Another Day, Another Three Games
Three games is my limit. I already knew that, but yesterday reconfirmed it. By the end of the third game, which was the best of the tournament so far, I was a little antsy. When I had cable tv, sometimes when I had nothing to do on Sundays I would watch an Italian game, a Dutch game, a Brazilian game, and then a Spanish game. And I would always be squirming on the couch during the fourth.
A friend called me at the beginning of the Argentina-Ivory Coast game, asking me to meet her in the center of the city. I explained, with all the patience I could muster, that she would have to wait until the game was over, because I was not going to miss a minute of it in transit. She understood, but I think she was disappointed that even the foreigners are taking the Cup so seriously.
All good Brazilians became hardcore Ivory Coast fans yesterday. When Drogba scored a late consolation goal one of the apartments upstairs from mine erupted in cheers. It made me happy, too, but for a very different reason.
My own World Cup experience this year has been corrupted by my participation in a pool. Normally I would have been squarely in the Ecuador camp, but I picked Poland to win the game. Normally I would be (and really, this one is stronger -- I still am) a hardcore fan of whatever team is playing against England. But this time I really wanted that 2-1 England victory I predicted. Worse still was watching Trinidad & Tobago play Sweden to a standstill. Normally I would have been thrilled, but I had predicted a 2-0 Sweden win and there's no telling how badly that hurt me.
I didn't go out last night, because I wanted to get up at 10 to watch the Dutch play. They have always been one of my favorite sides to watch (and in the pool I picked them to win it all, so there will be no feeling of conflict unless they play the US or Brazil). Yesterday, and again today, there were three games, with one hour between each game. It is going to be very difficult to get normal things done during this phase of the tournament. The grocery store near me is closed for renovations, so to buy food I need to take the bus. Getting my grocery shopping done during the one hour interval between games is going to be difficult. And as long as there are 10am games, I'm not going to be going out much at night. But what can you do? The Cup only comes around once every four years.
I'd write more but the second half is about to start...
A friend called me at the beginning of the Argentina-Ivory Coast game, asking me to meet her in the center of the city. I explained, with all the patience I could muster, that she would have to wait until the game was over, because I was not going to miss a minute of it in transit. She understood, but I think she was disappointed that even the foreigners are taking the Cup so seriously.
All good Brazilians became hardcore Ivory Coast fans yesterday. When Drogba scored a late consolation goal one of the apartments upstairs from mine erupted in cheers. It made me happy, too, but for a very different reason.
My own World Cup experience this year has been corrupted by my participation in a pool. Normally I would have been squarely in the Ecuador camp, but I picked Poland to win the game. Normally I would be (and really, this one is stronger -- I still am) a hardcore fan of whatever team is playing against England. But this time I really wanted that 2-1 England victory I predicted. Worse still was watching Trinidad & Tobago play Sweden to a standstill. Normally I would have been thrilled, but I had predicted a 2-0 Sweden win and there's no telling how badly that hurt me.
I didn't go out last night, because I wanted to get up at 10 to watch the Dutch play. They have always been one of my favorite sides to watch (and in the pool I picked them to win it all, so there will be no feeling of conflict unless they play the US or Brazil). Yesterday, and again today, there were three games, with one hour between each game. It is going to be very difficult to get normal things done during this phase of the tournament. The grocery store near me is closed for renovations, so to buy food I need to take the bus. Getting my grocery shopping done during the one hour interval between games is going to be difficult. And as long as there are 10am games, I'm not going to be going out much at night. But what can you do? The Cup only comes around once every four years.
I'd write more but the second half is about to start...
posted by Venha Futuro at 12:10 AM
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