World Cup Memories

Yes...I'm one of THOSE people. As I don't live in England or France anymore, I tend to only watch football when the World Cup is on. Things would be different if I lived back in Europe, when I would follow Man U with a lot more passion... But I live in the US, where my idea of football is called soccer, and the American idea of football means a bunch of guys charging at each other and throwing a rugby-shaped ball around.

Anyway... It's World Cup fever again. Makes me think of all the fun memories I have of past World Cups.

France 1998: I was living in France when France hosted AND won the World Cup. It was so intense and fun - the whole country went WILD! The best match was in the quarter finals when France thrashed Italy. We all watched it at the Gambetta, and then watched the craziness go down when people started driving down the Quai St Laurent (mainly Italian quarter in Grenoble), honking and yelling and flying the French flag. And then dancing on our balcony in the Ile Verte, and watching Arnault, Remi and Julien, all dressed in black as usual, come join us for the festivities.
Yup, us goths also enjoyed some footie from time to time :D

France 2002: Finishing my MA thesis and completely stressed out about having to present it in front of a jury. Watching all the matches really calmed my nerves. England disappointed yet again (Beckham's left foot?!?), and all the Scandinavian teams had Beckham haircuts.

USA 2006: The year my company worked on the Yahoo/Fifa project, translating match reports around the clock in real time. We had a TV in the office playing all of the matches. I watched the England/Portugal match on a Saturday morning in an English pub in the East Village (we lost), wearing the England shirt Danny had lovingly sent over for me; then the France/Brazil match (we lost) that same afternoon, with a bunch of people from work in an Irish pub near 34th and Lex. The infamous Zidane headbutting match :D

And this year: only one match in and England has already given the opposing team a goal! Let's hope something wakes them up and we make it to the final.