Yesterday morning I had to run a couple of errands for my parents and so I listened to the beginning of Team USA versus Germany on the radio – another interesting experience. Then I went to The Yard and caught the end of the match on El Grande. The ATL and ‘Stros fans were cheering together.
I heard this morning that more folks in the U.S. of A. watched Team USA versus Portugal than the World Serious and the NBA finals. I’m OK with that.
Folks are into Team USA and the Copa Mundial and that’s fine by me. Can’t we all get along?
Here is what the Chron’s Jerome Soloman wrote yesterday:
But win and advance, and a slew of local elementary school students, who one day will become professional sports fans, will add Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard jerseys to their wish lists alongside names like J.J. Watt, James Harden and Jose Altuve.
Lisa Falkenberg’s column today is about her experience yesterday watching the match at a Downtown eatery. Here is a part:
I learned interesting biographical facts. Clint Dempsey – the guy whose bruised face looks like he recently survived a car crash – is a Texan from Nacogdoches. The goalie, Tim Howard, has ADHD, and is active in raising awareness about it. And Graham Zusi is beautiful.
What struck me is how fast it all went. I can usually shop for the groceries, fix dinner, dust, mop, and read half of a Michener novel in the time it takes my husband to watch the first quarter of an NFL game, and that only includes 10 minutes of actual playing.
This was pure action. There was no idle standing and huddling. No shots of some benchwarmer gulping Gatorade. No buzz-kill whistles announcing time-outs. No commercials or incessant replays. No screen doodling.
As it turned out, there wasn’t much scoring either. But that didn’t flatten the room’s enthusiasm. It didn’t shush the crescendos of “ooohs” and “ohhhs” and applause. It didn’t halt the nail-biting, the skull-clutching, the togetherness.
It was a scene even a soccer novice could appreciate. I began to understand why the players always seem so angsty in photographs. There must be a heightened sense of agony and ecstasy in a game that carries the hopes and dreams of billions on its shoulders.
It is all about Team USA!
Name the three ‘Stros that played yesterday who were acquired from the Phillies in 2011 for Hunter Pence?
I guess biting is the national sport of Uruguay. They think the punishment to biter Luis Suarez was unjust. Check this from MSN:
Soccer-crazy Uruguayans raged Thursday at FIFA’s decision to kick their star player out of the World Cup for his third biting incident, fearing it could deal a death blow to their bid to win the sport’s greatest tournament.
And:
Uruguayans of all stripes were nearly unanimous in their support of Suarez, calling the punishment excessive for what they felt was an act of immaturity.
”It feels like Uruguay has been thrown out of the World Cup,” Uruguayan soccer federation president Wilmar Valdez said in Rio.
And:
”The immorality and hypocrisy of FIFA has no limits. Neither does Chiellini’s inclination for being a tattle-tale and a fink!” Luis Puig, a lawmaker for Uruguay’s ruling Broad Front coalition said on his Twitter account.
Suarez also got support from former Argentine star Diego Maradona, who argued that the World Cup has seen worse foul play than the bite and those incidents have gone unpunished. ”This is football, this is incidental contact,” he said on Venezuela’s Telesur network.
Incidental contact? Huh?
Like someone tweeted yesterday, when FIFA says you did something bad, then you know it has to be bad.
Let the buzz continue! At least until Tuesday!
Jarred Cosart, Jon Singleton, and Josh Zeid of course all saw action yesterday.
Brad Ausmus and the Tigers visit The Yard for three this weekend. The ‘Stros will celebrate Orbit’s BD with giveaways. How old is Orbit anyway?
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