There's definitely a void now. If you love sport, the emotion of winning and losing, following the path of the winners and the losers, the ups and downs, you have to wonder what you are going to look forward to. The Tour de France? Yes, it's a pretty amazing human achievement, and everyday there are some pretty amazing battles. It's up there, it just lacks the euphoria of a knockout round win and the disappointment of a defeat. The new Premier League, Serie A, La Liga seasons? Yeah, there's some fun there. Who will be the new big money names in England? How will Ronaldo take to life with Juventus? Who will replace Ronaldo at Real Madrid? Yes, all good but the seasons are long and a win in August or September may long be forgotten by May.
How about the British Open? A bit of stretch. Golf is like basketball. If you want excitement watch the last 5 minutes (or last 5 holes on the final day) and hope the scores are close up until then so you catch the most exciting bit.
What else? The US Open. Now that could be fun if we go again like last year. Tennis in New York, that's pretty good. I couldn't get excited about Wimbledon, especially not the final as it clashed with the World Cup final. Maybe by the time the US Open comes around I'll be needing that bit of tennis excitement.
But back to the last memories of a wonderful month, my memories. The best times were the Canada Day long weekend, also the last 16 weekend, when it didn't take much persuasion to convince Kristine and my girls that the best way to spend the weekend was to camp out at home and watch football. I could have gone to a bar, but it was better to share those moments with my family. We had a great time cheering Schmeichel! Schmeichel! in the hope that the Danish keeper would come out on top in the penalty shoot out against Croatia. We were all jumped out of our seats when Belgium scored the last minute winner in the thriller against Japan. And we all happily waved cheerio to Spain and their boring, pointless football.
There was the drive to Cleveland with Kristine, some time finally spent alone together, and World Cup commentary on BBC Radio in the car. Shaqiri scored the last minute winner against Serbia just as we pulled into our hotel. And as Belgium put a few goals past Tunisia we were somewhere in northern Ohio, or had we crossed into Pennsylvania, or were we already in New York state? Football on the radio, BBC radio, nonetheless, it never loses it's charm.
And then finally, the joy of my teenager Lily giving up on a day at the beach with her friends to watch the World Cup Final with her dad. That made me happy.
That's it. All done. I'll find something to look forward to. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment