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I’ve had the privilege of watching the World Cup from a number of different locations. The most memorable one was in a backpacker hostel in Broome, Australia. The place was packed with people from all over the world, and a whole bunch of us decided that it would be a good idea to hole up for a month and watch as many games as we could stomach. Eight years later, I’m still in touch with several of those guys. That’s the power of idle sports watching for ya.
Curious cop catches a bit of the action in NYC
For this cup, we’ve found ourselves touring across the US, staying with friends and squeezing in a game here and there. We were at a sports bar on Manhattan when the home team played England to a draw. We watched Germany cut Australia to shreds together with a Hoboken, NJ family. With sadness, we watched Mexico get outgunned by Argentina at a Mexican restaurant in San Diego’s Old Town.
How does watching the cup in America stack up against other places? Well, the average sports fan in the US is generally more interested and knowledgeable than I would have guessed. Sometimes, you get the odd cheer for something that’s not traditionally cheerable (an offside by the opposing team, or a nice throw by the goaltender), but that’s just charming. People are interested in the game, they like to criticize tactics and applaud great efforts.
This is a contrast to many other places – in some locations Football has been the one true source of entertainment for generations – like the other day at the Mexican cantina. People were so fired up that they roared with nervous excitement every time their team took ball possession. It’d be tempting to chalk that up to their passionate Latin heritage, but no. I’ve seen similar behavior in Sweden and Germany.
Looking forward to 2014
As for the rest of the cup, well, my team didn’t even make it, and Jaime’s has been eliminated for a week now. Still, the World Cup is just fantastic entertainment. We can’t wait to see the last games. It will be four long years before it comes along again.
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 at 9:48 pm and is filed under USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
About Us
You know the saying, “to fly by the seat of your pants?” Well, that's been our philosophy for most of our adult lives – before and after meeting, falling in love and marrying. We're now taking that idea on an extended round-the-world trip. Follow us as we share the good, the bad and the downright nasty of life on the road.
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