World Cup jubilation for soccer??

Opinion
Well the World Cup is over, with Spain taking the championship over the Netherlands on Sunday, July 11th. The winning goal—the only one of the match—was scored nearly two hours into the contest.
I don’t know about you, but I just can’t get into soccer. It may be the world’s most popular game, but is the world wrong? I have tried to get into soccer; watch it whenever a big game is on—likely in the World Cup—but I just can’t do it any longer. After the final whistle of every match I see, I automatically think, Well, there’s two hours I’ll never get back.
It’s not my fault! It’s automatic. I just don’t see the appeal. I watched the World Cup, including the final game. The most entertaining part of the final game—unquestionably—was the diving. And that, the diving, may be my main problem with soccer. When the players fall like that, often with no one even touching them, I simply have no respect for them. And then, they lie on the field as if they’re dead, or in apparent anguish, needing stretchers for an injury to their arm. Seriously? I can’t help but laugh.
At the start of the tournament, my mother asked me if Canada has a squad in the World Cup. I told her no… and she said that was kind of embarrassing. I was about to agree, but on the contrary, after thinking about it, I am proud Canada didn’t qualify. If we did qualify (even if we won the World Cup), and I saw players on behalf of my country diving on the ground as if they were shot, that’s what would qualify as embarrassing.
Winning gold in Vancouver for hockey was likely the time I felt most proud to be Canadian. Spaniards likely felt the same way on Sunday to be Spanish (congratulation to Spain for taking home the World Cup… and the whole Oscars). But that brings up a fundamental difference between our sports psyche versus the world’s sports psyche. We, in North America, enjoy action sports. And soccer is just not that. “The Beautiful Game” is just too slow for us. In North America, we value toughness. And the toughness in soccer was just taken off the field on a stretcher, apparently in critical condition. In hockey, if someone ‘acts’ and fakes a fall, they are given an unsportsmanlike penalty. In soccer, theatrics are only rewarded.
As for my question earlier, I don’t think the world is wrong. Soccer appeals to the rest of the world because the world uses a different set of criteria than we do. It doesn’t take many resources to play soccer, and the climate is more suitable all year long to play.
This doesn’t necessarily make soccer beautiful… to me, a North American. I will not watch soccer anytime soon, and no more time will be wasted watching players get shot by phantom guns and taken off on stretchers… only to return to action a minute later, fully recovered.
I may try soccer again in four years, at the next World Cup.
Or this time, maybe not.
Actually, probably not.
I've seen enough...