Thursday, June 17, 2010

World Cup Fever


Four years ago, Caitlin was bouncing off the walls, literally refusing to leave the house for the entire month of June because the 2006 World Cup was on and she wanted to be able to watch every single game. To be perfectly honest with you, I didn't have the foggiest clue what sport actually competed for the World Cup. When I found out it was soccer, I sort of gave her the side-eye and wondered how in the world my gently raised little Southern girl ever learned what soccer was. I mean, we're a college football kind of family. ROCKY TOP BABY!!! I had never seen a soccer game. I remember waving my hand dismissively because there was simply no way soccer could be as interesting as football, could there?

Flash forward to 2010. Caitlin wants to be a diplomat in Spain when she gets out of school. Her interest in soccer has increased since the 2006 World Cup and like a good mommy, I figured if my baby was into the game and was going to end up living in Spain one of these days, I ought to at least support her.

OMG, folks, I am here to tell you that I am a convert. I was wrong. Soccer IS as good as college football. You have to support a club team and our team of choice is Barcelona. Caitlin has decided that she is going to marry their coach one of these days (Check out his pic associated with her name in the followers list). We have spent our Saturdays and Sundays watching countless numbers of games. We must watch Barcelona play and we have to watch the other games that might effect Barca's standings. I know, I know...we've gotten all die hard now!

The 2010 World Cup started this week and yup, you guessed it, we're both glued to the television supporting Spain (I'm pulling for the USA team too but I just don't think they'll go very far). Going into the tournament, Spain was the favorite to win the whole thing. I say "was" because they sort of muffed their opening match game with Switzerland yesterday. It was a nailbiter though; I sat on the floor screaming and trying to kick the ball for them. Despite the loss, I'm still pulling for Spain FTW.

The more games I watch, the more I'm learning the ropes. I have actually begun to understand the rules and regulations a little bit. Caitlin says that by the end of this year's World Cup, I might actually have moved up from youngling to Padawan. I will freely admit to you that one thing that keeps me watching is the fact that there are a lot of cutie patooties on the soccer pitch. I figure that if Caitlin gets to claim Barcelona's coach then I get to pick one for myself- only fair, don't you think?- so if you look at the pic at the top of the post, Spain's #3 Gerard Pique' is spoken for. To borrow a phrase from Bill from True Blood, "Pique' is MINE!"

Regardless, if you aren't a soccer fan, give it a chance. Don't be surprised if you end up addicted to it like me!

4 comments:

  1. Ahh finally! I've been waiting for this for 4 years. I'm happy that you've admitted this is a great sport. Socrates did say that honesty is the first step to recovery. But remember it's football not soccer.

    (p.s. you do know that this is the picture where your Pique is about to get kicked in the head *just saying*)

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  2. I know, I know. My poor little Pique sitting on the ground, bleeding and all twitterpated! He needed me to hop on the first flight to South Africa and take care of him!

    Wait a minute! That's why they didn't win...Pique needed me there! Damn my lack of plane ticket funds!

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  3. LOL.. after I heard from you.. I checked out some pictures of him out of curiosity. He is beyond HOT! LOL.. soccer is a neat sport. I like it about like basketball. My list goes Softball/Baseball, Soccer/Basketball, then Football. Even through all the band stuff with football during marching season.. I just never really liked it.

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  4. I never liked it at all. It didn't make any sense to me but I suppose that was because there weren't any soccer teams around here when I was growing up. You couldn't even watch soccer on TV back then.

    But now that I'm learning the ropes, I've really gotten into it. Literally, I'm glued to ESPN from 8:30-3:30 everyday watching World Cup games!

    As far as my Pique' goes, he ended up getting hurt in the next game too! He got kicked in the mouth-literally spewing blood everywhere and they stuffed his mouth full of gauze and he went back out there and played for another 50 minutes- and THEN someone kicked the ball really hard and it connected right in his...well you can imagine. And he played through THAT too. I was laying on the floor in agony for him!

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