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For me personally, I've always lived a life that felt equal parts tradition and modern. I spent many a summer in small town America wasting away the days of my youth on baseball and county fairs. I also spent a majority of my life growing up in a melting pot of one of America's largest metropolitan areas. I've seen the benefits of living in a place where everybody knows everybody and time stands still. I've also experienced the wonders of 24/7 life lived in relative anonymity. One of the things I've come to realize as the good ol' US of A enters into year 238 is that the America I live in now is no longer the same America I remember growing up, and yet it still is. Just this past month I've grown to embrace "the beautiful game" of soccer, and quite honestly it has taken baseball's place for me. American football will always be my #1 sport of choice, followed by basketball, but I long ago lost my love of baseball. For one, I think the sport is too watered down and contrition should be considered. Secondly, it is no longer the sport I remember as a child. It's too commercial, to corporate. Not that other sports aren't, but to me it has changed the simplicity I loved about the game as a kid. I also think it has a lot to do with the way America has changed. The Hispanic population is far greater than it was when I was a child and the immigration of it's people have brought about it's culture, one aspect being futbol. I listen to a lot of sports talk and one local host tried to compare the 1980 US Men's National Hockey team to the current US Men's National Soccer team. His point was that while we are currently riding a wave of patriotism associated with the World Cup, the movement would die down once the world's biggest sporting event came to an end. I have to politely disagree. The cultural background of America has changed in the past 34 years for one. Secondly, kids watching soccer today are going to have far greater access to the sport than kids that watched hockey in 1980. I say this because the financial investment to begin with is far less. To play soccer, you merely need a ball. To play hockey there is a pretty substantial initial investment. You have to have a rather large list of equipment to play, and you are going to have to pay for rink time unless it's the middle of the winter in the far norther parts of the country. Soccer you merely go outside and play. It's a lot like baseball was when I was a kid. You only needed a glove and a ball, and the neighborhood could share a bat. I'm excited for the opportunity for soccer to take hold. While it is a relatively modern concept in the US, it is a very traditional game the rest of the world over. Even on a deeper level, I'm excited that the US can still absorb traditions from other parts of the world and meld it into her fabric, which is what we've done best for 238 years. It comforting for me to know that I can still have a balance between tradition and modern.