World Cup update - some quick thoughts

Well, the World Cup is in full force right now, we are in the thick of it I guess you could say.

I suppose it is a good time to give some quick thoughts, nothing too in depth or people might think I care. 

I was pretty much done with the tournament after a few days, it was annoying seeing my Instagram feed full of people "discovering America" and all the wonderful things we have here. The food, the free refills on the drinks, the natural beauty, the rodeos and baseball games, the beer up in Boston being consumed till there was no more by the Scots. Whatever, give me a break, this stuff has always been here. You only discover it now thanks to the World Cup? Lame.

Also, people saying that they love soccer now, and they never thought it could be so much fun to watch. Mmm... ok. In an earlier post I mentioned how one of the things I hated most about being a soccer fan was how people will watch soccer once every four years when the World Cup is played but then they can't be bothered to go see a MLS game in their backyard. I can't deal with it, I'm sorry, I just can't deal with it.

Biggest annoyance, all these damn people in the stands where their phones in the air filming themselves watching the games so they can put it up on TikTok as soon as their team scores a goal. A$$ holes. Who gives a damn about you in the stands celebrating a goal? It reminds me of my cousin who I loathe, when she took her daughters to a Taylor Swift concert and all they did was put up videos of themselves singing along to her songs. It was all I could do to not punch her in the face the next time I saw her. Just watch the damn game! With your own eyes, not through your phone! The action is right in front of you, enjoy it, take it in, you don't need to record it. Godfrey, these people.

Now, a few quick thoughts on the three teams I was following.

I was sad to see Panama exit the tournament without scoring a goal. I was pulling for them, they were my underdog team.

Mexico! They are killing it, no one has scored on them yet. They look very strong.

Brazil, they are doing well but I don't see them going much farther in the tournament. They haven't looked that great. And I have some Brazilian coworkers who are super annoying so to see Brazil get beat would secretly make me happy.

Uniforms, or "kits" if you want to Euro-pose.

The uniform I liked the best was by far the light blue kit of the DR Congo. It looked so good on the pitch. I was sad to see the Congo exit the tournament but they have given the world a wake up call.

Also, an honorable mention to Colombia. I love their traditional colored uniform.

Goal of the tournament? 

Well, I haven't seen all the goals but of the tournament but of the ones I have seen this stunner by Cape Verde's Lopes Cabral is the goal of the tournament. A work of art.

Finally, to wrap it up for now. Who do I think is going to win the tournament?

I hope I don't jinx them, I make so many bad decisions in my life I am like George Costanza where I just need to do the opposite since every decision I make is the incorrect one, but I am going to go with .... drum roll please ....

Mexico! 

They seem unstoppable at the moment, I would love to see them win it all. 

I know we are rivals, but I like Mexico. I want Mexico to win.

Surfing Utah Lake

 

Tomorrow the World Cup begins! I guess I should post something.

Well well, here we are, on the eve of the World Cup. I guess I should post something. 

Do I care the World Cup starts tomorrow? No, not in the slightest.

Will I watch any of the games? No, no I won't. At least not live I won't. My plan is just to catch the game highlights on YouTube. That way I can get all the action packed into 10 to 15 minutes. Ain't nobody got time anymore to sit down and watch a full 90 minutes, I got weeds to pull out in the yard.

Several posts ago I mentioned that my plan for the World Cup was to pick just a couple of teams and kind of follow them and them only through the tournament. So that is what I'm going to do, otherwise if I were to watch more games people might start to think I care about soccer again. 

So what teams am I going to follow? Drum roll please ...........

I have picked three:

1. Mexico

2. Brazil

3. Panama

I would like to see all three of these teams do well, Mexico especially since they are one of the host nations. But also because I think their fans deserve it.

Brazil I would like to see do well simply because things are always more fun to watch if Brazil is doing well.

And Panama, I would like to see them get a victory this time, maybe even make it out of the group stage. That would be amazing. It would take a miracle but you never know.

And what about the US? I don't know, whatever they do they do. I'm not a bangwagon kind of guy. That is what always used to bug the hell out me back in the day, everyone that would get all excited for the US National team but then couldn't care less about MLS. Now, I don't care, whatever floats your boat.

I'm sure everyone probably already has their plan on how they are going to follow the tournament. Website wise I think ESPN has the easiest page to follow. I looked the other day at several websites such has FIFA's official site, CBS Sports, Fox Sports, even Wikipedia. But ESPN's seemed the easiest to navigate. Here is a link if you need (I'm sure you don't but take it anyway)

https://www.espn.com/soccer/schedule/_/league/fifa.world

And finally, here are a couple of images I thought were helpful. One is of the teams and their groups and one that breaks down the teams by tiers. That one , the tiers, is actually fun to look at and go through. (Again, y'all probably have this all broken down already, but just in case.)

So, everyone enjoy the tournament, or not. Whatever.

The flag making days

So, back in the day, I was 100% RSL, through and through. They could do no wrong, neither could MLS.

Before the team had even played its first game I was in with the Loyalists, (actually the Loyalists was my name suggestion for the team's first supporter's group, well, "Checketts' Loyalists," and then we shortened it to just the Loyalists) and all was right with the world. 

RSL was going to rule the soccer world we thought, we were going to have an exclusive partnership with Real Madrid, they were going to come to Utah to play a friendly match every other year, etc. etc. You know the story.  

What could I do to help the team? The team needs my support, without me the team won't survive. I must do something. Flags, yes flags! I will make flags.

And so I did, I went to work in my tiny Loyalists workshop and started making flags. Well, I would go get the material and such, and my mom and grandma would sew them together for me. Seriously, a grown ass man had his mom and grandma sewing flags together to take to RSL games!

