Joe Scarborough, you got it wrong!

Earlier this week my good buddy Joe Scarborough was griping that world leaders - European in particular - were more focused on what is going on in Brazil than the unfolding disaster in Iraq.


I say good buddy because I watch his and Mika's show with the kind of regularity that breeds familiarity. 


If nothing else, my little brother Joe is consistent.  Every time I watch he will say at least one thing that is truly annoying.  Which, really, is not a bad record given that he has an open mic for three hours a day, five days a week.  


So his comment scolding world leaders for their distracted attention on the World Cup instead of fixing a civil war that is now a few hundred years old was just plain wrong. 


Soccer is a spiritual experience.  Watch the pomp and tradition of the opening of a match.  Little children, representing hope for the future, walk hand-in-hand with players onto the sacred pitch.  Grown men and women belt out their national anthem, many with tears embracing the moment.  The friendly exchange between team captains and then with officials just before the whistle.  Fans wear their match-day regalia with pride and with most creative expression.  For 90-plus minutes any given nation viewership (90 percent of a nation if you are Dutch, 50 percent if you are English; 100 percent if you are Brazil, etc.) is mesmerized in the simple beauty and skill of back and forth movement.  Hope hangs over the pitch for the entire match.  Loads and loads of hope.  And when  hope is delivered; gratitude erupts.  Soccer is a spiritual experience.


Soccer transcends politics.  What other single event brings the world together for an entire month?  Olympics, yeah, but you are talking multiple sports that most people have no interest in, really.  Soccer is the world's most popular sport and all eyes currently are turned to the Southern Hemisphere.  What better venue, then, for a world leader to be seen attending??   I celebrate Angela Merkel cheering on the German team.  (Every time the camera zoomed in on her, my husband would say "looks like she needs a back rub."  And every time he said that, I laughed. He's funny.  Google "Merkel back rub" if you don't get why it's funny) My other favorite Joe, as in veep Joe Biden, was there for the U.S. match against Guyana, sitting next to our opponent's president.  Soccer transcends politics. 


So, my good friend who I never actually met, I forgive you for mistakenly dragging soccer into the political mud.  How about that Clint Dempsy playing with a broken nose!!??