A wise political science professor once told my class, “You don’t like sports? Good. Because it’ll rip your heart out.”

He would ask each person in the class if they liked sports. If they said, “Yes,” fine. If they said, “No,” good.

Good because he is a fan of Chicago sports, except the Chicago Cubs – and he has been taken on a bumpy ride with his favorite teams in his life. As he said: “It’ll rip your heart out.”

In his class, I was one of the students who already liked sports. loved sports, so he couldn’t save me.

While I agree that sports take you on a wild ride and break your heart at times, I do believe there are some great things that come from them.

Like pure, unadulterated patriotism.

Sunday morning, millions of Americans on home soil and overseas felt that bursting from their pores, as we watched the U.S. women’s soccer national team beat all odds in a sudden death victory of the Brazilian national team.

We saw a referee, who seemed to be answering the call of the soccer gods who didn’t want the U.S. to win the game, make a call from deep inside our nightmares.

We saw the U.S. team, down a player and down a goal in extra time, score the most unparalleled goal in women’s soccer history.

In fact, it was the latest goal in FIFA Women’s World Cup history, coming two minutes into “injury time,” (the 122nd minute of the game) when all we had left was a couple breaths before the whistle blew.

The U.S. team was saved by who today are our three biggest American heroes, Abby Wambach, Megan Rapinoe and Hope Solo.

As I watched Wambach head in the game-tying goal in the 122nd minute, I jumped off my bed and screamed at the top of my lungs, while slapping my hands together in excitement.

And in penalty kicks, as we watched the ball go into the net for the last time, off the foot of Ali Krieger, to clinch the win for Team USA, we rejoiced once again as they did on the field.

We saw a short-handed team come from behind and achieve what most considered to be impossible at that stage in the game.

Even the play-by-play announcer spelled out what the imminent result would be of the loss, the worst finish in the team’s World Cup history.

Minutes later, Wambach made the goal that sent the game into penalty kicks, and the U.S. won.

It’s funny how the world works. We celebrated our country on the Fourth of July, and showed our patriotism. A day later, the nation turned vicious as a jury found Casey Anthony not guilty. Then, yesterday, a team of 10 U.S. women united the country once again.

It’s true what John Morris says to his students each semester. Sports can rip your heart out. But sports can also unite a fan base and fill your heart with joy.

Of course, the ultimate prize is when a team can unite a nation as it did with the 1980 US Olympic hockey team.

And as it did Sunday.

Alex McNamee is a junior journalism major. He can be reached at 581-7942 or at [email protected].