Hour 2: Soccer Interest?

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
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**SPEAKER_2** (0:31)
This is The Michael Kay Show podcast.

**Michael Kay** (0:34)
I got to get more Kay.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:35)
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**Michael Kay** (0:41)
All right. Because all of you are my esteemed co-hosts, I need feedback. I really do. So the World Cup is capturing everybody's attention.
But not mine.
I don't know. I've never really fallen in love with the world's game.
I find it unusual that every four years, the people in the United States get excited about a sport that they're not excited about ever. I mean, there's a faction that like the soccer that we have in this country, but it's not at the level of European soccer. It's just not. And there's one thing that always rubs me the wrong way about soccer. And whenever I used to bring it up to Don and Peter, they'd jump me, and maybe you'll jump me as well. I was talking to my son about it because he's getting into the World Cup, and I never want to, you know, talk him off of anything. He said, are you, you know, are you looking forward to the United States against Australia tomorrow? And I said, no. He said, why? I said, because I don't like soccer. I don't, I don't quite get it. And he goes, well, tell me why. And then again, even soccer fans say, well, you might have a point on this, but it's something that really rankles me. And I wonder if it bothers any of you. You don't know when the game ends.
So there's 45 minutes on the clock. And then what would stop it is they're adding time. And then you go past 45 minutes or 90 minutes for the game. And it keeps going. And no one has been told exactly when it ends. I find that unbelievable and it is ripe for improper things happening. Who's deciding exactly how much time there is left? And why aren't you transparent about it? So if all the stoppages, right, and they add up that, well, there's nine minutes that we're going to add on, why don't they tell the viewing audience and the people in the stadiums, all right, when the clock hits zero, add nine more minutes and then we're done. Instead, it's left to guess, to just guess at it. Imagine any sport that you love, right? Let's talk baseball, because I love baseball. Ninth inning comes around, you get the final three outs, you have the lead, and they go, oh yeah, by the way, game's not over.
Game's not over. Well, then we're going to probably cut more innings. We're not going to tell you how many we're going to play. Well, yeah, we're going to probably cut more minutes. It's ridiculous.
And how would you manage that game? Are there three innings left? Are there four innings left? Should I save my closure? I brought my closure in in the ninth inning. Now what should I do? Let's take it to the NBA.
You play great defense over that final 1.2 seconds left in game four, and they go, by the way, the game is not over. We still got a couple more minutes to go. And in soccer, it's just widely accepted. Well, that's the way the game is.

**SPEAKER_2** (3:48)
Why does that bother you?

**Michael Kay** (3:50)
It bothers me because I'm a man of rules. I like rules. I like lines. I like delineations. This is how far you can go. This is how far you have to go. This is when the game ends. And I wonder if the love for soccer is just about jingoism where, well, I'm Italian. I'm going to root for Team Italy.
Or I'm of Portuguese descent. I'm going to root for Portugal.
I mean, the people that really are like flooding the stadiums and everything, because obviously the interest is there. Not for me. If it becomes a story, everybody, I'll be all over it because I owe that to you. But I'm not going to sit here and fake it and go, yeah, I'm really into the World Cup. Not. I'm not. You know what? I'm looking forward to the Yankees and the Reds more than I am USA, Australia. How am I supposed to dive bomb in every four years and go, oh yeah, I can't wait for the United States to win. Yay. That proves how great our country is. That's why, you know what? That's why I don't like the Olympics either. I hate capitalism that is wrapped in a flag. I'm all for capitalism, but don't wrap it as something patriotic.