I'm 35 and had my first job in high tech at 19, so you are correct, the last 20 years is not accurate (not to mention the fact that the event I'm talking about actually happened 19 years ago anyway).
I saw that do you believe in miracles film first at my first summer job at age 19 so that would have been 16 years ago, in 1983/84 timeframe. Funny, the context was pretty much the biggest debaucle in high tech history, they make movies about it even (where I was working).
I understand your point about the amateurs vs. pros in the 1980 olympics, however, you are trying to compare apples and oranges.... of course the US amateur team is going to have terrible odds against the Russian pro team, yes in purely statistical terms it was more of an accomplishment, but the general public doesn't really know or care about whether something is a 100:1 shot or a 40:1 shot.
In this case with the women's world cup, we have a situation where the US doesn't do anything with soccer, no support from the sporting establishment here, compared to countries in Europe where soccer is an institution, come on! Yeah they are a pro team and a pretty good one but nobody expected them to win. Has the USA ever won anything in soccer, ever? Anybody know? It is well known to be a giant sport throughout the world and not here, that adds to the enthusiasm in the same way that the cold war added to the russia loss in the Olympics.
I also agree that any enthusiasm for soccer will fizzle but that is not a barometer of the influence of the event, imo. |
