usa? usa? usa?
(a lesson in lowering my expectations)


two months ago the world cup draw was announced. the top 16 seeds were unveiled and the us was snubbed. no worries. the us was then placed in a group of 4 more than quality teams, some calling it the toughest in the tournament. no worries. this was the best us team we had ever assembled. more depth. more talent. more speed. more experience. if four years ago was a surprise, 2006 would be a validation. leaving the czech's or italy home for the second round would prove the us was for real and worthy of their mythical #5 world ranking. for two months i listened to every soundbite, read every article, and lapped up every drop of hype about this, our best team. at 11:05 yesterday, five freakin' minutes into the match, all of my optimism was taken away. it took all of five minutes for the us to look small, slow, unorganized, and overmatched against a team very worthy or their #2 world ranking. and today is the day after.

i've been a victim of hype before. hype from others. hype from myself. raising my expectations to unrealistic levels only to take a figurative punch to the gut when the hype proves false. i've done it with alabama football, with music, movies, and time and time again with us soccer. i am so sick of always being "on the cusp". after yesterday, we have been knocked off the cusp.

and so i sit and try to manage new expectations, expectations that are far lower than this time yesterday. i have lowered my expectations in some facets of my life and it has proved to be healthy at times. when expecting the worse from family, just a little better than worse seems pretty good. when expecting a horrible sermon, fair to middling actually raises my spirits some. when expecting crappy taco bell, a relatively fresh chalupa is a breath of fresh air. and so i ask myself, should i approach everything with such a negative tone?

that seems reasonable, but it also seems very pedestrian. because there is nothing like hype proved real (see a healthy marriage, fatherhood, lebron james, etc). there is no drug that provides a lengthier high than high expectations realized. and so, i will work to keep my hopes up. for us soccer. for good music. for alabama football. maybe even for church. and i will try and work to keep the disappointment from affecting my mood and reactions and thoughts for very long.

i'll keep you, dear reader, dear hannah, updated as to how this is coming.

in the meantime...bring on fucking italy.