It has been said that victory in the World Cup is the highest honor known in football (or soccer to us Americans) and that the victors can lay claim to the title of best in the world. But with team USA’s reprehensible record of only one 3rd place ranking in 17 world cups it’s obvious that we’re the bottom feeders once again in this year’s tournament. So with no one to root on I pretty much lost interest in the 2006 games and, hell, soccer in general.

Perhaps if there were hopes that some underdog could fight their way out of their bracket, make it to the big game, win in penalty kicks and then celebrate by ripping off their shorts and falling to their knees in just jock straps and shin guards I’d be interested but till then my interest was gone. Gone until this weekend brought me back. This past Saturday marked the birth of a new generation of football in LA; the birth of adicup.

Adicup is a soccer tournament to cease all soccer tournaments and the only way I could rekindle my love of the game. Having success with a similar tournament on the East Coast Adidas decided to bring soccer back to LA. 16 teams consisting of 6 co-workers from companies around LA would be eligible to play. Not being one to turn down a challenge I decided to not only compete but to win.

So after a quick search of my company’s employee database I had the starting line up for Team Mullets. In goal would be Katie AKA The Enforcer, a former UCLA goalie who may have been a few years out of practice but she sure as hell wasn’t letting anything past her. On defense would be Tod AKA Sanchez and Reich AKA She Hate Me–they never played in a competitive league but that wasn’t about to stop them. On offense, Jesse AKA Badunkadonk. You can imagine his strengths. Brian AKA Brian was our ringer and only hope of real talent on the field. Rounding off the team was none other than me, Ryder AKA Easy Ryder or Femullet. I hadn’t kicked a soccer ball in ages but I sure as hell wasn’t about to let this ragtag group down. »continue reading World Cup Overshadowed by LA’s adicup