Football
My apologies to all you die-hard soccer fans out there. Yesterday’s match I left to watch was England/Ecuador. I just looked over and saw yellow jersies and thought “Brazil”. I don’t think I’ve ever watched as much soccer as I have here, and it’s been great. Especially to watch it surrounded by soccer loving fans. CRTV, Cameroon’s national TV station, is televising every single match – live. Pretty amazing for a competition that doesn’t even include Cameroon’s beloved Indomitable Lions, who were in the end domitabled by Egypt in the qualifying rounds this year. Try to imagine any type of athletic competition that doesn’t include US athletes actually shown on US networks. It wouldn’t happen, and if it did, people wouldn’t watch, so it won’t happen. How many of the World Cup games are televised on US network TV? Only the US matches except maybe the finals. Kind of annoying.
The World Cup is an amazing event and a lot of fun to watch and listen to. Countries get to show all their national color and pride out on the football field and stadium, with thousands and thousands of people in the stands yelling out songs in unison. Some of the matches are kind of boring, and some are incredible exciting, which is true for any game I guess. Mexico/Argentina, Cote d’Ivoire/Holland, Portugal/Holland, and Ghana/USA four good games I watched. Being in Africa, it’s especially fun to watch games with African teams.
People, including myself, are of course bummed and disappointed that their Lions aren’t in the competition, but it’s taken in stride. Although everybody seems to agree that Africa would’ve been much better represented in the Cup if Cameroon and Nigeria were in the competition. Both teams were eliminated due to incredible slim margins – this team beat the other team, that team drew to this team, and each country lost one critical match, even thought they both beat all the African sides that eventually ended up qualifying for the Cup. Since Cameroon isn’t representing, people root for all the other African teams like their own. There is an amazing amount of Pan-African pride that comes out during the World Cup, so people are generally disappointed that African teams didn’t do well this year. Only Ghana advanced to the 2nd round, and Brazil just scored their first goal within the first two minutes, so it doesn’t look good for them. It’s fun to watch here because people here generally love to argue, people know a lot about football, so the bars (off-license) are great places to watch games with everybody arguing and discussing every play, goal, penalty, strategy, and how Cameroon could’ve done better.
The guys next to me are communicating with Anna in Las Vegas right now, using all the internet lingo “I’m waiting to hear from u ok?” Kind of funny sitting here in an internet café in Bamenda, watching two Cameroonian boys talk with some single chick in Las Vegas. She’s cute. I wonder what she’d think if she knew where the people were she’s talking to. I’m sure this happens all the time, all around the world. Dana and I have also seen young guys, all bored-looking, looking at porn. You can’t get too excited when there are 30 other people in the same room all doing their respective thing on the internet. The computers in cafes here are packed together shoulder to shoulder, so it’s easy to see what your neighbor is doing.
I have to go to watch this match. Ghana is looking better. Even the porn boys have their heads turned to watch.
The World Cup is an amazing event and a lot of fun to watch and listen to. Countries get to show all their national color and pride out on the football field and stadium, with thousands and thousands of people in the stands yelling out songs in unison. Some of the matches are kind of boring, and some are incredible exciting, which is true for any game I guess. Mexico/Argentina, Cote d’Ivoire/Holland, Portugal/Holland, and Ghana/USA four good games I watched. Being in Africa, it’s especially fun to watch games with African teams.
People, including myself, are of course bummed and disappointed that their Lions aren’t in the competition, but it’s taken in stride. Although everybody seems to agree that Africa would’ve been much better represented in the Cup if Cameroon and Nigeria were in the competition. Both teams were eliminated due to incredible slim margins – this team beat the other team, that team drew to this team, and each country lost one critical match, even thought they both beat all the African sides that eventually ended up qualifying for the Cup. Since Cameroon isn’t representing, people root for all the other African teams like their own. There is an amazing amount of Pan-African pride that comes out during the World Cup, so people are generally disappointed that African teams didn’t do well this year. Only Ghana advanced to the 2nd round, and Brazil just scored their first goal within the first two minutes, so it doesn’t look good for them. It’s fun to watch here because people here generally love to argue, people know a lot about football, so the bars (off-license) are great places to watch games with everybody arguing and discussing every play, goal, penalty, strategy, and how Cameroon could’ve done better.
The guys next to me are communicating with Anna in Las Vegas right now, using all the internet lingo “I’m waiting to hear from u ok?” Kind of funny sitting here in an internet café in Bamenda, watching two Cameroonian boys talk with some single chick in Las Vegas. She’s cute. I wonder what she’d think if she knew where the people were she’s talking to. I’m sure this happens all the time, all around the world. Dana and I have also seen young guys, all bored-looking, looking at porn. You can’t get too excited when there are 30 other people in the same room all doing their respective thing on the internet. The computers in cafes here are packed together shoulder to shoulder, so it’s easy to see what your neighbor is doing.
I have to go to watch this match. Ghana is looking better. Even the porn boys have their heads turned to watch.
posted by Paoulo | 8:27 AM
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