I feel very seen:

“You know who I feel for? I feel for the American fans who are desperate for this, American soccer fans who are desperate for this, how embarrassed they must be. How embarrassing for them this must be.

Over my thirty some odd years as a soccer fan, I’ve travelled all over the world following my teams, and I have always been received with incredible hospitality. Fans in Austria that pulled me aside to talk how Ivanschitz was settling in in Seattle on the way to a Rapid Wien match. A fan in England that comped me a ticket to a Watford-West Ham match. A fan in Morocco that invited me for a meal after a CWC match. Fans in Denmark who gave me a flawless match preview and walked me to the stadium for a World Cup qualifier. Everywhere I go, everyone treats me with kindness and respect, even though the reason I can afford to travel intercontinentally to watch soccer is a product of the benefits of how the United States imposes its empire. One of my favorite things about soccer is it’s always felt like I’m just part of a big friend group with like 2 billion people in more than 200 countries who just regularly invite each other over to hang out, and even when I don’t know anyone I’m amongst friends.

So naturally I was very excited to invite everyone over to our house to watch soccer! Most soccer fans aren’t particularly interested in coming to the US for a soccer game — MLS is pretty ho-hum, and most international fans have been deeply misled about the quality of play in NWSL. The World Cup was ideal— come to Seattle! See my stadium! Drink our local beer (trust me, we don’t drink the beer we export either)! It was supposed to be my chance to pay forward the kindness I have received for so many years.

But now, no-one’s coming and frankly I can’t blame them. Hell, I don’t even want to be in a World Cup city during this tournament, and I live here. It’s just so awful to have to repay kindness with exorbitant ticket prices, detainments at airports, and god only knows what once the games kick off. And it’s so frustrating because the soccer infrastructure and community in this is legitimately amazing, but no-one will see any of that, just nonstop Trump bullshit. And it’s extremely embarrassing.