Ah yes, we are DOING this shiznit, motherfuckers!
Alright, well, here’s the thing, at least thusly: I watched the USA vs. Paraguay match, and it was much more fun than I was expecting.
Interestingly, I learned that all my life, I was mispronouncing “Paraguay”. It turns out it isn’t Pair-a-gway. Huh.
Well, beyond that tidbit, there were a few other weird morsels: the match started with, poetically enough (tho not for the reasons you may expect) a self-goal from Paraguay, which gave the US an initial point, which seemed to strongly mirror the start of the, yes, 1994 games, with the only US goal being the same, that time against Columbia.
This year tho things were very different. Incredibly, the final score was 4-1 US. Times have definitely changed. Back in the day the US was… rarely the favorite in any soccer match. I’m being diplomatic here.
Perhaps it was the great success of the US women that gave the men a “leg up” (heh) and a greater prescence in the sport. It legit could be.
Interesting, no?
Perhaps this deserves investigation, or at least consideration, if not perhaps active remuneration, from a certain point of view. Hmmn.
Well, whatever the cause, clearly, things are different now on the world stage.
You know- there weren’t even as many fucking commercials as I thought there would be, especially since it was primetime programming. So I think we can do this. And yes, I do realize all of that about Olivia Rodrigo, thank you American Express.
I thought the addition of technological “officials” was… interesting. IDK. Yeah. I guess it can help with stuff like offsides calls, but that kind of thing make me more wary than anything else these days.
The camera shots of the uncomfortable, confused political figures in the audience was NOT appreciated. I intentionally avoid talking about politics, that stuff is so toxic I cannot stand it, ugh. Seriously- please leave them out of this totally if at all possible.
Other stuff – during the Canada match I did in fact rack my brain for a few minutes, trying to remember the name of a particular player, some dude that cut an album back in the mid-late 90’s and tried, unsuccessfully, to ride the post-grunge wave to crossover success. I couldn’t for the life of me remember his name, tho.
After the US match finished I did a double take and almost laughed out loud but for a timely tongue bite when I realized that one of the commentators WAS THAT DUDE.
Srsly- for real! As soon as his name popped up on the screen I recognized it immediately. Alexi Lalas. Right!!!! I saw his album in a store once, I think it was a Best Buy.
Immediately after everything in the game had finished I jumped on Spotify, and, lo and behold, THERE IT WAS. It’s called Ginger, apparently. I listened to a few songs. It was exactly what I thought it would be. It sounded like Candlebox, with a hint of The Wallflowers and a smidgen of Matchbox 20 thrown in.
Good lawse!
You know- I don’t know why I find this so amusing. Really, I don’t. But, I do, lol. I mean it’s not bad music. I think it’s the whole totality of all the things, in combination.
But OK. This is good stuff fr on god. The rizz is hitherto off the chain, methinks.
YESSSHHHHHH.