Games

I had been following–but not jinxing the Royals by watching–the World Series. I had missed the Liverpool-Swansea match yesterday. The Swans won the League Cup before I knew there was a League Cup and before my corporate masters at NBC informed me there was such a club playing in the Premier League.

How did I miss that match? I knew it was in my mind–I could have had those little panel boxes scrolling or the Twitter feed running while I set up templates for the clergy and sacristan schedules in 2015–yesterday’s mid-afternoon task. My wife even texted me that Liverpool was playing Real Madrid on tv yesterday. I told her it had to be a replay of last week’s debacle. We only get premier league and champions league here in the States.

Fine time for Mario Balotelli to come out of his pout. Couldn’t that have lasted one more match?

Garry Monk’s side might be getting the bad side of a number of calls, but at some point does the manager stop complaining about what he can’t control, and push the buttons that work? If he were an American coach, he would have been fined, suspended, and certainly not scheduled for a one-on-one meeting with the head of officiating.

Swans have a rematch against the young miss’s number 2 team this Saturday. With Britain off daylight time, I think that’s now an 8am start for Iowans. I get to watch the first forty minutes before going to keep watch over our parish’s non-obligatory holy day Mass.

Just as my wife left for her small group last night (taking the family’s only car), I got a text inviting me to view the World Series in a local sports bar. One of my staff colleagues was gathering a small cadre at a table by the door. I kept my promise. I didn’t even watch the game at home. (I viewed a PBS Nature program “What Plants Talk About.”)

No game six drama meant that by the end of the 2nd inning, everybody on the planet knew there was going to be a game seven tonight. My sense tells me tonight will be an exception to this unusual series lacking close games. Instead of ending with a dramatic hit, I expect  great defensive play in the top of the ninth will close the curtain on 2014 baseball.

With the Swans exit of the League Cup, which underdog remains to cheer onward? Following NCAA basketball, it’s hard to imagine a tournament that has no brackets until the obvious penultimate round.

I see the FA Cup starts numbered rounds now. I will follow that, as I will be recognizing some names. To get myself in shape for this, I’ve been learning all the teams in British football. Last night I was up to 82 before time was called. One round a day. Goal: improvement on the last go.

One of our students is studying abroad next semester–in Cardiff. I will instruct her to wear blue if she gets to a match, and not to utter the word “tan” in mixed company.