It Begins!

First off, I went to the Sounders game with my brother last night, a way of getting even more jazzed up (if that's possible) for the start of the World Cup. At that point, my brother pointed out that someone else had a blog called Mike's Musings. So, that wouldn't do. I credit my brother with coming up with the new name of this blog, which fits well.
I'll try to talk about the Sounder game later, but right now, I'm just too excited. I woke up this morning and immediately flipped on ESPN and the images from South Africa were thrilling. I'm always weary of TV coverage of the World Cup, but so far, I've been impressed. Kudos to ESPN for hiring an international staff, including a South African, to serve in the studio. He talked about it being emotional, and he's right. The first World Cup in Africa, in a country with so much dramatic history, is so exciting, and you can't help (unless you're Mexican) but pull for South Africa to at least play well. The emotion is heightened by the news of the death of Nelson Mandela's great granddaughter, as if he hasn't suffered enough tragedy. He truly deserved to be there.
Like the Mariners game last weekend, this World Cup is especially emotional for me as it's Satchel's first. Sure, he won't remember it at all, just as I don't remember the 1978 World Cup. He may pay attention to about a few seconds of it. He'll be cranky, happy, funny, angry, beautiful. He'll be the same as always. But to get to share even a little bit of this with him, whether he's aware of it or not, is really a thrill for me. Of course, it would have been more thrilling if he would have gotten up at his usual 8:30-9 a.m. instead of 7, which means it's going to be a long, long day for daddy, but it's still great.
I'll be blogging semi-regularly during games, so keep checking back in. So far it's been an entertaining game, with South Africa holding its own and lucking out by a horrible offsides call.