Italians cheer, Frenchmen leer
I've been watching the world cup (especially the first round games, when the US Men's National Team still had a [theoretical] chance) at an English pub near my apartment. And because 1) the USA and Italia were in the same first round group, 2) I'm the only American strange enough to be a soccer fan, 3) my Italian officemate is a soccer NUT (like 90% of Italians), it's been a fun few weeks.
However, it's wrecked havoc on my sleep schedule. Today/Yesterday/Whatever, I slept from 10:30pm - 3:30am. That's a problem, because the game started at 3. My alarm was apparently sounding (loudly) for an hour from 2:30, but I was totally oblivious to it. For most of the games I would simply stay up without sleeping, but I was tired today from having played... soccer.
The final game tonight was OK, but not excellent. I missed the first half, which apparently was better. They got tired. We were tired, being 4am, so it was understandable. Eventually, with the score at 1:1, and the French star Zidane going insane (what a way to be remembered: responding to provocation with a blatant head-butt-to-a-tall-guy's-sternum), Italia won on free kicks. We were all celebrating Italia style (above picture).
But what was interesting to me was the below picture.
Photos with Italian Flag: 100Yen
Many Japanese were equally as enthusiastic as the Italians, and many people wanted to have photos with the Italian flags that instantaneously appeared after the last shot.
I'm not surprised by the desire to join the crowd, because after all I was rooting for Italia as well. (Why? They beat us in the first round. So now my claims that we had a hard group are justified--I can say "We lost to the world champions!!" I guess that's kind of like getting 5th or 6th place.)
The level of enthusiasm was surprising. Through the series, I noticed a lot of Japanese rooting for whoever was winning--the mood of the moment, and especially the passion of the Europeans watching was the main thing. I suspect "feeling the moment" was the reason that most of the Japanese kids there chose to watch at an English Pub. Japanese soccer nuts are moderately few, greatly outnumbered by baseball nuts and equal in number as F1 nuts, golf nuts, and tennis nuts. For my American audience, think hockey fans. (Diehard but not the biggest group.)
..anyway, the World Cup ended on a good note: the silver lining from being late for the game is that I'm awake. I'm off to work. Ciao
1 comment:
Biff Beeker here, your Roving Sports Reporter for the Wholesale Plumbing Parts & Supplies Illustrated Monthly. Didn't USA tie Italy 1-1? One seems to recall that the lone goal for USA came on an "own goal" as an Italian defender headed the ball into goal. That may have been a rare "high point" for team USA, to tie the eventual World Champion!
New topic: Since we have heard nothing to the contrary, Lance, should one assume, reasonably, that you will be working in Japan for another year? Does your "contract" have a specific end date? If so, what is it? Perspiring minds want to know! Beekeroo.
Post a Comment