Next sport I'm going to blabber about.
Soccer.
By impulse, most people would say "oh, he's probably not fully American, cause he likes soccer." You'd be correct. Well, mostly. Like I said in an earlier blog, I consider myself half Dutch and half Armenian, and there's a lot of soccer blood between those two.
As a kid, I used to play in a larger soccer league called AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization, or something like that). I was never athletic though. I had ADD, and would look at the grass and find interesting objects on the floor instead of paying attention to the game I'm in. I didn't daze off all the time, but maybe about half the time the ball wasn't in my side of the field. I was either a defender or goal keeper, and of what I recall, I was terrible at both. It was just my parents wanting me to do something that involved exercise. It was good enough I suppose. I mean I did make some big plays here and there, at least according to the rest of my team and coach, cause they were all looking at me and cheering their faces off, while I was clueless on what I did.
I did that for maybe 5 years. I really don't know exactly how long or from what age. It could be from 7 to 12 years old for all I know. I have some pictures of it, too, and god did I look goofy, lol.
Moving forward a bit, since my mother is from Holland, she has family over there, so we went on a summer vacation there for a few days. This was during the time that the World Cup was going on, so it was probably 1994. I remember a ton of horns honking in the streets when Netherlands scored a goal or won a game, and it was almost impossible not to watch a game when you go out the house. It was playing everywhere, even if it wasn't The Netherlands playing. So, I watched it, too. I liked the sport, after all. But I never watched many games, because they were hard to come by in the US, and I liked the idea of an entire country playing another country, as opposed to a city versus a city (as in basketball). I wasn't able all the games, though. Actually, I only watched the games that happened to be on, so I had no idea who was still in the tournament and who was knocked out. But I do remember watching the final game, and Brazil winning it all.
After that summer, I tried to watch other World Cup games, even though they happen every 4 years. It sure is a hell of a long time when you wait for it, but it comes quick enough, surprisingly.
That takes me to World Cup 2010. You know, when vuvuzelas became the most annoying thing in the world, literally. Not for me though, I want one still. But with me being Dutch, I was rooting for The Netherlands all the fucking way. I watched every game they played with passion. If I couldn't watch it live, I recorded it, and turned off the world until I saw the game. And we were on fire. Orange fire to be exact (orange is the "official" color of The Netherlands). The Dutch bleed orange. Cry orange. Sweat orange. You get the idea. Before the World Cup started, we were ranked #4 in the world, and #2 after it (ranked 4 to 2), out of 207 countries that had a national soccer team.
2-0 over Denmark (ranked 36 to 29)
1-0 over Japan (ranked 45 to 32)
2-1 over Cameroon (ranked 19 to 40)
2-1 over Slovakia (ranked 34 to 27)
2-1 over Brazil (ranked 1 to 3)
3-2 over Uruguay (ranked 16 to 6)
Only one game left. Only one team left. Spain.
0-1, losing to Spain (ranked 2 to 1)
I was heart broken. I cried a little. Coming so close, and losing it all. The Netherlands has always been one of the best soccer teams in the world, for the past 50 or 60 years, yet we have never won a World Cup. This is now the third or forth time we have come in second place. God damn it. But huge congrats to Spain, as they were in the same position as we were. They also have never won a World Cup, and have always been a strong team. They were just slightly better than us this time. We'll try again in 2014, I guess.
Now my focus is towards the EuroCup, which takes place in the summer of 2012, which is kinda sorta like the World Cup, just with European teams. So that means we might be able to get our redemption against Spain if the situation presents itself. So far, the Eurocup is in the qualifying stages, where all the teams in Europe compete to see who makes the top cut. There are 53 teams, and two of them get an auto-qualify because they are the host countries, which is Poland and Ukraine. Only 16 teams make the top cut, and with two slots filled, that leaves 14. Right now, The Netherlands are sitting in a three way tie for first place for the entire league. But placement doesn't matter right now. All that matters is that you make the cut, and we almost guaranteed that position, even if we lose and tie our next four games.
If you care to see how the progress is going, check the link here:
http://en.uefa.com/uefaeuro2012/standings/index.html
As for right now, I'm waiting for the Gold Cup finals. I actually haven't heard of this "cup" before, but of what I gathered, it's just North America, so it's a small league of like 12 teams. The final is today (5:30 pacific time), and it's USA vs Mexico, which should be a good game. I don't care who wins, honestly. As long as the game is a good one!
