The American public has a love-hate relationship with soccer, so it was fitting that the U.S. national team's recent run at the World Cup was both exhilarating and maddening. Though they had a tendency to surrender early goals, the squad's scrappy resilience earned them new fans — and impressive TV ratings. "I thought we played pretty well for the most part," midfielder Landon Donovan says of his team, which lost a frustrating game to Ghana in the Round of 16...
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We're no xenophobes, but television had us feeling rather patriotic this week. Treme made us bow our heads for the Louisiana bayou. Top Chef aimed at improving our kids' school lunches. American John Isner triumphed in a record-breaking Wimbledon match. Jimmy Kimmel made lemonade out of a lemon-y electrical problem. And the U.S. World Cup team's last-minute victory had us waving a giant foam finger that says "We're No. 1." — tastefully, of course. Welcome to Top Moments: American Ingenuity Edition.
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Many Americans still sneer at soccer, but ESPN is determined to make this country care about the world's game. And when ESPN decides to do something, they do it big. The self-proclaimed "worldwide leader in sports" has given an enormous promotional push for its coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and will pull out all the bells and whistles for live telecasts of every game, beginning with Friday's first match, between host South Africa and Mexico (June 11, 9:30am/8:30c)...
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