What's Happening to Me?

I remember a few months ago I was texting Silvio with something about the Cubs and the fact that they suck. His response startled me a little bit when the text I got back said,

"I don't care. I watch soccer now."

Well as it turns out what he meant was that the bar by his new apartment in the city was a soccer bar. Whenever he goes there all they have on the TV's is soccer. So he's not able to watch the Cubs and has started following soccer.

When I asked him why he just doesn't go to a different bar he told me that he didn't care that much, and that he was starting to like soccer. "It's in our blood." (We're both Italian.)

So now a few months later the World Cup was fastly approaching and I was talking about how stupid soccer is with Panger. She told me she loved soccer. (BTW I'm noticing that Panger loves every sport. She'd pry watch curling.) She went on and on about how beautiful the game was. I countered with "a bunch of guys kicking a ball back and forth for 90 minutes. Don't get much prettier than that." She probably meant that the men playing the sport we're beautiful.

They are tremendous athletes. I couldn't run around like that for 90 minutes straight. I've never doubted a soccer players athletic prowess though, it's just I always found the sport boring.

I remember when the World Cup was in the US, and here in Chicago in 1994. There was obviously a big deal made about it since it was here, and I got into it. I bought myself an Italian soccer shirt (Adidas of course) and wore it everywhere during the Cup. I even watched America suck.

I was crushed in the final though when Roberto Baggio missed a kick in the shootout and Italy lost to the booming crescendo of the Spanish tv announcer (If you watch the World Cup you have to watch it on the Spanish station. Even if you don't speak spanish it's totally worth it when somebody scores.) yelling

"Baggioooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"

I was heartbroken and I didn't even give a shit!

I never played soccer growing up. I was a baseball player. So really I didn't know anything about the game except for the fact that you can't use your hands. Slowly I learned about the game by watching, and quickly started to live for corner kicks.

To me all the back and forth at midfield is boring, but once they get near the goal then I get interested. I actually Tivo'd a game the other night while I was sleeping and I watched the entire thing in fast forward until somebody got in the offensive zone.

Makes the game a lot better for my ignorant American ass.

Then yesterday in an attempt to protect America I watched the Mexico/Iran match, and much to my surprise, I was enjoying it.

Today I watched the US get their asses kicked by the Czechs, and I still enjoyed it. I didn't even care that the US team was embarassingly bad. Now as I type this entry I'm counting the minutes (33 as of right now) until the Italy/Ghana matchup starts.

See, I know I'm American but I'm rooting for Italy. Let's face facts, no matter how much the press here wants to tell us that we have a good team, the truth is we don't. They wouldn't tell us the truth cuz then nobody would watch. Being American though, and loving to ride the horse up front, I'm rooting for Italy. Being Scottish too I would root for Scotland if they were in the World Cup. Since they're not I'll root against England for them.

What the hell is happening to me!? Am I becoming a soccer hooligan?

No. Pry not. Here's what's going to happen. I will watch the World Cup, and when it's over I'll say to myself,

"I'm gonna start watching more soccer."

Then I'll look for a couple matches from the leagues in Europe or the MLS and not be interested in it at all. I have tried to catch a few Chicago Fire matches from time to time, and I'm just not able to get into it.

My soccer interest is probably going to stay focused solely on the World Cup. The play I see in it is just superior to anything I see in the MLS. Maybe the Euro leagues are better, but I just can't seem to find Manchester U. or Real Madrid matches on TV here often enough to keep my interest. Then you throw in the fact that they will have to compete with my undying love for all things White Sox or baseball related and soccer just doesn't stand much of a chance.

I wonder how many of my readers started reading this entry and said "A post about soccer!? F this." and went to the next site on their blog reading schedule.

Did you know that some men are complete douchebags?

If you didn't I'll give you another example of Extreme Male Douchebaggery. At work last night one of my employess got a phone call. I was standing next to her, and for the entire 45 seconds or so she was on the phone she didn't say anything.

When she hung up I noticed her arms were shaking a lil so I asked her if everything was all right. She said no and asked if she could go to the washroom for a minute. I said sure and took over the register for her.

When she came back a few minutes later she was still visibly shaken, so I asked her what was wrong.

She told me.

Her fiance of the past three years decided to CALL her at WORK to let her know that he had met someone else and had decided to call off the engagement.

Isn't that sweet? Obviously I told her that if she needed a few minutes to herself or go home I would be okay with it. She said she wanted to stay in hopes that working might help her keep her mind off of it.

I then offered to go rough him up. She said that would be nice, but not necessary. It's a shame too cuz I was in a rumblin mood yesterday.

Then to try to help a little, she's a new employee and I don't know her that well so I tried as best I could, I told her that any guy who would choose to call you at work to tell you that isn't worth it anyway.

Obviously even though that's true, it doesn't really help matters I'm sure.

Poor kid.

You have to love when your team, in this case the White Sox, stages a ninth inning comeback and scores 6 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning.

Unfortunately the score going into the inning was 10-2 Indians. Sox lost 10-8.

I saw the movie Munich the other day. It was really good. Since it was directed by Spielberg, and about a pretty touchy subject I expected it to be really preachy.

It was a little preachy, but to his credit Steven did a good job of conveying both sides of the story.

Eric Bana is terrific in it as Avner, a Mossad agent who along with a crew of others is assigned to track down and kill the terrorists responsible. The only catch is they're on their own as Mossad cannot be linked to it. How Bana didn't get a Best Actor nomination baffles me.

If you ain't seen it, see it.

I shouldn't wake up at 4:30AM on June 12th and be shivering.

Where's your global warming now Gore!? Waaaah.*

*If you get it, you get it. If not, GFY.

Things I'm Wondering

• Where are my socks?
• Why is it that in the last three poker tournament I've played each time I've gone out has been the same? I flop a set and then on the turn my opponent hits a bigger set. 66vsJJ, TT vs KK, and today 88(My lucky hand!)vsKK.
• Why hasn't anyone shot Paris Hilton yet?
• Italy's national colors are red, white, and green. So why are their soccer jersey's blue?
• It's ok to crack open a Miller High Life at 2PM on a Monday if you're watching soccer right?

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Keepin It Real Since 1980,

Tom