Farewell, Euro

June 30th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanE

After Spain finished off Germany in comprehensive fashion yesterday, I — sheepishly watching the game in my hungover state — got a text from my roommate.

“I’m sad it’s over.”

That came from a person who was, before two or three months ago, entirely uninterested in soccer. I bought FIFA 2008. He had an incredible amount of fun playing it. He was convinced to give the real thing a shot. Now, he owns two jerseys — one for Lithuania, his parents’ homeland, and one for his favorite player, Thierry Henry. This man is now a legit soccer fan, in just three months’ time.

Euro 2008 helped with that. I’m wondering, like Cardillo at Deadspin today, if it will help others will follow suit. Much maligned in 2006 — they had Marcelo Balboa calling games, for chrissakes — ESPN’s Euro 2008 coverage was brilliant. I’m not a huge fan of Tommy Smythe, but their decision to temper him with Andy Gray, and to let Gray call all the big matches, was genius. As I’ve written before, Gray is a top-notch color analyst. Unlike so many, he doesn’t detract from the game. He adds to it.

I don’t know that soccer will ever acheive mainstream acceptance in the U.S. Maybe it won’t. All I know is that if it is going to happen, Euro 2008 covered all the bases. If you didn’t like it, you just don’t like soccer. That’s OK. But no more can external factors be blamed.

Still, if my roommate can go from hating soccer to loving it just thanks to a videogame and a European competition, there’s hope for everyone else.