Stuff we like, American division

Heard it again this a.m., that America is really, really, really about to fall in love with soccer, or already has, or will by 2026, which is when the United States, Canada and Mexico will co-host the World Cup.

I don't know. Maybe that's true this time. Considering all the devices upon which you can follow stuff these days, maybe millions upon millions of people in the U.S. really were following the World Cup this time, at least on their laptops or phones or what have you.

All I know is what my wife, Julie, said the other night when we repaired to the bar for a nightcap after eating dinner.

"Why are they playing basketball?" she said.

Which was her way of pointing out that it's mid-July and the TVs over the bar, both of them, were tuned to the NBA Summer League, which is essentially pickup games for rooks and the Nos. 9-12 players on NBA rosters. More and more we're seeing these games now, as the major sports entities increasingly become vehicles for 1) the NFL, 2) the NFL draft, 3) NFL training camps, and 4) LeBron James/Steph Curry/Russell Westbrook/James Harden. Practically nothing else seems to exist anymore.

This includes the World Cup, which the French won yesterday with a 4-2 victory over gutty Croatia, making every human with a soul wish he or she was in Paris last night. I watched the second half in a sports bar while eating lunch. Most of the TVs were tuned to it. Only three of us were sitting there actually watching it.

And, yes, I know, that's an exceedingly poor metric upon which to judge. I guarantee you that, around the country, there were thousands of gathering places packed to the rafters yesterday with people watching the final. So maybe the guy on the radio this morning was right. Maybe we really did cross some sort of Rubicon as a nation in this World Cup, and have become mad for soccer.

On the other hand, apparently we are also mad for the NBA Summer League. Which, where I was yesterday, was on almost all the TVs that weren't tuned to the World Cup final.

I don't know what that says about our sports sensibilities as a nation. But I do think it means we might have a ways to go yet before we truly become soccer mad -- if in fact we ever do.

Guess we'll see.