God help me.. but I might like soccer.

If you know me at all, you know this -- I don't like soccer.

If you don't know me at all... well, count your lucky stars. Then, know this -- I don't like soccer.

Just in case that was a bit fuzzy, let me clarify: I would rather be sentenced to a lifetime of front-row seats at Backstreet Boys concerts than watch soccer. I would rather mix up liver, asparagus, cherries, tofu and spoiled milk in a blender and chug it like it's a Miller Lite than watch soccer. I would rather vote for George W. Bush than watch soccer.

OK... maybe that third one was pushing it. But I'll assume you get my point.

My biggest problem with soccer is ... nothing. Nothing happens. They run back and forth, up and down a field for 90 minutes, sometimes more, and it's perfectly acceptable for both teams to leave the field without settling anything. Tell me another sport where neither team can score, but after a certain amount of time elapses, everyone just gets together and says.. "Yeah, let's just call it good." You can't. It's not out there.

Aaron Sorkin summed it up best in an episode of his sitcom SportsNight:

"We'll bring you the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat and, because we've got soccer highlights, the sheer pointlessness of a 0-0 tie."

So, with that in mind, let me stand up and make my confession: My name is Mitch Worthington, and I might like soccer.

Of course, it would make sense that, due to my acute disdain for the sport, I've been afforded many, many opportunities to watch it. I covered high school sports for seven years and probably watched 100 soccer games or more. I've seen several dozen college games. I watched Real Salt Lake play Real Madrid. None of it changed my mind.

The game I watched Friday did. At least a little bit.

It wasn't an Olympic match or an ESPN Classic replay of a World Cup final. It was a college soccer match between Idaho State and Utah State.

For those who don't know, I work as a graduate assistant in the Idaho State Sports Information department. There are many duties associated with my job, but on Friday, it sent me to the press box for an ISU soccer match, where I ran the scoreboard.

For the first 20 minutes, Idaho State looked... well... I guess bored is the best word to describe it. Utah State controlled possession and looked a little bit like a varsity team playing somebody's JV squad. ISU eventually got itself together and tied the game in the second half.

This led to overtime, where I fully expected no one to score. Ties in any sporting event are a lot like kissing your sister, and Idaho State had a whole bunch of tie games last year. That's just too much borderline-incestuous behavior for my tastes, but I expected I would be seeing more of it Friday.

Utah State thought not, and nearly scored twice in the first overtime. They had a few other decent chances in the second overtime, but in the end, Idaho State waited until the last second -- or, more accurately, the 16th-to-last second -- to avoid an overtime tie. Ashley Askwig, a freshman playing her first real college soccer match, picked up a loose ball, saw that Utah State's goalkeeper was laying behind her, and calmly scored the game-winner. All that happened because Alex Hansen basically flung herself at the ball and into a mass of humanity, forcing the keeper to dive for the ball.

I actually felt vindicated. Not because it was ISU's goal and match, although I do support the school I attend and work at. I think I'd have felt the same if Utah State had won in overtime. Overtime ties suck. Games that go into overtime but have a clear winner, do not. Games that go into overtime and lull me into thinking they're going to be ties before shocking me in the final 20 seconds -- very much do not suck.

So, maybe I'm not a real soccer fan -- just a fan of soccer games that have exciting finishes.