reading: dancing naked in the mind field kary mullis
listening: mirrorball sarah mclachlan
surfing: brand x

1999 july 12

victory

i watched the women's world cup this weekend.

what an excellent game. the usa and china were so closely matched as to make it a nailbiter the whole 90 minutes of regulation play, the 30 minutes of overtime play and finally the penalty kick phase. poor gene, who hadn't meant to watch the game with me, kept jumping up from his chair, and yelling, "ahhhhhhhhhhh, so close!! just score! my heart can't take this!"

whenever a game comes down to the actions of one or two players, versus the whole team, sympathy floods over me. i know they train for these moments but i can't help thinking that a little resentment must run through their brains [goalie: damn team, the ten of them had 120 minutes to win it and now i've got to stand here and try to stop five balls. penalty kicker number 5: damn goalie, couldn't have stopped two balls, had to stop just one ball and leave it up to me to win it.] in any event, the goalie and kicker number 5 [briana scurry and brandi chastain, respectively] both did what they had to do and the usa women's soccer team are now world cup champions.

i like soccer, the fast pace of it, the constant action, the way the game can turn around so very quickly. when i was in high school, i managed the boys' team. it was great fun, especially ripping the tape off all their hairy little legs. i suppose that made me a teenaged sadist, but it really was nice to see the arrogance of the players shut down for a minute or two while they howled in pain.

don't get me wrong, i loved those boys. i catered to their every whim, fed them, watered them, hugged them when they suffered particularly crushing defeats. when our star forward was killed in an automobile accident, i wept right alongside the rest of the team. and to tell the truth, whenever i had to rip the tape off one of their hairy legs, i tried to do it as painlessly as possible, and always had a pocket full of lollipops to hand out as rewards for being such brave boys.

i was in the best shape of my life during those months, running up and down the field on the sidelines, yelling encouragement and last minute instructions from the coach. i wish i had taken the time to learn how to play the game when i had the stamina. i never did have the necessary agility though; i had enough trouble walking without running into things. i don't think i ever would have mastered the intricacies of the foot and head work without causing myself permanent damage.

she shoots, she scores!, claire

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