Chicagoans are becoming soccer fans, thanks to the razz-ma-tazz of the recently completed World Cup games, which, in Wrigleyville, gives taverns a reason for being, which the Cubs are finding difficult to provide.

I have a suggestion to make in the flush of this excitement over a sport that prohibits the use of hands: I propose that the United States of America import the powerful narrative technique of those commentators who gave us the blow-by-blow of each contest.

In one game, Germany is “waiting and lurking in cursory fashion.”
In another, Uruguay is “snarling defiance.”
In another, Spain is “breaking up the pretty patterns.”

American sportscasters are good. They are lucid, likeable, lively. It would be cool if they also became more facile with language.

I am learning to love watching this game, in part, beacuse istening to the commentary reminds me that words, like fine sport, can lift us all to a place where it feels damn good to be alive.