Soccer.
By impulse, most people would say "oh, he's probably not fully American, cause he likes soccer." You'd be correct. Well, mostly. Like I said in an earlier blog, I consider myself half Dutch and half Armenian, and there's a lot of soccer blood between those two.
As a kid, I used to play in a larger soccer league called AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization, or something like that). I was never athletic though. I had ADD, and would look at the grass and find interesting objects on the floor instead of paying attention to the game I'm in. I didn't daze off all the time, but maybe about half the time the ball wasn't in my side of the field. I was either a defender or goal keeper, and of what I recall, I was terrible at both. It was just my parents wanting me to do something that involved exercise. It was good enough I suppose. I mean I did make some big plays here and there, at least according to the rest of my team and coach, cause they were all looking at me and cheering their faces off, while I was clueless on what I did.
I did that for maybe 5 years. I really don't know exactly how long or from what age. It could be from 7 to 12 years old for all I know. I have some pictures of it, too, and god did I look goofy, lol.
Moving forward a bit, since my mother is from Holland, she has family over there, so we went on a summer vacation there for a few days. This was during the time that the World Cup was going on, so it was probably 1994. I remember a ton of horns honking in the streets when Netherlands scored a goal or won a game, and it was almost impossible not to watch a game when you go out the house. It was playing everywhere, even if it wasn't The Netherlands playing. So, I watched it, too. I liked the sport, after all. But I never watched many games, because they were hard to come by in the US, and I liked the idea of an entire country playing another country, as opposed to a city versus a city (as in basketball). I wasn't able all the games, though. Actually, I only watched the games that happened to be on, so I had no idea who was still in the tournament and who was knocked out. But I do remember watching the final game, and Brazil winning it all.
After that summer, I tried to watch other World Cup games, even though they happen every 4 years. It sure is a hell of a long time when you wait for it, but it comes quick enough, surprisingly.
That takes me to World Cup 2010. You know, when vuvuzelas became the most annoying thing in the world, literally. Not for me though, I want one still. But with me being Dutch, I was rooting for The Netherlands all the fucking way. I watched every game they played with passion. If I couldn't watch it live, I recorded it, and turned off the world until I saw the game. And we were on fire. Orange fire to be exact (orange is the "official" color of The Netherlands). The Dutch bleed orange. Cry orange. Sweat orange. You get the idea. Before the World Cup started, we were ranked #4 in the world, and #2 after it (ranked 4 to 2), out of 207 countries that had a national soccer team.
2-0 over Denmark (ranked 36 to 29)
1-0 over Japan (ranked 45 to 32)
2-1 over Cameroon (ranked 19 to 40)
2-1 over Slovakia (ranked 34 to 27)
2-1 over Brazil (ranked 1 to 3)
3-2 over Uruguay (ranked 16 to 6)
Only one game left. Only one team left. Spain.
0-1, losing to Spain (ranked 2 to 1)
I was heart broken. I cried a little. Coming so close, and losing it all. The Netherlands has always been one of the best soccer teams in the world, for the past 50 or 60 years, yet we have never won a World Cup. This is now the third or forth time we have come in second place. God damn it. But huge congrats to Spain, as they were in the same position as we were. They also have never won a World Cup, and have always been a strong team. They were just slightly better than us this time. We'll try again in 2014, I guess.
Now my focus is towards the EuroCup, which takes place in the summer of 2012, which is kinda sorta like the World Cup, just with European teams. So that means we might be able to get our redemption against Spain if the situation presents itself. So far, the Eurocup is in the qualifying stages, where all the teams in Europe compete to see who makes the top cut. There are 53 teams, and two of them get an auto-qualify because they are the host countries, which is Poland and Ukraine. Only 16 teams make the top cut, and with two slots filled, that leaves 14. Right now, The Netherlands are sitting in a three way tie for first place for the entire league. But placement doesn't matter right now. All that matters is that you make the cut, and we almost guaranteed that position, even if we lose and tie our next four games.
If you care to see how the progress is going, check the link here:
http://en.uefa.com/uefaeuro2012/standings/index.html
As for right now, I'm waiting for the Gold Cup finals. I actually haven't heard of this "cup" before, but of what I gathered, it's just North America, so it's a small league of like 12 teams. The final is today (5:30 pacific time), and it's USA vs Mexico, which should be a good game. I don't care who wins, honestly. As long as the game is a good one!