I'm just saying...

Anyone who is remotely a sports fan and who doesn't admit to watching a bit of soccer this past weekend is lying! My daughter who is 3 1/2 even wanted to watch soccer over her Sunday morning cartoons. Little does she know that soccer is kind of like an action packed trailer to the, A River Runs Through It . The build up is amazing full of car chases and white water rapids but when actual movie is over, you've sat through 123 minutes of fly fishing.

That's not entirely true. Take for example the first game of the tournament, South Africa vs. Mexico. Now, I had heard that Mexico was one of the more highly touted teams in this years World Cup. But how do you blow your vuvuzela for anyone other than South Africa in the tournament opener in their home town? I have to admit that I was torn. I originally chose Mexico, who I believed was the stronger team, however, I was drawn into watching the pregame festivities and felt drawn to change my pick, which I did with about 4 minutes to game time. Then I started to think about it. Was I picking with my heart or my head (not that my head would have the first clue about any of this soccer stuff)? I rushed back from grabbing my third pregame coffee and managed to change my pick back just in the nick of time.

Now, I don't really remember a whole bunch about World Cup 2006 in Germany other than Italy won and Dino was elated. The one thing I remember clearly was the repetition of the phrase, "playing a possession game". For the uninitiated it's kind of like when you were in grade three and you went out to the big field with a few of your buddies and played keep away. The thing with the big field was that the field was so big you could never get the ball away. So that's kind of what I was expecting (and strangely I was still excited) but was I ever wrong.

Both teams came out flying. Mexico dominated the play and within the first few minutes had several scoring chances. If it wasn't for the S.A. goal keeper the game would have been over after the first 10 minutes. Lucky for us who watched the game was full of action right up to the final whistle. The game ended in a draw, as many others have and will over the course of the tournament, but what a way to start off.

It sounds like I'm slamming soccer, which I'm not. I love watching the World Cup. This is going to sound cheesey but it can give us life lessons. When you're watching the next match have a look and compare it to our lives. We need to be aware of our surroundings and look for opportunities where we might be able to influence the game. We need to be cautious not to jump into a play that may be detrimental or that might lead to oportunites for our competitors. We need to trust that our teammates will be there to help us when we need it. We need to be patient, in some cases very patient. And we need to be in control, because if we're out of control some grown man close by may start flailing on the ground and crying for no good reason.