November 22, 2022: 4am

posted in: Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs, White Sox | 0

Like the Olympics, the World Cup only comes around every 4 years. I don’t watch soccer; yeah, we call it soccer. Our football is the NFL, and is what we live and die for week in week out during the season. It doesn’t matter though. When the World Cup starts, I love it. We watched the opener Ecuador vs Qatar; I don’t know much about soccer, but that looked like complete domination of the host country. We were introduced to VAR, which is FIFA’s version of video review I guess; it nullified what would have been the fastest goal in World Cup history. No worries… that same guy ended up scoring twice anyways in the 2-0 victory. But yeah, that VAR… at first, I was like… this sucks… taking a goal, which there aren’t that many to begin with, off the board because someone was offsides by less than a foot. Then, the announcer said a very true thing. Although he didn’t like it either, the most important thing is getting the call right; I 100% agree… note to the NFL btw. While the NFL, a billion dollar industry, still leaves things unclear with penalty and non-penalty calls, FIFA gets it right; I really like that. I guess FIFA isn’t so worried about Papa Vegas… there are still subjective calls to be made by the refs, but getting calls right that they should and easily could with a little technology, FIFA gets it; the NFL does not. Papa Vegas has too much at stake there.. the more unclear the calls, the better; that sucks. Yet, nobody cares… the NFL is still king, but OK, back to the World Cup.

Day 2 started at 4am. I asked my son if he wanted to get up and watch it; he said yes. I set my clock for 4am. At about 350am, my son was tapping me on the shoulder; it was time. That’s right, we sat our butts on the couch and watched Argentina vs Saudi Arabia; what a game. Of course, everyone knows Messi, and we got what we wanted… an early Messi goal via penalty kick. Argentina, the 3rd ranked team in the world, was well on their way… but hold up. Saudi Arabia roared back with 2 unbelievable goals, and a handful of great saves from their goalie to beat Argentina in what some are saying is one of the biggest upsets ever. That stadium was rocking, with Saudi Arabia being neighbors with Qatar; they had plenty to celebrate. We were rooting for Argentina, but this isn’t like rooting for one of MY teams… I didn’t mind seeing Saudi Arabia win, especially since it was such a huge upset; everyone loves an underdog. We wondered if my son would make it through school. I don’t think he would have, except it was a half day due to Parent Teacher conferences; he’s off until Monday now. He made it btw…

Yeah, it’s fun. I enjoy it. The best of the best on the biggest stage that only comes around every 4 years in what in almost every other country in the world is the most popular sport? Yeah, sign me up; I’m all in on this. We’ll see if we can keep up the same pace, but it is kind of cool to watch a live sporting event in the middle of the night. We ended up catching some of France vs Australia too; France looked good. We’ll be getting in a pool once the final 16 teams have been determined; my son is asking for a soccer jersey now… yes, you can say we have World Cup fever. Clear the calendar for the next couple weeks.. haha.

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