World Cup Agony and Ecstasy

At the Baker house we spend (translation: I spend) a healthy amount of time watching, playing, and reading about football (aka - soccer). In fact the Baker master schedule often is influenced by the world's game. This vacation was carefully planned to ensure that our travel days never coincided with the US National Team games. Well that is all over now, an exhausted US team never really grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck, and eventually wore down in overtime. After the magical game on Wednesday, where the US won the game at the dying moments of the match, everybody kept hoping the US had one more piece of wizardry, but it wasn't in the cards this time. After the game on Wednesday, I was so juiced from the amazing win, I was literally still shaking 3 hours after the match was completed. Losing yesterday was a low that equalled the high experienced on Wednesday. My good friend, and fellow US supporter, Pete said it best.

I both hate and love that i'm emotionally attached to this stupid game. I love the sheer joy of goals scored, of creative play, of watching players emerge from obscurity to international recognition. However, I'm seriously bummed today, which is unfair to my family because its just a stupid game.

I will continue to watch every US game, and spend much of my free time reading and digesting any and all material about this emotionally trying game. I hope and firmly believe that in my lifetime, we will see the US in a World Cup final. Having grown up in Chicago, I am starting to understand how those Cub fans feel each year. I am just hoping that I don't have to live 100+ years to experience the joy of winning the World Cup.