World Cup Finals
So first of all: Italy yay! I decided to cheer for Italy based solely on two things:
1. Their uniforms were blue, and blue is my favoritest color ever, ever since I was a little Leila and knew what colors were.
and
2. Their starting line-up was more attractive
(Hey, don't judge me! I couldn't pick based on loyalty, since the US is utter crap at soccer football, and lost to Ghana, and since I know so very little about soccer football, uniform colors and attractiveness of players really is as good a criteria for picking a team as any.)
I was proud of myself for not getting kicked out of the room for asking too many questions, either, which really was an accomplishment, AND AND AND, I think I finally kind of sort of maybe understand the offside rule, seeing as how it came into play in the game and all. OK, maybe "understand" is stretching it a bit, but I can recite the Wikipedia explanation of it on demand and it kind of makes sense in some vague-ish way, which is good enough, really, considering this is only the second game I've watched in entirety ever. Although I'm still not sure if it was correctly applied in the game, even after the whole slow-motion thing and all. There was a French player awfully close to whichever Italian player made that goal, and I couldn't tell if he was ahead or next to or behind him or what. It doesn't matter now, obviously, but it bothered me at the time, greatly.
And last night I managed to catch the Germany/Portugal match which was also fun. I ended up watching it on Univision which...OK so my Spanish is about the level of a 2 year old Mexican kid's. Actually, I think a two-year-old Mexican kid might laugh at my Spanish. So watching a game (and all the commercials) in Spanish was slightly painful in that "wait what did they say now?" sense, especially since I really don't know that much about soccer football either. So they'd randomly flash something text-y and I'd be like "What?" and then they'd say something and my dad would be like "Who?" and it was tons of fun because we really had no clue what was going on, about 95% of the time. Really, other than the GOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLL!!!!! GOL GOL GOL!!s, I really was clueless. Every once in a while they'd say a word I'd know and I'd get really excited and yell it out after the announcers, something like "Quince!" or "Segundo!" But I was glad Germany won, mostly because they were the home team, and it was sad enough that they didn't even make it into the finals, and how much more would it have sucked if they'd ended up fourth? And also because they were the more attractive team (see above). And also also because Portugal made David Beckham cry and David Beckham is Teh Hot and we don't like it when he cries, do we, Preciousss?
And that is pretty much it for my adventures in soccer football; I doubt we'll see another televised game over here for four more years. I personally wouldn't mind seeing golf or baseball (or hell, even American football, which doesn't even involve the foot except on 4th downs and occasionally if you're going for a 2 pointer after a touchdown) being done away with, and soccer football being added to our yearly sports, because hello? Fast-paced game (great for short-attention spanned people like me), and if we actually played it on a regular basis, we might be somewhat better at it than we are right now. Actually now that I think about it, baseball should be done away with entirely because that is like the boringest sport ever, only outdone by cricket which is like baseball except it can go on for DAYS instead of 9 innings. Just don't touch my basketball, because that's good stuff.
p.s. amani87, I have a Hot Guy icon now! And, lady_deirdre soccerfootballer just for you. :)
1. Their uniforms were blue, and blue is my favoritest color ever, ever since I was a little Leila and knew what colors were.
and
2. Their starting line-up was more attractive
(Hey, don't judge me! I couldn't pick based on loyalty, since the US is utter crap at soccer football, and lost to Ghana, and since I know so very little about soccer football, uniform colors and attractiveness of players really is as good a criteria for picking a team as any.)
I was proud of myself for not getting kicked out of the room for asking too many questions, either, which really was an accomplishment, AND AND AND, I think I finally kind of sort of maybe understand the offside rule, seeing as how it came into play in the game and all. OK, maybe "understand" is stretching it a bit, but I can recite the Wikipedia explanation of it on demand and it kind of makes sense in some vague-ish way, which is good enough, really, considering this is only the second game I've watched in entirety ever. Although I'm still not sure if it was correctly applied in the game, even after the whole slow-motion thing and all. There was a French player awfully close to whichever Italian player made that goal, and I couldn't tell if he was ahead or next to or behind him or what. It doesn't matter now, obviously, but it bothered me at the time, greatly.
And last night I managed to catch the Germany/Portugal match which was also fun. I ended up watching it on Univision which...OK so my Spanish is about the level of a 2 year old Mexican kid's. Actually, I think a two-year-old Mexican kid might laugh at my Spanish. So watching a game (and all the commercials) in Spanish was slightly painful in that "wait what did they say now?" sense, especially since I really don't know that much about soccer football either. So they'd randomly flash something text-y and I'd be like "What?" and then they'd say something and my dad would be like "Who?" and it was tons of fun because we really had no clue what was going on, about 95% of the time. Really, other than the GOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLL!!!!! GOL GOL GOL!!s, I really was clueless. Every once in a while they'd say a word I'd know and I'd get really excited and yell it out after the announcers, something like "Quince!" or "Segundo!" But I was glad Germany won, mostly because they were the home team, and it was sad enough that they didn't even make it into the finals, and how much more would it have sucked if they'd ended up fourth? And also because they were the more attractive team (see above). And also also because Portugal made David Beckham cry and David Beckham is Teh Hot and we don't like it when he cries, do we, Preciousss?
And that is pretty much it for my adventures in soccer football; I doubt we'll see another televised game over here for four more years. I personally wouldn't mind seeing golf or baseball (or hell, even American football, which doesn't even involve the foot except on 4th downs and occasionally if you're going for a 2 pointer after a touchdown) being done away with, and soccer football being added to our yearly sports, because hello? Fast-paced game (great for short-attention spanned people like me), and if we actually played it on a regular basis, we might be somewhat better at it than we are right now. Actually now that I think about it, baseball should be done away with entirely because that is like the boringest sport ever, only outdone by cricket which is like baseball except it can go on for DAYS instead of 9 innings. Just don't touch my basketball, because that's good stuff.
p.s. amani87, I have a Hot Guy icon now! And, lady_deirdre soccerfootballer just for you. :)