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Soccer freaks sacrifice sleep for joy
I am a soccer enthusiast, addict, freak, maniac ... whatever you want to call it. I love playing the game. I love watching the game.
Every year, I follow the exploits of my favorite team � Manchester United Football Club of England. Manchester United are known by many nicknames to their fans and detractors alike.
MUFC, or just MU, being the club's acronym, is one of the common ones. The Reds (which, with black, is the usual color of the team's first jersey) is another. Man United is a third. But by far the most common nickname is Red Devils. Red for their jersey color, devils because the official club logo has a devil in its center.
Other than the Red Devils, there are two English soccer teams that are widely supported world-round. Liverpool, F.C., is perhaps the more famous of the two, but there are many soccer fans who also swear by Arsenal, F.C. There are, of course, other good teams in England that occasionally cause an upset and win the league title, but for the most part, MU, Liverpool and Arsenal are the main teams.
There is fierce rivalry between the teams. There is even fiercer rivalry between the supporters. Just ask my fellow Malaysians in St. Cloud, Jega, Ash and Iswaran, and they will be able to tell you. Just for the sake of acknowledgement, Jega and Ash are Liverpool fans, while Iswaran supports Arsenal.
Being in Malaysia meant that a game broadcast live from England would be on television at about 2 a.m. Despite the lateness of the hour, you would find soccer maniacs staying up to catch their favorite team in action. I was no exception.
Sadly, since coming to SCSU, I have been deprived of watching my favorite team play very often. In Malaysia, you could watch the Red Devils play almost every week of the season. Here, it is once in a blue moon.
I was, however, pleasantly surprised that ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC has shown all the World Cup games. For those who are lost, the World Cup is a tournament held every four years where 32 national teams from around the world (having a year or two before played games to win qualification for the competition) spend a month playing soccer for the right to be called the world champions.
Being the soccer maniac that I am, I have only missed one game so far. And that was only because I had to go down to the Cities. That is pretty amazing to me, considering that the games are played at 1:30, 4 and 6:30 in the morning. The reason for the lovely timing is that the games are being played in South Korea and Japan.
Which brings me to my major gripe about this year's World Cup. This is the first time that the tournament is being held in Asia. Previously, only Europe, the U.S. and South America have ever hosted the games.
My point is that whenever the World Cup was on, I had to watch the games in the wee hours of the morning in Malaysia. And now, when the World Cup is being held for the first time in Asia, I happen to be in the U.S., again watching the games at the same ungodly hour. How I envy my friends back home who can watch the games in the comfort of their living rooms while having dinner.
Once the World Cup ends on Sunday, I will be starved of soccer again. At least until the English league starts up again in August.
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