Ok. I must admit it.

Soccer is not that bad. I had made it to this point of my life without even giving a second thought to ever watching a soccer game.

To me, it just seemed, well, lame. There was no way it could rival the excitement of college football or the NBA playoffs, but I found myself surfing through the channels Sunday and stumbled upon the FIFA Confederations Cup final between superpower Brazil and the U.S.A. in South Africa.

At first I started watching to be patriotic. Afterall, it was the first time the United States had ever been in a FIFA Cup final. In case you didn't notice, soccer is not on the same level with fans as baseball, football and basketball in our country.

So soccer has always had a disadvantage here to other countries like Brazil and Spain. If your a top athelete in the United States, you play one of the big three sports. Over there, soccer gets top bill. I'm not sure what it will take to get our top atheletes to give soccer a try but after watching Sunday's game, I have decided it is a great sport, minus those annoying horns

the fans seem to blow constantly in the background. It almost sounds like a swarm of bees hoovering around the stadium. But the game itself, is surprisingly entertaining.

The U.S. looked to pull a major upset taking a 2-0 lead and shocking the world at intermission against Brazil. A win over Brazil for the United States would be similar to China defeating the New England Patriots in football. You get the point. It was a tall order.

Brazil struck quickly in the second half with a goal to cut the lead to 2-1, 46 minutes into the 90- minute game. Watching

U.S. goalkeeper Tim

Howard save kick after kick by the mighty Brazilians was breathtaking. Every moment was intense. Brazil tied the game 2-2 a few minutes later and eventually took the lead and the FIFA Cup to prove why they are one of the superpowers of the world in soccer.

Despite the loss, a lot was gained by this United States soccer team. They have now given soccer a fighting chance here in a country in love with football, baseball and basketball.

There were probably as many fans throughout the states watching soccer Sunday as there ever has been.

If I can give soccer a chance then so can you. I was probably like most of you in thinking that soccer was about as entertaining as watching Nascar. Sorry racing fans.

But I will be the first to admit I was wrong and closed-minded to think so. Heck, I may even give Nascar a chance. We dominate football, baseball, basketball and on down to swimming and track. Now is the time to add soccer to that list. Who knows, in the coming years we may be getting ready for the big Jackson-Leroy soccer match. That is probably a stretch but if soccer can win me over, then anything is possible.