited his first-ever Mexican restaurant. Was nonplussed by the basket of chips-unordered and gratis-that was delivered matter-of-factly before his food arrived. 

   "In my land, hospitality is a debt. Every gift creates an obligation... Here, the gift arrives before you have even proven you can pay for dinner.  This is not an appetizer. This is a declaration: we trust you...the trust of a nation is in that salsa.."

•    Scotland's Tartan Army drinking Boston dry over a weekend-more pints consumed than St. Paddy's and the SuperBowl-and taking over Fenway Park, belting out a spine-tingling crowd performance of "Take Me Home, Country Roads."

•     And home sweet home, my personal favorite, Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium playing host to Argentina v Iceland. Right before the match, the crowd was treated to the inspirational unbound Eagle Flight of Aurea, War Eagle VIII. Circle circle circle the stadium swooping over the crowd spiraling ever lower until the last glide to land midfield as the crowd volume swells to the drawn-out battle cry "Waaaaaar Eagle, Hey!"

    The crowd went wild.

    And went wild later when superstar Lionel Messi subbed in for Argentina and made his first score of the tournament.

    

    The last time we hosted the World Cup, we set records for per-match attendance and kick-started Major League Soccer. This time, it seems we are winning hearts and minds from around the world.

    Being won over by fans from around the globe in return.

    I can't help but reflect, in this 250th year (semiquincentennial) since the founding of our country, that we are once again transforming the heritage and history of the rest of the world. In sport as in history, we have taken the best and brightest, added our unique interpretation, and gifted it back to the rest of the world. 

    Sport, at its best, unites us in the desire for victory, in the recognition of shared striving, and in the admiration of human achievement on the field of competition. From the Olympics of ancient Greece to today, we delight and share in spectacular feats and accomplishments. 

    We all feel a part of the triumph and drama happening in stadiums around the country.