Soccer: Like hockey, but with no puck

Some sports get lots of attention at multiple levels — football, baseball, basketball, hockey, tennis and golf.

Others grab the spotlight every once in a while, including the Olympic Games and soccer’s World Cups. These events take place every four years, which makes the contests more special and pressure-packed.

The Los Angeles Dodgers lost in the playoffs last year to the snoopy St. Louis Cardinals, but the team can try to win again this year.

On the other hand, American soccer star Abby Wambach, in the twilight of her amazing career, says she won’t play for the United States at the women’s World Cup in France in 2019. This year was it for her.

The drama of only playing for a World Cup, or an Olympic gold medal, is heightened, giving journalists a chance to ham it up over how swimmer Marli Gnarly of Australia got an ingrown toenail during the last Olympics and now has a chance to redeem herself by winning the 50-meter frog kick this time around.

Sunday’s match featuring the United States in the World Cup was a thrilling affair, and it doesn’t really matter if not every American was glued to the television set. Some people were watching auto racing instead, or bowling, or sitting out on the patio quaffing a beer and grilling hamburgers, or picking up fireworks trash.

Soccer, known as football in the rest of the world, is easing itself into the American consciousness.

When our two daughters, now ages 32 and 30, played soccer in Great Falls as teenagers, Johanna and Meredith played on some of the lousiest makeshift soccer fields in the state. The worst one I remember was a hard field with some grass on it next to Riverview School. The ground sloped dramatically to the north, so players got the distinct feeling of playing uphill or downhill because they were. One soccer complex in the Flathead Lake area sat next to a sewage treatment plant.

Yet we all had a blast with soccer, parents included. It’s good exercise, and there are lots of players on the field, and a little less sitting on the bench, if there were a bench.

One peril for parents is getting roped into serving as a referee or a linesman in games, opening up the possibility of getting yelled at by parents, fans and players for having the worst eyesight, or judgment, imaginable. I remember serving as a linesman at a Montana Cup competition in Bozeman one year amid a raging rainstorm. We could barely see through the freezing rain, and by the time the miserable match was over we were soaked to the skin. The line to use the dryers at the motel was long, but we eventually got dry, then hung up our linesmen uniforms for the duration of the tournament.

Soccer was great, and our eldest, Johanna, played defense for Great Falls High School and got to play in the Shodair all-star tournament at the close of her senior year. But I must confess to feeling relieved when she decided not to try out for the varsity soccer squad at Tulane University in New Orleans. Heading the ball doesn’t do much good for the brains of professional soccer players, and I’m sure it’s no help to brains on any level.

Soccer’s status in Great Falls has improved. The C.M. Russell High School girls won the first soccer championship for the city of Great Falls during the school year, and the city boasts the wonderful Siebel soccer complex on the east end, assisted by private donations and a public bond issue. Great Falls now can host state championship contests, bringing economic benefit to the city.

Neither Johanna nor our youngest, Meredith, got a chance to play at the soccer complex before they were off to college. However, Johanna and two of her old soccer-playing teammates were in town some years back and decided they would meet at the new soccer complex. They finally would get a chance to kick the ball around on a decent soccer field.

The pitch was divine as they passed the ball around, remarking on the high quality of the field, and how they wished they had played on a field that fine. Five minutes into their reverie, a fellow in a pickup truck drove up and yelled at them to get the heck off the field. Nirvana was short-lived.

In any case, some people view sports as a useless exercise and turn their noses up. Others are partial to one sport or another, or want to argue about whether certain so-called sporting events really qualify as sports at all.

I played tennis in high school and college, but I’m also a big fan of baseball and football, and I like hockey and basketball, too.

Baseball seems to have the right amount of scoring; basketball has too much; football is best when the passing game prevails.

Then there is hockey and soccer. One team can dominate, but then the puck, or the soccer ball, bounces off someone’s behind or elbow and goes in the goal. It’s frustrating, because the team in control doesn’t always win.

God knows that given the paltry scoring in soccer matches, the end of games can be cruel. A player defending for England lost a World Cup semifinal game for her country by accidentally kicking the ball into her own goal, instead of clearing the ball out of danger. That was painful to watch.

Fortunately for soccer buffs, the soccer ball is slightly easier to track on a TV screen than a hockey puck, although with higher-resolution TV sets, it is now possible to occasionally spot the puck.

Seeing a sports event in person is ideal, whether it’s the Great Falls Voyagers or the United States’ women’s soccer squad. On Friday’s Two Cents page, you’ll hear from the member of a Great Falls family gutsy enough to buy tickets for Sunday’s final between Japan and the United States before they even knew who would be playing in the final. Their enthusiasm paid off.

Another option that’s nearly as good as live is to go watch a soccer contest at The Celtic Cowboy in downtown Great Falls, where the atmosphere is electric, and accommodations are pub-like.

In closing, I’d like to think sports benefit our society, not only through athletes who participate but fans thrilled by the action and drama that takes place on the field or court.

Two summers ago, at a Great Falls Voyagers game, I watched as the opposing team’s pitcher hurled a fastball toward the plate. A Voyagers batter ripped a line drive that struck the unfortunate pitcher in the lower leg. He crumpled to the ground, seething in pain, but the pitcher suddenly reached for the ball lying on the grass. He tossed the baseball to first to throw out the batter who hit the harsh drive. Moments later, the pitcher was helped off the field with a severely bruised shin, or worse.

This is what can be remarkable about sports at times — courage in the face of pain, and determination when it shouldn’t be required.

Then there is that activity called golf, an odd game in which the harder one swings, the worse the outcome. Golf is an almost entirely mental exercise. If I had half a brain, I might be able to play it better.

Hit that ball harder, dangit!

Richard Ecke writes a weekly column on city life. Reach him at recke@greatfallstribune.com; 406-791-1465, or follow him @GFTrib_REcke on Twitter.