Comeback Kids

I spent 63 minutes on the treadmill today. Before you congratulate me, I have to tell you it was only to watch the soccer game on TV, and the last 30 min was spent at a walking pace. I also tripped several times because I was paying too much attention to the TV and not enough attention to which part of the treadmill was moving and which one wasn't.

I love soccer. I forget about it sometimes, but watching professional soccer, especially European teams, really makes me miss playing. At this point I haven't played for almost ten years (yikes!) and the last time I played a little bit of pick-up I felt so embarrassingly out of shape. Actually, I was out of shape, my legs and my back hurt for three days thereafter. Ooof, I'm getting old.

Soccer fan or not, everyone knows that the U.S. pretty much sucks in terms of soccer enthusiasm. My dad thinks it's because soccer isn't a sport that's conducive to the American marketing and capitalistic creed - Not too many commercials in a sport where there are two 45-minute halftimes and no time-outs. I tend to agree, and also think it has a hard time competing with sports that are so much faster-paced and higer scoring. Anyway the lack of professional soccer support has often led to the U.S. being disregarded as competitors, and it's usually proven true by early losses.

So I was surprised, first of all, that soccer was actually playing on ESPN today. I was also surprised, second of all, that the US was in a semifinal game! Really!? Watching the teams play, it was obvious that Spain is actually a better team, but guess what, the better team doesn't always win. Sometimes a little bit of luck and a few breakaways just need to happen. And that's what happened today.

USA vs. Spain

2-0

Europeans are regarding this as one of the bigger upsets in recent soccer history. Spain is a team that had a 15-game winning streak, and had not lost since November 2006. They were widely regarded as the favorites to win the entire tournament. Not any more!!

ok. Thanks for listening to me geeking out about sports for a bit. I'm telling you, I've got something for everyone on this bloggity blog. (And finally, soccer players are so hot)