Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Soccer Mania
I am not a sports fanatic. Anything but. My idea of extreme sports is fifteen minutes of Frisbee in the park.
Living in America, I never watched sporting events. But I love the national soccer championships that come up every 2 years. Soccer is a much better sport than American football-- you can actually see who is playing and the players don't spend most of their time holding their crotches. The last World Championship games were in Germany (including some games in Cologne); this year the European championships are in Austria.
Tonight is a big one for Germany: they are playing Turkey. Germany should win it, but you never know. Anyhow there is great excitement and anticipation, but everyone is also slightly worried that there could be post-game violence (if, for example, there are some disputed fouls or goals), so most of the timid souls among us are going to watch at home. Like me.
I am going to watch with my lodger Max and some of his friends, and my Ossie and some colleagues from the orchestra, and maybe my cute Turkish pianist.
Who am I rooting for? Well, neither one is my favorite because I prefer a kind of elegant or stylish playing style and both of these teams are more grim power types. I am for Germany because I live here and for Turkey because they are the underdogs and are considered second-class citizens here.
Just hope it is a good game.
