let's beat the crap out of italy!!!
(let's go,...italy???)


what a tough transition! to root against a team, maybe even a country (considering all the primal screams and anti-italian sentiment i hurled at the television), for an hour and a half as hard as i did yesterday only to turn around and now root just as hard for them come thursday. but such is the crazy soap opera that the united states' trip through group e in world cup 2006 has now become. i am not sure i've ever watched as frustrating a soccer match as the us-italy tilt turned into. an inspired us team! one tremendous left hook to the chin and visions of the czech match when the italians scored first!! a ridiculous italian defender giving the us a goal!!! three red cards, all told!!!! more inspired us play!!!!! all boiling down to what? we have to beat the ghana team straight up and then hope that the italians can help the cause by beating the czech's. there are other scenarios that would keep the us team playing past thursday, but they all involve beating ghana by four or five goals. considering the red, white and blue have yet to score a goal for themselves in two games, the odds for these scenarios seem pretty unfavorable for anyone rooting for brian mcbride and his beautifully bloodied face.

and so it goes. up and downs. downs and ups. sarah mentioned today how much more enjoyable the rest of the tournament has to be when not involving the us team. and she's right. i can pull for a team in each game without completely losing my mind if my rooting interest doesn't perform. with the us team, though, things are different. i am invested. same goes for my crappy-ass braves (which is why i've stopped watching them for the time being). same goes for alabama football and basketball, and baseball to a lesser degree. same goes for the michael vick's in atlanta.

such a silly thing sports in my life are. but also such a necessary thing. it calls to arms passions inside of me that stir the very juice of my being. sports can remind me why i love my daughter, my wife. it can remind me why i currently loathe the idea of church at times. it reminds me of what is important and what is not when casual observers might see me and tell me that the straw (my sports) that stirs my drink is, in and of itself, trivial. it may be. it may not. i take comfort knowing that, by far, i am not the only one that suffers from the sickness that is sports. a sickness that, at times, will make me long for an espn mobile phone more than a bigger house for my family.

i can't wait 'til thursday morning or whatever time thursday when i get to watch the tape of the game. i will sit on the edge of the couch. pace around the living room. hoping for us goals. for italian goals. for fewer czech goals and fewer still ghana goals. i can't wait. for an hour and a half, i will hardly be able to breathe.

here's to the us giving me one more day this world cup to look forward to with passion. here's to sports.

and here's to the bloodied mess that is brian mcbride. you are a beast.