Growing up in an Italian family, there is almost no way to avoid soccer. It becomes a topic during most get togethers and seems to punctuate every Sunday meal with the family. It’s in the blood.
Every four years we are blessed with the wondrous event known as the World Cup. I remember many a summer afternoon sitting in front of someone’s television watching the game of the day. Occasionally we’d watch at my aunt’s house and it would be a reunion of sorts – everyone coming to her place to see each other and to yell at the TV together.
On some occasions the men and the women watched separately as the women undeniably yelled at the referees a little more than the men. Although the men made more guttural noises during the matches – awwwws when their teams missed a goal, oooohs when the opposing team just missed making a goal. It was great fun and I have fond memories of some world cups. Notably the 1982 Italy win when everyone went out into the streets with their cars and motorcycles honking horns and screaming. I don’t think anyone went to sleep before 4 am that night.
Four years ago will be remembered by my husband as the year when I yelled so loud for a goal that I woke my dog. This year is the year when I still yell at the TV but need to leave the room when his team is losing so as not make him more nervous. We have very different soccer watching styles. He’s far quieter than I am and I need to yell at the coaches or at the TV when I get frustrated.
I do enjoy watching soccer most of the time but I don’t watch it with the intensity that I do when the world cup is on. All the TVs in every house are showing the match and all chores are done while watching the teams on the field.
This year, I’d like for an underdog to win but it’s not looking that promising. I hope the rest of the games are exciting to watch and that they are as memorable as some of the matches so far have been.
No comments:
Post a Comment