Volume 41, Number 15 · September 22, 1994
Sudden Death
By Alastair Reid
Ever since it was announced, on July 4, 1988, that the World Cup finals would be played off in the United States this year, the event assumed a curious cast in the attention of the sporting press, as if it were to be a vast sociological experiment, a study in sporting epidemiology, to see if the game of soccer would prove as contagious to the sporting public of the United States as it has been to a vast proportion of the world's population—two out of every five inhabitants of the planet were expected to be following it on global television. This speculation made me curious enough to watch out during the proceedings for signs and symptoms of incipient addiction among friends and acquaintances as the fifty-two games unrolled. What I got mostly was a series of shrewd and somewhat irreverent observations on the game of soccer, which had after all been as much on trial in the eyes of the sports fans of this country as were the potential converts to the game.
Feature, 2813 words
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