Roger Bennett, one half of the follicly challenged "Men in Blazers" soccer pundits, has endured a lifetime of backing teams that have stubbornly refused to reward his support with success.
Everton, his hometown Premier League club, has finished in the top four just once since the league was formed. The Chicago Bears, the football team in his adopted hometown, have reached the Super Bowl just once since he moved to the U.S. He became an American citizen in March — five months after the national team's first failed World Cup qualifying campaign in more than three decades.
"It's a body blow that the United States are not in it," Bennett said of the World Cup, which kicks off June 14 in Moscow.