Gooaaaaall !!!!!!!

I've been following the World Cup in the news, on the internet, and on television when able, and now the biggest sports (or probably any) event in the world has come down to the last 8 teams: Argentina vs. Germany, Italy vs. Ukraine (both on Friday), and Brazil vs. France and England vs. Portugal (both on Saturday). They all should be good, but I'm probably especially interested in Argentina vs. Germany and Brazil vs. France because all four of those teams are traditional soccer powerhouses. I'll probably have to see if they're being televised on the Spanish channels, due to the lack of interest by Americans in the game of soccer.

Anyhoo, with all of the hoopla on the part of those of us who do like soccer, especially at World Cup time, I went out and got myself a soccer ball the other day. Haven't kicked a soccer ball around in like forever. I put it in a bag attached onto my bike, took the traditional ride around, and then found a park in the neighborhood which actually has soccer goals (ok, I knew it was there already). I kicked it around a little, did a little bit of fast paced soccer dribbling, ala Pele or Ronaldo, or maybe Diego Maradona, and kicked a few goals (and even more far wide of the goals). One powerful miss went careening toward the street, so I took off in a sprint after it. For some reason, my body never righted itself out of my sprint crouch, so I began to stumble forward at full speed, after the ball. After a superhuman effort to just stay upright, like a drunken Carl Lewis I eventually crashed into the ground. Actually, I rolled onto the ground like twice, and then rolled to a complete stop (I was really moving). At least I hit the ground in a roll. I have always been pretty good at falling; that is, if I have to fall, I can fall pretty well. The funny thing was though, no one was blocking me, no one pushed me, no one tripped me; no one was there (well, there were a few people in the park at a distance - and they didn't trip me, they just watched me crash into the ground).

Today I took another bike ride, and wound up at the end of it at the same park near my place. Practiced a few more soccer drills, bounced it off my head a few times, kicked some more goals (and more wide to the rights/lefts), dreamed I was Zinadine Zidane, and in my greatest achievment, I managed to stay upright through all of that. Two days, and I've already improved substantially! If I keep this rate up, I just may well be playing in the World Cup in four more years; for Team Brazil of course, the greatest soccer players in the world!