Monday Meanderings - 6.18.2018

If this is the 18th of June, I must have had a birthday last week. Again. Mind you, I'm not complaining, just noticing. Barb gave me a card that said, "You're getting old. You were old last year!"

And the 2018 version of the FIFA World Cup started this past week.  They've been going on - in one form or another - since 1930. when the first FIFA-sanctioned tournament was held in.... Uruguay. FIFA had a hard time convincing European teams to make the trip. The USA team defeated Mexico 4-1 in one of the first matches played, and in the final, Uruguay defeated Argentina 4–2 in front of a crowd of 93,000 people in Montevideo, and became the first nation to win the World Cup.

When the 1978 Cup came around, we were settled in Austin and our kids were playing (and I was refereeing) soccer in the local Optimist youth league. If you had cable TV, you would be able to see some of the games on the Spanish-language channel, so we signed up for cable. Barb was studying Spanish with a Colombian-born tutor at the time (with no cable), so we all gathered around the TV to watch host-nation Argentina defeat the Dutch  3–1.

Barb and I actually attended a World Cup quarter-final game when the USA hosted in 1994. Tickets were made available to us common folk by way of a lottery. You signed up, and if you got picked in the draw, you could buy 2 tickets. What you did not have was a choice; whatever game and location they offered, you could buy or pass. I asked Barb what we would do if we got very lucky and drew tickets for the Final in Pasadena? She said, "We would get on a plane and go to the game!" Luckily our game was in Dallas and we saw the eventual winner Brazil defeat the Dutch in the Cotton Bowl.

Four years later, we were in the Czech Republic during the late stages of the cup, which was going on just up the road in France. That was nice, because the games were played in the same time zone - no late-night or 6am matches. An interesting memory of those games is the sound of thousands of people living in the densely-packed high-rise apartment complexes alternately cheering or groaning during match play. You didn't actually need a TV to know when a goal was scored. BTW, host France won the cup by beating Brazil 3–0 in the final.

The women's national teams began formal World Cup competition back in 1991, when the US Women defeated China in China. In 1995, the US women eked out a 3rd place finish - over China, yet again. TV coverage was limited until 1999, when the Cup was held in the US; ESPN covered the final from Pasadena, and while visiting Rob and Jana in Tyler, Texas, we all got to see Brandi Chastain take her shirt off in victory, just like the men did.

That was a watermark moment for soccer in the US. The FIFA Women's World Cup now ranks in the top five for most watched sporting broadcasts in the world. And while the men's team is watching this year's Cup from home, same as me, the women are getting ready to defend their 3 (count 'em)  World Championships in France in 2019.Maybe we should get tickets.