Believe it or not I recently asked my mom about it and she had nothing but fond memories of sewing the flags together with her mom, (my grandma) seeing as several years later grandma passed away at the ripe old age of 92. It is a memory she will always have. 

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago for Easter I was up in the Ogden area visiting mom and dad. We kept one of the flags in a dusty corner of the garage, it has sat there since the end of my RSL fandom. I guess it has been sitting there collecting dust for about 15 years. I always thought I should throw the flag away but just never got around to it, however mom mentioned she doesn't want me to, she said she wants it there in the corner of the garage where it has always been. Funny.

So after we had had our Easter egg hunt for the grand kids, and the hot dogs and hamburgers had been consumed, I got the last surviving flag out (I had made four flags originally) and waived it around awhile and beheld it in all its glory. 

This was the last of the four flags, this one was the "Utah State RSL flag"

 

A quick history of the flags;

The first one was the "RSL Romanian flag". 

For this one I got four Romanian flags, overlaid the red stripes, and sewed it together. This was the flag that was featured on the front page of the Salt Lake Tribune the day RSL played their inaugural game at Rice Eccles.

 

The second flag was "Ol' Beauty", this was the one I liked the best actually. I took a blue twin size bed sheet, cut it in half if I remember correctly, and then sewed some red on the end, and then some yellow on the end of the red. I don't have a photo of this one but it looked something like this.

And finally, flag number 3 was "Big Bertha". This one was made with a red queen size bed sheet, again I think I cut it in half, sewed yellow on the end, and then sewed white on the end of that and took a giant blue marker, maybe two or three markers if memory serves me, and did a blue and white checkerboard. Everyone loved this one in the Loyalists section, I think they really liked the checkerboard. It looked cool when it was waiving, I have to admit. The team mascot even borrowed it a couple of times.

Anyway, good times. Good times indeed. 

Eventually I sold flags number 2 and 3 to some teenagers in the parking lot of Rice Eccles after a season ending game I think. I was kind of done with them and they came up to me and offered to buy them so I gave in. I don't know whatever happened to flag number 1. 

Flag number 4, the "Utah State RSL flag" still exists, my niece even recorded me waiving it. It is heavier and harder to waive than I remember.

Maybe I will post the video here soon. I don't know, so much effort required to blog about a sport I don't even really care about anymore.

I did try to watch a game the other day, Barcelona vs. Atletico Madrid. Champions League I guess. I couldn't make it more than 10 minutes and then I turned the channel, I was almost falling asleep.

So I went over to Netflix and watched a couple of episodes of Black Sails. 

I have already watched the four season series two or three times now, and even own the series on dvd. It is convenient though to watch it on Netflix while it is available, sadly it says it is leaving soon. 

If you haven't seen it though you should watch it. Insanely good it is.

However you can't watch it with kids around, it is not the same as Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, not even close!

Landon Donovan: Why the USMNT is Not a Legit Contender on the World Stage - The Rich Eisen Show

So this popped up on my YouTube feed for some bizarre reason, a clip of Landon Donovan on the Rich Eisen show.

Back when I was a soccer fan I never liked Donovan, we always called him "hair club." I thought he took a dive way too often and I hated that. I hated players diving all the time, it was one of the main reasons I left the game.

I have to say though that Donovan comes across very mature and dare I say wise in the following clip. I might even change my opinion of him, that is if I were to care anymore about soccer and MLS.

Anyway, enjoy the clip, he says some good things.

Morante de la Puebla returns to the plaza and all is right with the world again

Today was traditionally one of the biggest days of the year in the bullfight world, Resurrection Sunday. And no place is more at the center of that biggest day than Sevilla, where someone once described Sevilla as "so intensely Catholic it makes Rome look like a secular outpost."

Not to be left out though Madrid also held a bullfight, as well as Arles, France. Oh yeah, in case you didn't know bullfights are held in the south of France as well. Nimes, Arles, Dax, and Mont-de-Marsan being the places that come to mind the most.

Anyway, in addition to it being one of the biggest days of the year it was made even more so with the return of Sevilla's favorite son, Morante de la Puebla. I guess he just could not stay away from the bulls. And I would have to agree with him, once the bullfight bug bites you and you are infected it is hard to get away. I tell myself every year that I need to concentrate on other things but as the weather warms, the flowers start to bloom, and the grass turns green, I can't help but hit the bullfight news sites and see what is going on. 

And apparently it was a good day, with the news sites reporting that Morante cut two ears from his second bull, Peru's boy king Andres Roca Rey cut one ear from his second bull, and David de Miranda also cutting an ear from his second bull.

So, another Spring has sprung, fighting bulls dot the rolling green hills of Spain's many ranches, and all is right with the world again.

I watched a soccer game!

Well, I kind of watched a soccer game, last Sunday I watched the last 30 minutes of Roma @ Napoli.

There was nothing on, I was being a couch potato, and I stumbled across the game. I asked myself, should I watch it? Should I see what I have been missing these past several years since my exit from soccer fandom? So I left it there and watched the last 30 minutes.

Ugh.... I haven't missed anything. Roma was ahead 2 - 1, and then Napoli scored, and the game ended 2 - 2. 

I was utterly uninspired. 

Anyway, y'all that enjoy it I wish you continued success with it.

On a brighter note, I was on the website TeePublic looking for bullfight graphics, and I had typed in "Madrid" to see what would come up.

As I was scrolling through a lot of bad designs, and only one or two on bullfighting, I saw this one; (excuse the watermarks)

 

I laughed out loud and said, "now that is funny as hell."

Even though I'm no longer a soccer fan I would not fault myself if I got that printed on a coffee mug or something. If you haven't ever ordered anything off TeePublic you can get designs on hoodies, coffee mugs, hats, etc. 

Anyway, here is the link for this design if you are interested. 

https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/85891398-football-ronaldo-and-messi