Chris Peterson Column: Missing team USA, but this World Cup is still exciting

Sometimes, it’s difficult to be a sports fan. Honestly, there are times that I wish I didn’t even like sports and that’s true. In fact, I have uttered that statement more times than I can remember.

As a fan of the University of Michigan, I utter it a lot.

Yet, sports are an addiction I just can’t quit. It’s a lot like love, no matter how many times your heart is broken, more than likely, you will come back for more.

This past year has been one of heartbreaks for me. Certainly, I loved watching my Wolverines make it all the way to the championship game during March Madness. However, it ended, as it almost always does in heartache.

While that loss to Villanova hurt — although not nearly as bad as the losses to North Carolina in 1993 (Chris Webber timeout game) or in 2013 to Louisville (blew a double-digit lead) — it pales in comparison to what the United States Men’s National Team did to me in soccer. Not even close.

For as long as I can remember or to be more exact, 1994, I have been an avid fan of the USMNT. 1994 was when the United States first hosted the World Cup and it really was an eye-opening experience. Cobi Jones, Alexi Lalas, Earnie Stewart and Tony Meola won my heart. Their win over Columbia, which helped advance the United States into the knockout round, is still one of my happiest moments as a sports fan.

In the sport of soccer, that elation was eclipsed just once. That came in 2010 when Landon Donovan scored a stoppage-time goal against Algeria to send the USMNT into the round of 16. It was about 9 a.m. and I remember sprinting through the house like I had scored it. The same team lost like three days later and suddenly, I am back to my original point.

Sports are like life. You can’t be happy forever, but if you were never sad and if you didn’t have to endure the times you feel terrible, happiness wouldn’t matter. Winning wouldn’t either if you won all the time.

Being a fan, a true fan, makes you a little crazy. You can be optimistic and pessimistic in the same sentence. You can believe and lack faith, all at the same time. When the USMNT lost out in its bid to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, I didn’t know how to feel.

I was angry, in denial, devastated, you know, all the stages of grief, until finally, I reached acceptance. I got to the only logical place hardcore USMNT fans could go and that’s to turn the whole thing into a positive, believing that this is rock bottom and things will only get better from here. I don’t know if that’s true, but I know I still wasn’t looking forward to the World Cup. Without the United States I thought, how could I possibly enjoy it?

Well strangely, it’s almost been better. If the United State was in this World Cup, I’d be focused on them. I’d watch the rest of the matches sure, but my enjoyment would depend solely on the USMNT, which as I say it, sounds ludicrous. Of course, they were going to let me down, Americans just aren’t that good at soccer. We don’t even call it by the correct name, so the fact that we can’t build a consistent winner maybe isn’t that shocking. I mean, would it really hurt if we started calling it futbol? Just for a little while?

All joking aside, the point of all this is to say, I have thoroughly enjoyed this World Cup. Without my crazy fandom getting in the way, I can enjoy the beautiful game in ways I never could before. The tournament has also been as exciting as ever. Great players such as Harry Kane, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have all stood out. The best teams are advancing but the matches have been surprisingly competitive and the best is surely yet to come.

Watching a sport without a rooting interest is weird and I don’t know If I could ever stick to it, but I can tell you one thing, my stress levels are a lot better. I can soak it all in without the worrying about victory or defeat.

It’s been nice. But at the end of the day, it will never be anything more than that. Just nice. I constantly have this internal battle and sometimes, I get to the dark place where I want to vanquish my sports fandom forever. I felt that way about the USMNT and my enjoyment of the World Cup only caused me to double down on those feelings.

Don’t worry though, I’ve come crashing back to reality, because sports really can’t exist without fans, without people living and dying with the result. Whether you are a parent of a Havre High athlete or just an obsessed fan like myself, sports are better when you have a rooting interest.

Like I said, falling in love and being a fan are similar. Neither is about being rational and that’s the point. The truth is, life would be boring without love and when it comes to sports, winning wouldn’t mean much without the losing. Would it?