Hexagon Eyes

Lately, the World Cup, (a tournament where almost all the countries in the world compete for 3 years to qualify for the month long, 64 match, 32 nation final event) is consuming my life.


{Granted, there's also my wife, work, tomatoes, and this thing called "getting up at 4:41am to go run or endure pain in a yoga/pilates environment 3 days a week". But you know about those.}

My wife is really the only other important thing in my life at this time, but fortunately I introduced her to the concept of watching soccer for a month at 10pm, 1:30 am and 6:30am four years ago, and she really enjoyed it, so I'm safe. Safe because she evens says, "Will you wait for me to get home before you watch the USA game?"

A true soccer fan enjoys a 0 - 0 tie, and he doesn't want to even hear if it was a good game, an exciting game, or anything. Personally, I dont' want to hear a peep about the game. NOTHING. not even teaser stuff on Instant Messenger like. "Man, I just saw a great play by Holland." I know, this is sounding extremely anal, but soccer is life to some... and I qualify.

I record all the games that I can't watch live. People keep inviting me to Happy Hours, parties, and other events. I feel so sorry for them. They don't get to live the World Cup.

But the being "Safe" I mentioned earlier is a misconception. There are people out there that are really out to get me. Ignorant people, clueless people, and plain ol' bastards. You see, for me, this thing is a BIG deal.
People find it hard to not bring up scores to me without asking in advance. Here's a true example:

[12:50] Coworker: 3-0 spanking...ouch
[12:50] me: dood
[12:50] me: what the **** makes you think i wanted to know the ****ING score
[12:50] Coworker: just turned it off
[12:50] me: you sick bastard
[12:50] me: thanks for ruining my evening
[12:50] me: now go back to your hole
[12:50] me: ****er

I know, I'm a bit harsh, but dammit, he ruined my day. I really wanted to watch USA - Czech Republic.

Another Example:
Yesterday, I was on a 45 minute conference call with a prospective client, followed by what we call an internal Debrief, where we discuss strategy. First thing out of a colleague's mouth... "man, looks like that Holland Argentina game was a bore." I could've killed hi, but in his defense, he had no clue. I still want to kill him.

Anyway, the WC moves along at a good pace... so far there's been 38 games.
I've watched these 33 live or on Tape delay...

Germany 4-2 Costa Rica
Poland 0-2 Ecuador
England 1-0 Paraguay
Trinidad & Tobago 0-0 Sweden
Argentina 2-1 Côte d'Ivoir
Serbia & Montenegro 0-1 Netherlands
Mexico 3-1 Iran
Angola 0-1 Portugal
Australia 3-1 Japan
USA 0-3 Czech Republic
Italy 2-0 Ghana
Brazil 1-0 Croatia
Spain 4-0 Ukraine
Tunisia 2-2 Saudi Arabia
Germany 1-0 Poland
Ecuador 3-0 Costa Rica
England 2-0 Trinidad & Tobago
Sweden 1-0 Paraguay
Argentina 6-0 Serbia & Montenegro
Netherlands 2-1 Côte d'Ivoir
Mexico 0-0 Angola
Portugal 2-0 Iran
Czech Republic 0-2 Ghana
Italy 1-1 USA
Japan 0-0 Croatia
Brazil 2-0 Australia
France 1-1 South Korea
Saudi Arabia 0-4 Ukraine
Spain 3-1 Tunisia
Ecuador 0-3 Germany
Sweden 2-2 England
Portugal 2-1 Mexico
France 0-0 Switzerland

I'm bummed I missed these 5 ...
Paraguay 2-0 Trinidad & Tobago
Togo 0-2 Switzerland
South Korea 2-1 Togo
Costa Rica 1-2 Poland
Iran 1-1 Angola

I can't wait to watch as many of the 26 remaining matches as possible!