Ok so I still am 2 posts behind even after I finish this post, but I guess it can help me get out of the hole a little bit. According to this timer on espn, the Fifa 2010 world cup is 19 days and 20 hours away now. My first world cup memories start in France 1998. Since that time I have followed the world cup pretty closely. In the past I have always cheered for Germany mainly because in 1998 Jordan cheered for Germany and because are ancestors are from there and because Canada will probably just make the world cup once before I die. I cheered for Germany in 2002 and in 2006 as well. But this year I am going to commit a horrible sports sin and I am going to change which team I will cheer for. In the world of sports changing the team you cheer for is like committing adultery. Once you choose a team to cheer for in any sport you have to cheer for that team forever. And cheering for another team is like cheating on your original team. Imagine if all the Schneiders started to cheer for the Flames. Exactly. It would be horrible and inconceivable even if we were to live in calgary for 50 years. Starting in 2010 I am going to cheer for Chile in the world cup. Now the last time Chile went to the world cup was in 1998. They don't go too often because they aren't as good as Germany. The likelihood that both Chile and Germany will be in more world cups together won't happen too often. So assuming only Germany is in the world cup in the future I will continue to cheer for Germany, but if both Chile and Germany are in the same world cup, I will cheer for Chile. (It is worth noting that I have a soft spot in my heart for England but including them in this post will make it way too long and complicate things even more so will just leave them alone for now).
I was able to witness during my mission what Chilean soccer is all about. Whenever the national team plays, everything shuts down. I will never cheer for the US soccer team, because the US will never care that much about soccer or about any sport for that matter on a national level. And besides I lived in Chile for two years, I have never lived or even been to Germany so maybe it isn't too blown out of proportion to start cheering for another team in the world cup.
But this world cup is going to be amazing as they always are. Maybe I will write a post later that will be like an "Idiot's guide to the 2010 FIFA world cup" but I don't have the energy for that yet. But for starters it will be in South Africa from June 11 to July 11 and there are 32 countries that will be competing against each other.
Ill leave it to Bono's voiceover to get you excited about the world cup by going to this link this one is only a minute long:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXlBSlyU8xY
¡ Vamos Chile!
3 comments:
Great post, Rico. It has a little of everything - irish rock star, sports, nostalgia, genealogy, childhood memories, and the gospel. I've always thought it's ok to cheer for more than one team.
Watching the link actually made me want to watch a game or two.
And just for the record, the Seatlle Sounders are really picking up momentum here - maybe it's partly because we no longer have a basketball team, not to mention much of a baseball or football team, but still...!
I am way excited about this now too - thanks! I think it's awesome that you have found a team of your own to cheer for. I will have to participate in this too... hmmm, maybe rooting for Slovenia? i mean, i don't plan to travel to south africa for the games, although i have always wanted to go to africa.... but i will watch a game or two. inevitable, i suppose, because spence is into it and plans to go to Brazil for 2014... This is very exciting.
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