FIFA World Cup Soccer Games 3, 4 and 5
First thoughts:
1 - Did Trinidad and Tobago kick ass or what !?
2 - Was I dreaming or did KIA have an ad that featured Balki and a mime!?

First off, it's rough to get up at 6am and go straight into soccer. It's hard to clap and jump around at that hour. I wrote a note that Paraguay had some bad luck and I already forgot why. Oh yeah, that own goal thing and having to take their keeper out minutes after starting. Poor guy.

I wanted England to be a lot better. I have high hopes for them this tournament. We'll see how things progress.

I don't like the commentator. Marcelo is okay. That other guy. You know: it's okay to stop talking sometimes. Especially when you're going to take every teeny stumble, and turn it into some sort of game turning event.

Also, why does ABC play a cheezy tone before it puts up a WC update on the bottom of the screen? We're watching the game. We're looking at the screen. We don't need a tone to tell us to look at the bottom. Especially if we were watching yesterday and already know. Also the whole sports stats thing makes me crazy. "This is the first time in World Cup history that a guy with a nose ring has gotten a foul in the first ten minutes while wearing red shoes." No one cares.

On to Sweden v. Trinidad and Tobago (TnT). Sweden is my sweetheart team. Wow, they are cute. They were much cuter in the special I saw, rating a high 11. On the field they were more like a 9, but still, excellent. It would have been nice if they could have gotten the ball in the goal.

I really wanted to see Sweden surprise everyone in this Cup and oops! TnT was hoping just not to humiliate themselves and they took it to 0-0 tie. People who think soccer is boring would probably not understand how a 0-0 game could be totally exciting and why one team would be celebrating like it was 1999 while the other team was crying in their beers. Fantastic game.

Meanwhile, my poor soccer widower husband was trying to get my attention. "Are you between games?" "Yes, but I need to watch the highlights and last nights highlight show." I ended up starting the Sweden v. TnT game 10 minutes late and my Dad called when it was over but I had 10 minutes to go. "Do you want me to tell you who wins?" "No!" I shrieked "I'll call you later" and I hung up the phone and ran back to the TV.

I thought I was still pumped up for one more game but actually I was running out of steam. It must be all the eating of dip type foods that can scooped onto a chip or piece of bread. I was fairly alert for the first half of the Argentina v. Ivory Coast game but I got tired of the elbows and the diving and the commentators on this one bugged me, too. Where were Adrian and Tommy? What is up with that Shep guy, bringing up what must be his only glory of playing with Pele? I wanted to brag to him that I sat on Santa's lap once.

I watched the last half hour in the horizontal position with my eyes closed, oops. I'm still building my endurance. I'll do better tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to arrange my week next week to maximize my game watching. I still have to work so I'm going to have to limit it to two games although I think I can cram in one half in the morning before I leave for the office. When I watch the other games, I can forward to the highlights. Thank God for DVR. Also avoiding spoilers is going to be a problem. The USA plays Monday at 9am. No radio or Internet. I'll just race home and watch the game.