On the Road ... Tour de France

Affirming suspicions 

For the past few weeks, I've started to wonder if maybe I had overblown the lack of interest by Americans in the World Cup. Even though the U.S. team is out, relatively large numbers of people must still be gathering at various spots to watch games, right?

On Tuesday, during the first semifinal game between Italy and Germany, I figured I find out myself.

Now I know this is hardly a complete justification of my previously held bias, but I was surprised at how hard it was for me to find a suitable place to watch the game.

I live near Campbell — crazy commute, I know — so I figured I'd try a local Irish pub; at noon, the time of kickoff, it was closed. I then went down the street to a bar/resteraunt that advertising Sunday NFL viewing during the fall; it was open and had about 20 people watching the game. I was pleasantly surprised.

The 'pleasant' part quickly evaporated though, when I asked the bartender if it was OK to pull up a stool. She said, "You know, you guys are taking up all my stools and bar space. I need for customers." This shocked me a bit since I was, in fact, a customer, or at least planned to be. The other people watching the game were also customers, I thought, since they were drinking and eating food. I found a seat elsewhere and made the best of it. At one point a woman walked in and remarked, "Wow, the World Cup is still on." I watched until halftime and left.

I then tried another bar/resteraunt that was far more accomodating. There were 10-15 people watching the game there, but it was hardly a raucus crowd. At the end of regulation I decided to cut my losses and watch extra time at home.

I'm sure there are other spots around the Bay Area that would have been much better examples of the excitement this tournament is generating here. But that would have required making an effort to find one, and that kind of reinforces my point: that Americans, at large, just don't care that much and probably never will.

posted by FreeSanJose at 8:47 AM

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