Last night I watched the World Cup at Mickey Spillane's. It is one of the many neighborhood bars owned by my friend Richie. If you live in Hell's Kitchen you know him. He is tall, thin, and has a Bruce Springsteen bandana on his head. Richie can be seen at one of his three bars or riding his motorcycle. I can say I like the dude, and his establishments are well run.
The reason I went is because of my Ranter gig. While my love of football is what scored me the job, I have been learning a lot about other sports. While I follow many others on a surface level, I have been getting into them like never before. This week I have been getting into the World Cup. I played soccer briefly as a kid, but was never very good. My sister Skipper on the other hand was amazing, that is, before she tore her ACL and that ended those dreams. She still continued to run cross country for years though. Wendell played until he was thirteen, but because he was built more like a tank rather than a spindly soccer dude, he would unintentionally get rough. So when he was in eighth grade he switched to football which turned out to be a better fit.
I got to Mickey Spillane's and ordered a ginger ale. It was the USA v. Ghana. When I saw the Ghanans and their faux-hawks I knew this was going to be a good game. The USA scored a goal within the first few minutes. However, the Ghanans were not going down without a fight. One dude was taken out in a stretcher within the first few minutes after the goal. Then the dude that scored the goal was hit in the face by a dirty, low road taking member of Team Ghana. At first he was the hero scoring the goal for the USA, and then became a zero as a tampon hung out his nose. Nonetheless, he still continued to play. Ghana still continued to play dirty though. One dude was kicking the ball, and another dude from Ghana tripped him!!!! I was like WTF! Was that really necessary, Sir? Then one member of Team USA nearly pulled both hamstrings at the same time. Now that was just painful to watch.....Ouchland.
At the same time, the USA kept getting close to scoring more goals, but they kept missing the net. They kept missing the net, and Ghana kept playing like a bunch of street brawlers. I wanted to explain to them that I was well aware they were third world, but it didn't mean they had to act like it. The Brits at the bar, hardcore soccer fans, explained the African nations as well as South Americans were typically rough. Why that is, I don't know. But if I were a ref I would be carding them everywhere.
When Ghana scored and tied the game, I felt my heart sink. The whole place did. America needed to get it together and fast. However, this also meant the stakes were raised. Now we were all glued to the screen intently. The bar had a diverse mix of patrons. Some were tourists. Others were suits. Some were local yokels like myself. There were whites, blacks, Latinos, Asians and any mix of foreigners. We were all in suspense, what would happen next.
Just then the USA scored a second goal. It was within the last few minutes of the game. Together we all cheered. In unison, a chorus of strangers, we chanted, "USA, USA, USA!!!"
It didn't matter that many of us didn't know each other or might never see each other again. Our team was playing for the World Cup and won one of the qualifying games. It not only gave us a fun evening, but made us feel good as a whole, as people of this great sovereign nation. This was amazing, and I left the bar skipping down the street. Despite the fact my dance card is full at times, it made me blessed to have a job in sports broadcasting and happy to live in the best city and best country ever.
So you need to download Ranter on both Android and iphone where it is available
And I need to do my homework for my Continuing Ed class tonight.
"USA! USA! USA!"
The reason I went is because of my Ranter gig. While my love of football is what scored me the job, I have been learning a lot about other sports. While I follow many others on a surface level, I have been getting into them like never before. This week I have been getting into the World Cup. I played soccer briefly as a kid, but was never very good. My sister Skipper on the other hand was amazing, that is, before she tore her ACL and that ended those dreams. She still continued to run cross country for years though. Wendell played until he was thirteen, but because he was built more like a tank rather than a spindly soccer dude, he would unintentionally get rough. So when he was in eighth grade he switched to football which turned out to be a better fit.
I got to Mickey Spillane's and ordered a ginger ale. It was the USA v. Ghana. When I saw the Ghanans and their faux-hawks I knew this was going to be a good game. The USA scored a goal within the first few minutes. However, the Ghanans were not going down without a fight. One dude was taken out in a stretcher within the first few minutes after the goal. Then the dude that scored the goal was hit in the face by a dirty, low road taking member of Team Ghana. At first he was the hero scoring the goal for the USA, and then became a zero as a tampon hung out his nose. Nonetheless, he still continued to play. Ghana still continued to play dirty though. One dude was kicking the ball, and another dude from Ghana tripped him!!!! I was like WTF! Was that really necessary, Sir? Then one member of Team USA nearly pulled both hamstrings at the same time. Now that was just painful to watch.....Ouchland.
At the same time, the USA kept getting close to scoring more goals, but they kept missing the net. They kept missing the net, and Ghana kept playing like a bunch of street brawlers. I wanted to explain to them that I was well aware they were third world, but it didn't mean they had to act like it. The Brits at the bar, hardcore soccer fans, explained the African nations as well as South Americans were typically rough. Why that is, I don't know. But if I were a ref I would be carding them everywhere.
When Ghana scored and tied the game, I felt my heart sink. The whole place did. America needed to get it together and fast. However, this also meant the stakes were raised. Now we were all glued to the screen intently. The bar had a diverse mix of patrons. Some were tourists. Others were suits. Some were local yokels like myself. There were whites, blacks, Latinos, Asians and any mix of foreigners. We were all in suspense, what would happen next.
Just then the USA scored a second goal. It was within the last few minutes of the game. Together we all cheered. In unison, a chorus of strangers, we chanted, "USA, USA, USA!!!"
It didn't matter that many of us didn't know each other or might never see each other again. Our team was playing for the World Cup and won one of the qualifying games. It not only gave us a fun evening, but made us feel good as a whole, as people of this great sovereign nation. This was amazing, and I left the bar skipping down the street. Despite the fact my dance card is full at times, it made me blessed to have a job in sports broadcasting and happy to live in the best city and best country ever.
So you need to download Ranter on both Android and iphone where it is available
And I need to do my homework for my Continuing Ed class tonight.
"USA! USA! USA!"
