U.S. Open Cup: What's not to love?
By Scott Yoshonis
Soccer Fanatics Radio
Why the U.S. Open Cup hasn’t taken its place as a premier American sporting event, even among American soccer fans, simply mystifies me. It is unique among professional sports in this country, as it frequently pits teams against one another that have no other contact whatsoever, in a one-and-done format. The number of legitimate David and Goliath stories defies count, and there is AT LEAST one every, single year.
It is the oldest single-elimination tournament in any sport in this country, and has been contested since before the NFL, NBA or NCAA even existed. For American fans of the World’s Most Popular Sport, it is a link to the tradition of cup competitions that trace their origins to the foundation of the sport itself. There are none of the gimmicks and contrivances that seem to have littered the history of professional soccer in for entirely too long.
Instead, it’s simply a domestic cup like any other, where the winner is the last one standing, the happy beneficiary of fortune and fortitude, the survivor of often unforeseen obstacles, and rarely the best team at the beginning of the tournament. But, more often than not, that best team is just another victim, another disappointed loser. Until next year.
In matchups where one team will beat the other nine times out of ten, the Open Cup often features that tenth game. Not every time, not even most of the time, but frequently enough that that underdog believes that it is their one day to shine, to defy the odds, and has no need to consider the other nine. And, frequently enough that the other nine is of no use or consolation to the favorite.
The U.S. Open Cup is an annual reminder of why we play and watch our games, and why sports are the original, and still the best, reality shows. Unscripted, unpredictable and unerringly compelling, cup games are special things, every one. They all come with large doses of elation, despair, triumph and regret, emotions that increase in each succeeding round.
And it culminates in The Final, the ultimate celebration of Cup football. It isn’t the cold, rational determination of a league champion, it is the surprise at the end of the season, not the end of the long meal, but the dessert. Where the league champion is nourished, satisfied, the Cup winner is elated, the recipient of a somewhat guilty pleasure. Dessert isn’t better than the meal, it just feels like it.
The Cup winner looks down at every other team, grasps the trophy and says, “you might be good, but we have THIS!” The Cup winner even looks up at the champion, and says, “your triumph is not complete, because we have THIS!”
What’s not to love about that?
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