Oh my, where do I start. The World Cup has been a big deal in my family while growing up for as long as I can remember. I remember vividly watching Brazil win the World Cup in the USA in 1994 and my Gran buying me a T-Shirt at the flea market with the cup and the Brazilian flag on it. I remember my mom wearing a Zinedine Zadane #10 shirt constantly, and pretty much ever birthday/father's day gift for my dad has revolved around the German national team (or the NY Yankees:) with his favourites being his Ballack and Klose jerseys. I remember years of getting the tournament schedule out of the paper and taping it on the basement door and fighting with my brother and sister over who got to fill it in after games. I remember winning a weekend away at the Nottawasaga Inn when Chloe and Carter were 2 and 1, and leaving them with my parents to go and we watched the World Cup the entire time. I remember my poor husband near tears when France lost to Italy in the World Cup final in 2006 and Zidane's infamous head butt.
My grandfather was a semi-professional soccer player in Scotland (and the navy) and loved telling us stories about his multiple cat scans he had done because of too many headers. I knew he was good, but recently after going through old pictures and stats of the teams he played for, I realized how good he really was, always being the top goal scorer on his team. My other grandfather coached girls high school soccer for years. Our family has always had a love for professional soccer. My dad loved Manchester United and I remember taping an important game for him on VHS while he was at work, and my siblings and I being so excited for him to come home so we could watch his reaction when they scored 2 goals in stoppage time to go on and win.
My parents worked at HMV when the 1998 World Cup was in France, and they brought home the soundtrack for the Cup. We danced and danced to Ricky Martin till that soundtrack was scratched and damaged beyond recognition. While watching a Germany beat France a few weeks ago at Kelseys, I mentioned to my dad how much I loved that album and how I couldn't find it on ITunes anywhere. He showed up at my house with a copy of that soundtrack that he had found at an old record store just before the final. It was in perfect condition. We were both in tears, and that $1.50 used CD is probably the sweetest gift my dad has ever given me.
But with all of those World Cup memories of the past, I don't think I have ever enjoyed a tournament as much as this one. We had so much fun picking our brackets and watching games with friends and family. If Mexico was playing, we had tacos, if Greece was playing, we had Greek, when France played, we cooked on the racqulette. The food and time we shared together was as important as the games themselves. I loved taking time to plan our lives around the games we didn't want to miss. It was so much fun to look forward to the next game and what we would do. I loved that the kids and their cousins and friends would play soccer in the back at halftime. I will never forget were we were when Suarez bit Chielleni, or the excitement and pure joy in my dad's voice when Germany beat Brazil 7 to 1. I loved constant texts from my mum asking me to update her on the score while she was at work, and the numerous, hilarious texts from my sister quoting the British commentators. I loved sitting on my couch with my parents and siblings watching old soccer commercials over and over again and having such good memories flood my mind.
The first song on that CD from my dad is "Do you mind if I play?" and I love the words....
Four years happen by, but it made the world smile
It's time to wait for a sign
Football in our lives, takes place in our hearts
Champions all around, it's magical to see
This is the way we love the world to play......alay alay
Do you mind if I play, do you mind if I win?
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