Can you feel it?
Soccer commercials are dominating ad time on the TV, football stars graze magazine covers, and even newspapers are running little stories on American players.
It's that time of the decade again. The World Cup has arrived!
On June 11th, Mexico and South Africa will kick around a little white ball in front of, oh, 2 billion people, to inaugurate the greatest spectacle in the world, a month-long showcase of talent, desire and pure unadulterated passion.
Just thinking about it makes my knees wobble. I get like a little kid hyped up on sugar the days before the games begin, but once they arrive, I become a nervous wreck. I'm like a convicted felon awaiting trial, I expect the worst and hope for the best.
Just to put things into perspective, when Mexico was beaten by Argentina's Maxi Rodriguez with the luckiest goal in world cup history in the round-of-16, I became depressed. Well, only for a few days, but it was bad. I sat in the car listening to the Beatle's "Don't Let me Down" asking the heavens why I was let down.
I can't wait to see what kind of breakdown I'll have this time around.
Yes, my panties are all up in a bunch because of this. I check blogs ESPNDeportes for new videos about the Mexican National Team more than every 15 minutes. I log into Soccer by Ives to get the latest scoop on the U.S. National team every few hours. Heck, I even browse foreign newspapers online for futbol news. I'm like a crack addict in need of a juicy rock when it comes to this stuff.
I have already cleared my mornings for days when Mexico or the U.S. play, and big matches like Brazil vs. Ivory Coast, and teams I enjoy watching like the Netherlands and Spain play, and teams I detest like Italy and Argentina play, and teams in groups A and C play, and quirky teams like South Korea and Nigeria play, and boring teams like Greece and Denmark play, and crappy teams like North Korea and New Zealand play. In other words, I plan on watching every single game. I am that obsessed.
In 2006, I watched about 60 of the 65 games. A few of them weren't live because the third games of the group stages are always played simultaneously and I didn't feel like switching back and forth. From the games I watched, I made a notebook logging who scored when, what the final score was, and how much I enjoyed the game.
Four years later, I plan on doing a similar, yet much more sophisticated log through this blog. I don't want to wax too poetic on every game, just a few key ones, but I do want to jot down notes on every game. Hopefully it doesn't come out as boring as it sounds right now. I will try to mix things up and maybe have some guest commentators as the tournament progresses.
Thanks for clicking over here and taking the time to read my ramblings. Be sure to check back every so often for new content.
Just a few comments haha - you know I can't leave this as is.
ReplyDelete1.) Maxi's goal - you meant best, not luckiest
2.) I know the depression feeling...Apparently German defenders can use their hands to stop goals, too. (And I cheer for MU basketball)
3.) Where you watching the games? I'd love to watch the South Africa victory with you ;-)
I wouldn't have it any other way Tim.
ReplyDelete1) Let's just say it was a once in a lifetime goal and call it a draw. I admit, it was spectacular.
2)I remember that game well. Ernie Stewart was all over the pitch. The US deserved the W, it played arguably its best game of the tourney and that's saying something.
3)No plans yet. You got anything? It would be an honor to watch Mexico take it to the Bafana Bafana with you.