Thanks for trying USA

Despite a respectable showing, the USA is no longer in World Cup, or rather the WeltMeister Cup. As you can imagine this gave ample opportunity to my colleagues and friends to bust my bal..i mean chops.

Random coworker #1 “Hey, good job American. I thought you guys were supposed to be good at
everything?”

Me, “Give us 4 more years.”

Random coworker #1 “Didnt Ghana beat you guys”

Random coworker #2 “And the czech republic too?”

Me “Yeah.“

Laughing ensues.

Me “laugh it up, but we aren't the ones who started WW deuce”.

Laughing stops.

I've watched quite a few of the games and people take this stuff SERIOUSLY here. Rarely does a company allow jerseys to be worn at work but the last four weeks all rules were off. Swiss jerseys, German jerseys, Brazil jerseys, New Jerseys (nyuck nyuck) and of course Italian jerseys. It was pretty colorful around the office. I had a very special Tshirt made up that said “Real football requires padding”. No i didn't,but maybe i will next year. I must admit though that i took a small amount of pleasure when Germany lost the other day taking them out of the running for first place. The ego's were getting a bit out of control around here.

Its 4 more years till the US has another chance to play in the world cup. If we're lucky maybe Ghana will be having a civil war or something. Seriously, where the hell even is Ghana? How does a third world country outplay us? We've got to step it up for the next World Cup. If the US really wants to “win” respect back in the world, how about kickin some arse in the world cup. Nothing fosters good relations more than going to another country and beating them at their own game.

I'm not just a talker though, i'm practicing what i preach. My company had our football tournament last weekend and i, Corrigan, Mr Soccer, played on one of the teams. The tourney is a pretty big deal within the company, particularly this year as you might imagine. One might even go so far as to call it our own World Cup. We had teams from divisions in France, Germany, Liechtenstein (i just recently realized i've been spelling that wrong...for the last 8 months), and of course me. I like to think that i showed the Europeans a thing or two about how to play Football, REAL football. But apparently tackling and checking isn't allowed in European Football. Who'd have known, in America tackling and picking up the ball is allowed. That excuse only worked in the beginning though.

Well, the last game is starting shortly and i'm off to the beer tent at the Coop to watch it. Italy vs. France....Italy has Ferrari and Pizza, but France has...Airbus? So i guess its go Italy.

Oh and sorry Ma, but assuming the deal doesnt fall through I'll be the proud new owner of an '83 RZ350 by the end of the week....thats a motorcylce. I promise i'll be safe. Could've been worse Ducati's are pretty affordable over here.