World Cup Exposes Americans to Global Sports Stars
The World Cup has expanded the United States' perspective on Soccer, highlighting global stars like Lionel Messi and Ronaldo, while boosting cultural awareness.
Video Transcript
Y- you know, one thing that I've also noticed that for me, I didn't really know who, Lionel Messi was.
I ha- I, I know the name, I knew who he was, but what this World Cup has done has exposed me, and maybe I would say other Americans, into seeing who really are the biggest athletes in the world.
You could put Messi any place on the planet, parachute him in, and people would know who he is.
And it just made me think, I couldn't do that to Tom Brady.
So I think the Americans being good, too, David, it's also, it's also exposed us.
This guy never does interviews.
This guy's not a publicity hound, but yet there he is, the most popular guy on the planet, over 500 million people on his Instagram accounts.
It's really exposing Americans to maybe outside of our parameters a little bit and outside of our borders to see what really is going on.
I think this has been a real cultural thing for our country.
We're learning about other I, I've never heard of some of the stars on France.
I, I know who Cristiano Ronaldo is.
Sure.
I know all these guys.
But hasn't it exposed Americans more to maybe outside of our borders on really who the biggest athletes in the world are?
A, a million percent, and at, at the perfect time.
Because we are, you know, celebrating our 250th anniversary, but in the grand scheme of things, that's nothing.
I mean, the countries on the other side of the pond have been there thousands of years.
So we're small and we're in our own, our, our own little world with a sport like American football that's been around since, oh, what?
You know, the first Super Bowl was 1960s, '66, '67.
NBA, that goes back to the '40s.
Major League Baseball goes back further.
But soccer's been here forever, and this is the world sport.
And we always joke, "Oh, whatever, nobody likes soccer.
It's, it's over there.
It doesn't make any sense."
It literally legitimately is the world sport.
And you're right.
I have a nine-year-old daughter who, her literally doesn't like sports.
Her only exposure to sports is that daddy's never around because he's working in sports.
Knows who Lionel Messi is, knows who Cristiano Ronaldo is.
She knows which one she thinks is cuter.
They know who that is.
But if you were to go to, I don't know, Israel, does everybody know who Tom Brady is?
I'm not sure you can say that 'cause we're in our own little world.
It has opened America up to other things.
And on the flip side, you're seeing Europeans and Africans and Asians come over to our country.
Free refills, gas stations that are the size of, of Costco, and things that they've never seen before.
Land that doesn't stop because it goes on for 3,000 miles.
Things that they've never seen where I've been over there, you have nowhere you can park your car.
You have to pay to use the bathroom.
Like, there's no air conditioning.
It's a different world over here.
They're experiencing that, which is phenomenal, and we are seeing things like Seriously, be- before the World Cup started, did you know where DR Congo was?
No.
No.
Nobody had any idea where DR Congo was.
Now we do.
No.
We know where it is.
Everyone knows where Cape Verde is.
You know what I really love is that I had a person over on my social media account, and that person goes, "Man, I don't need my passport to go from New York to New Jersey?"
Yeah.
I mean, I think the things that we take, you know, for granted, you know, many people that are over here enjoying themselves, and this has been just an absolutely insane event.
Now, I do have one complaint.
And believe this or not, David, I sent an email to Roger Goodell.
You know, some of the stadiums that I'm watching, and I'm looking at the grass that's on the field, and I'm looking- at what these guys are playing on and what it's required that FIFA has for their athletes.
You see so few knee injuries and ankle injuries in a sport where people get stepped on.
We saw the red card the other night against the US player.
I mean, how come the NFL owners don't do this for the players that are their biggest assets?
The, their priorities are not what they should be.
And listen, I can give you a list of 1,000 things that FIFA does wrong, but the one thing they get right is demanding that this World Cup is played on natural grass.
I, I'm with you.
I'm from Miami.
I've always been exposed to natural grass.
There's no reason why we shouldn't have natural grass in every single stadium, even the ones in the South.
Like, you tell me why Las Vegas doesn't have grass and why Los Angeles doesn't have grass.
And I've been to those stadiums and, you know, I know they can do it 'cause, you know, for the Super Bowl, they roll it out and roll it in.
But college, Las Vegas, they play it on turf.
The Rams, the Chargers, they play it on turf.
if Green Bay, the frozen tundra as we call it, can play on natural grass, why can't we have it in Baltimore?
Why can't we have it in those locations?
And I know it comes down to money.
It's always money, money, money.
But every single one of us is paying money to watch that sport on television.
That money's getting funneled right to the owners.
You know, i- if I'm a New York Giants fan and, and, and every time I go to the stadium, one of my best players gets injured because of the crap field at the Metal- at MetLife, and then you turn around and they're hosting the World Cup final, literally hosting the world's biggest event on natural grass, yet that grass is not staying in that stadium.
And that's a travesty if you ask me.
