Second, I must admit that I am obsessed with sports. I'm definitely a guy in that way.
Now, I haven't tried my hand (foot?) at soccer since I signed up for the school team in 7th grade, then promptly got bronchitis and was out for the season, yet was still forced to attend ALL the practices because I had signed up. That made me angry at soccer for a long time. Plus, I'm a sprinter, and soccer requires endurance. It would never have worked out. And soccer just isn't a big deal here. I went to a huge D1 school, and we didn't even have a men's soccer team (there was a women's team). And the MLS? Really? I have no idea what teams exist except the LA Galaxy (David Beckham went there. It was on the news). And I think there's one in DC, although I couldn't be sure about that.
But WHOA! The World Cup has eaten me alive. This is better than the Olympics! You always have to love international competitions. Lots of friendly jabs at the friends who are foreign/have foreign allegiances and plenty of country pride and camaraderie. I have watched probably all but 4 of the matches so far (that's 26 of 30 matches for those of you not following closely). I can credit a lot of my watching to a flexible job, which has been awesome, given that games are at 10 and 2:30-right in the middle of the US workday. I have enjoyed watching the US play at a British pub (sadly not while we were actually playing the British, but I digress) while drinking a beer and eating the "English breakfast" at 10:30 in the morning. I have also loved watching at home, sometimes alone and yelling anyway, sometimes forgetting I'm not alone until the bewildered dog comes to see why I'm suddenly screaming, sometimes being out-yelled by the boyfriend.
It hasn't hurt that it was a good cup for my teams! I was cheering for the US and New Zealand (Dad's a kiwi) early on. New Zealand totally stole the show! They're a small country with ONE pro soccer team (they have to play in the Australian league). But they not only made it to the cup, they held their own against Italy, the past champs (and losers of their group)! Very exciting. The US made it to the round of 16, which I believe was the goal of the team in the cup. I did not, unfortunately, get to see the US-Ghana game that knocked us out (I was a crazy kayaking adventure).
But, while the World Cup was on, I found out I am going to the Netherlands for the first semester of my Master's. This of course means that I am now cheering for the Dutch! And cheer I can do. Plus, I visited in 2004 and came back with a shirt and flag, which a future Dutch classmate has assured me are spot on!
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