Where would we be without soccer?

As many of my friends know, I'm in my final semester of graduate school, which means I'm tackling that demanding final project. Without giving away too much details, my final project is a soccer-related documentary.

So here's where my hardcore NFL fans may get upset. Outside of North America--and by this I really mean the United States-- no one would roll over if football was abolished as a sport tomorrow. But if soccer failed to exist as a sport, there would be worldwide protests that could eclipse all of the ongoing protests in much of the Middle East and North Africa combined.

Soccer has the ability to unite the world in a way nothing else can. At the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, I ran into so many people from different cultural backgrounds, some of whom could not speak my native English. But one thing we didn't seem to struggle on was in our understanding of the soccer language.

What is the soccer language? Well it's hard to describe in words. But I'll give you a few examples. It is the similar reaction two people from different backgrounds share when Argentina's Lionel Messi or Ivory Coast's Didier Drogba receive a well-placed ball deep in the penalty area. It is the sudden break into song by fans at a soccer match, chanting a team's song like most fans of the top English Premiership League teams are accustomed to doing during matches.

And for me, it was a split-second decision to join a group of guys in an impromptu soccer friendly at a fan park in Soweto. I was there to watch a couple of matches and report on any interesting stories that caught my attention when a few guys beckoned on me to join them in the friendly. I was a pretty good soccer player until I graduated high school, but haven't played it competitively since then. Dressed in a fitted pair of jeans, a long-sleeved sweater and another sleeveless sweater over it, complete with a pair of loafers, I hardly seemed like the prototype soccer player. But as two non-English speaking guys gestured to me to join them, the unspoken soccer language I write about made my decision an easy one.

In the process, I forged an unexpected friendship with Themba, a volunteer worker from Soweto who also played in the game, and who spoke English.



While in Johannesburg, Themba and I spoke frequently, mostly about the similarities and differences between life in South Africa and the United States. He was oddly surprised when I told him many parts of the U.S. were just like South Africa, a notion a lot of Africans are shocked to discover. But mostly, we bonded over our love for soccer and the impact hosting the World Cup in South Africa would have on the African continent.

As the NFL enters serious negotiations over the collective bargaining agreement and threats of a lockout season looms, I ask myself just how much football will be missed if an agreement isn't reached. Yes, the repercussions may be as catastrophic as an economic depression (I'm grossly exaggerating this assumption,) here in the U.S. But it would never register on the same scale as soccer, if it was stripped from its fans. That, to me, is how you measure the real ratings worth noting about the two sports, and how you recognize which one is more valuable.