This is Soccer Week

Forget the Rolling Stones' refrain. Sometimes you can get what you want--and a little extra besides.
Not too many days ago, I lamented that some publicity-seeking faux streakers were more fun to watch than the Kansas City Wizards lately. The Wizards had just lost to Chiv....well, let's not talk about it.
Because the Wizards have redeemed themselves. And then some. What did they do?
*They got a record crowd of over 50,000 to come out to Arrowhead to watch a match.
*They convinced one of the top sports franchises in the world to make an appearance in Kansas City. Manchester United, of England, has also been our family's favorite English team for years.
*They got us all in to see the newly refurbished Arrowhead before any of the Chiefs season ticket holders. (Sorry, Chiefs fans who are not rich. Your area does not look that much different. But I hear the luxury boxes are nice.)
And, oh yeah, one more thing.
They won! It was 2-1, with the Red Devils' only score coming from a penalty kick. That same penalty forced the Wizards to play one man down for the entire second half. But they won anyway.
Which caused one more good thing to happen: It shut the mouths--momentarily, anyway--of all those soccer haters.
You know the ones. "Soccer will never catch on here because Americans need high scores, they can't pay attention long enough, the game's boring," and yap yap yap.
Well, here's a look at the crowd we saw yesterday:

The north side stands were just as full. And while this wasn't a sell-out, it was the biggest crowd ever to watch a match in Kansas City. It keeps this city in the running for a future World Cup game, if the World Cup does end up in the US again. (For more, check out the Star's soccer blog The Full 90.) Just for that extra little dollop of goodness to put things over the top, the Wizards became the first MLS team to beat Manchester Utd.
Yeah, sorry haters. But the beautiful game is catching on here (check out this story in the New York Times about that.) And personally, it feels good to be on the winning side of a trend for a change. Lord knows, it gets frustrating when your favorite TV shows and food flavors are always getting discontinued for lack of sales.
And so, because I am optimistic about the future of soccer in this country and the Kansas City Wizards in particular, I declare this

SOCCER WEEK

Go Wizards!