I’m now all in on World Cup

I literally left the house for about half an hour to go to the store. Cat needed food.

Through the first four days of the tournament, Thursday through Sunday, there was barely any bad matches. The first half of the Netherlands-Japan game was a snoozer, but the teams combined for three quick goals in the second half to wake everyone up.

Granted, Germany dismantling of World Cup newcomer Curacao was not much fun. Germany scored seven times, taking Curacao’s first-half goal as a sign of disrespect.

But to see the sheer joy on the faces of Curacao fans after it scored its first-ever World Cup goal was priceless. Heck, even an assistant coach for Curacao was seen crying as he hugged the head man following the surprising strike.

Sweden’s 5-1 win over Tunisia was also kind of boring, but for those fans who complain about the lack of goals in the game of soccer, the German and Swedish results had to be fun.

But those were the exceptions. For the most part, games have been close and exciting, and not so much the mismatches everyone thought some of these games would be.

While there are still blue-blood soccer countries, the rest of the world has closed the gap considerably. Monday morning, while working on this column, I watched World Cup debutante, Cape Verde, play to a scoreless draw with reigning 2024 European champ and soccer royalty, Spain.

No one would have expected that four years ago. Heck, no one expected that Monday.

Additionally, it seems like the excitement level is starting to build. I was out of town this past weekend, but you would see people in various teams’ uniform tops, as well as television in bars and restaurants showing the game and people who were actively watching them. I even heard people talking in passing about finding somewhere to watch the game. Didn’t matter who was playing.

Now if the United States can build on its 4-1 win over Paraguay last Friday, the excitement level could grow exponentially.

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As if the record for the San Francisco Giants wasn’t bad enough, over the weekend, they were embroiled in controversy when the team’s Bible-thumping pitchers felt so “persecuted” that they just had to make an anti-LGBTQ+ statement — on “Pride Night” of all games.

I don’t want to get into the religious study of this, other than to say, apparently Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker, Tyler Walker and Sam Hentges, never got past the Old Testament of the Bible. If they actually read the Bible, and not simply hand-pick passages that align with their “morals,” they will read Jesus say, “Love thy neighbor as thy self.”

OK, enough about that. Let’s take a secular look at this buffoonery: just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

These guys play in what is considered one of the LGBTQ+ capitals of the world. If that doesn’t align with your “morals,” maybe don’t sign with the team.

For goodness sakes, read the room. No one is stifling your religious freedoms — heck, Robbie Ray wears that “God wins” T-shirt every game and we have to look at it during his clubhouse interviews. All you were asked to do was wear a hat in rainbow colors. That’s it. No one asked you to date members of the same sex. No one asked you to march in a Pride parade. No one asked you to do anything other than do your job and just be decent human beings — which you clearly can not handle on either front.

But you just had to make a statement, without realizing that there is a large LGBTQ+ fanbase that they completely alienated. But you don’t care about those fans because of their lifestyle, right? You only care about straight people, is that what we are to infer?

Yes, those pitchers have the right to freedom of expression, which in their haste to explain away their bigotry was the foundation of their arguments, but it goes both ways. The Giants are on the road for the next week. It’ll be interesting to see the kind of reception Roupp gets when he returns to the mound at Oracle Park. Or the other guys when they come on in relief.

Remember Landen, it’s the fans’ freedom of expression.

Nathan Mollat has been covering high school sports in San Mateo County for the San Mateo Daily Journal since 2001. He can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com.