Apparently there was some sort of big soccer game yesterday. I say "apparently" with some hesitation, because it was not apparent through the radiowaves in the Southeastern United States (well, South Carolina and Georgia, anyhow). I took my oldest to Thomson, GA, where his cousin, Garrett, agreed to pick him up for a trip to Atlanta. Garrett's schedule put the pick-up time right smack dab in the middle of the World Cup, where The Netherlands faced Paul the Octopus' favored Spain in Soccer's biggest game. "Father", pleaded Son, "We can't leave now. The most popular sporting event in the entire world is being played!" We'll just catch it on the radio, I'd said. I'd forgotten myself. This is America, and not just America, but rural South Carolina and Georgia; the most popular game in the world is about seventh or eighth on the list, well behind NASCAR and high school football, but slightly ahead, perhaps, of Canadian Curling. We picked up the Atlanta Braves baseball club battling the second place Mets on six different stations, but not a whisper of soccer (well, actually, a whisper we did get: one very, very faint reference on a static-y station near Augusta). Fortunately, Davis and I arrived in Thomson a good bit before Garrett did, and we decided to find the game in town. We looked high and low with little success, before deducing that, since Futbol is the most popular game in most countries, and since Spain was in the finals, that maybe a Mexican restaurant would be airing the game.
We deduced correctly. We popped into "Amigos", where ten or twelve Spanish-speaking sports fans were assembled to watch Espana battle the dirty-tactic Dutch. 
"Who are you for?", asked three or four short but stocky Hispanics. "Espana, of course", I replied. Oldest was a little less aware of his surroundings, and said he liked the Lowcountries (or "Pais Bajo", as it said on the Spanish-language station we watched). "He's young", I pleaded, "The boy has no sense". It's a good thing that Spain prevailed; we were able to leave with our frijoles intact.
6 comments:
As you know, I am all about American Football!.....however, my Mississippi Sister-in-law adds the other Futbal to her list---loves the game and is not adverse to commenting on their physiques on fb!!
Glad you and Davis found the game! :) fdb
Baggetts watching soccer? I never heard of such!
Seriously, soccer on the radio? That's about like listening to Nascar on the radio. Love Futbol. Ali and I watched the game, she adopted the Netherlands as soon as the USA choked to Ghana (what choo Ghana do?) and I only picked up Spain when Uraguay went the way of the rest of the Americas (AMF- Adios dude :)
We had a good time, and I don't know that I would have thought about the Mexican Restaurant angle. Bueno Trabajo Hermano!
Coach Muller'd be proud.
Futbol is another sport that makes American football players look like a bunch of pansies.
In Fußball, play goes on continuously: there are no time outs, not stoppage of play, no commercial breaks. It is non-stop action for 45-minutes x 2. And if they go into OT, there's a 3 minute break in between two 15-minute periods.
Soccer players have to be some of the most fit athletes out there. It was lots of fun to watch!
Side note: Switzerland was the only team to beat Spain :)
Hey, now! Don't be putting down American football, Star. I respect soccer, but I love football. I've no doubt that soccer players are more cardio-fit than American footballers; however, in upper-body strength you gotta give the big guys the nod. I'd be surprised if soccer players were any faster in short bursts of speed, too.
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