Home Sweet Home

After an overnight flight from Africa and a transfer in Atlanta, I made it home to Tampa to watch the USA defeat Algeria and move onto the round of 16. It was a fabulous match and I hope in inspires more Americans to get into the beautiful game.

I know that previously, a lot was written in the press and covered on the news about whether or not South Africa would be ready in time for the World Cup. And more importantly, if they would be able to handle it. I am happy to report back that they were ready and rose to the challenge. Everyone seemed well aware of the opportunities that would come to their nation from being wonderful hosts.

For me the experience that I had was fantastic! Everyone that I met was just so sincerely excited to have people from around the world come to their country and appreciate it. Believe it or not, they have closed all of the schools for the 6 weeks of the tournament to give more people the opportunity to join in the celebration.

From the taxi drivers and the shop keeps to the two women who ran the B&B where I stayed (I felt like I had surrogate mom's for the length of my trip). Everyone was just wonderful! They all went to great lengths and made my experience in South Africa one that I will remember and cherish for the rest of my life.

Cheers!

- Scott

Mandela Square

We went to Mandela Square today. Did some shopping... watched some games on the TV... ate some food. It was a mellow day, but a good day.

I have to say, I am really going to miss strawberry juice when I leave. They sell strawberry juice here, that is just straight up strawberries. For serious! No additives, preservatives, and no flavor enhancers, just the good stuff, seeds and all. You can order it in a pub. They will simply put strawberries with a dash of water in a blender for you to make it fresh. They also sell at at the store, or coffee shop, in the the fridge next to the other juices. It is just fabulous! Why we don't have it in the States? We have strawberries! We have blenders!

Five for 5

So… no one tailgates at the World Cup. At least not that I have ever come across. I have only ever been to this World Cup and the one 4 years ago in Germany, but I think that’s a fair sample. It really changes the atmosphere. I honestly did not see a single drunk at the game. I did not see a single fight. All of the opposition fans are all quite cordial to each other. I know that we are not yet to the single elimination stage and the stakes will be higher later on in the tournament, but it is a very different vibe than an NFL game. I think it’s (at least in part) due to the no tailgating. The environment was electric, though! There is something different under the lights and this game was just huge!

Tonight was our last game. It was our 5^th game in 5 days. On paper, it was the most exciting match up, Brazil versus the Ivory Coast. Both teams are stacked with stars and it is one of the key games in the Group of Death. For those of you who are not familiar, in every World Cup, there is always one group from the first round of games where it is filled with all strong teams and will result in “killing off” two of them. That is always known at the Group of Death. This year, Group G, with Brazil, Ivory Coast, Portugal, and North Korea is that group.

The game was a great one. Brazil came out on top, 3 goals to 1.

We had a bit of an adventure getting home after the game. No one can park at Soccer City, which I find odd. You can either take the train or you can go to the park and ride to take a bus. We took a taxi to the bus. Going there was fine, but leaving the taxi driver's car broke and he sent someone else. And the people we were sharing the cab with were late. When we finally got to the hotel, we were locked out of the room (not our fault!) and the office was closed for the night. Drama, drama, drama. It all worked out in the end, but there were a few moments before we got help getting a hold of the owner that were a little stressful. It was a little too chilly to sleep on the bench. It really is winter time in the Southern Hemisphere!

Durban Today! (That's Durban, as in Turban)

I have lots of fun pictures to post today. Megan and I got up very, very early this morning to drive to the coast where Durban Stadium is at. We got to see the Dutch play against the Japanese. The fans were absolute in full effect for the match. It was hard to pick my favorite pictures. When we left Johannesburg in the morning, the temp was just below freezing. I went out and warmed up the car and complained about seeing my breathe. The elevation in Jo'burg is just around 2,000 ft, but Durban is just barely above sea level. I got to experience first hand how much that changed the temperature. After 6 hours of driving the weather had gone from freezing to 85 degrees. I was honestly concerned that I might get a sunburn. It just seemed crazy to me!

Useless fact of the day that may only interest me: The Dutch colors are red, white and blue. The nation's official colors, that is. The colors that are on the flag. Red, white and blue. However, the colors of Dutch Royal Family's coat of arms is orange. As a result, all of the Dutch sports teams wear orange. Which, not surprisingly, leads all of their fans to wear orange. I don't think I have ever seen so much orange in my entire life. It was like a citrus fruit exploded! From the orange wigs and orange sunglasses, to the old men with orange suit and orange spats. They do it up right.

The vuvuzelas were, of course, out in full effect.

After the game, we went to visit my friend, Andre, and his wife to spend the evening with them. Andre was telling me about a friend of his who filters out the vuvuzela noise from his television coverage. It is a crazy length to go to, but I get why you would take the time. On TV it sounds like a swarm of bees has just descended into the stadium. We had a wonderful dinner down near the beach and got some drinks while watching the Denmark game. Well, part of the Denmark game. I still don't think Nicolas Bentner is that good. I don't care that he scored tonight. Andre is letting us crash at his place, so we don't need to make the drive back to Jo'burg until tomorrow. I think today has been my favorite day of the trip so far.

USA! USA! USA!

I was super excited for today's game in Ellis Park between the US and Slovenia. When we bought our tickets back in November, the plan was to go into the raffle for 6 games. Four years ago, in Germany, tickets were very hard to come by. Our thinking was that if we got lucky we would get tickets to 1 or 2 games. We were shocked to win seats for 5 games. (When I say 'win', I mean win the right to buy seats). The catch was, when we got the tickets, we knew where and when the games were, but we had no idea who was going to be playing. We had to wait 2 months until they did the ping pong ball draw to find out. So... that's a long way of saying that I was very glad that we got tickets to see the US team play and even more excited when I discovered we were 7 rows off the pitch. The location of Ellis Park is an old rugby stadium. If you have ever seen the movie Invictus about the 1995 Rugby World Cup, this where the final game (and several of the others) took place.

The US was not so good in the first half and (I think) deserved to be down 2 goals. They came storming out in the second half. Landon Donovan shot off the roof of the net to get the US back into the match and the stadium went nuts. We stood for pretty much everything after that. I still think that last goal should have counted. I think it was unfair that we got stuck with a draw. It was a fun day, though!

Soccer City

Today was Soccer City.

Soccer City is the brand new stadium that they built in Johannesburg for the 2010 World Cup. It is quite the sight to see. The fans were absolutely amazing there.

The game on the docket was Argentina versus South Korea. The Argentina team is loaded with star plays from the European professional league. Lionel Messi, their world class striker, was just out of this world to see live. It is so easy to understand why he is generally considered the best player in the world. Even when he picks up the ball in the middle of the pitch, he will make a little run, pick off 3 defenders and open of the other side for other players. I think the most amazing part to me is how close he keeps the ball to his feet.

I wanted to post some pictures of the fans. I have a video of the fans from Argentina singing that I wanted to share. Also, I took a picture of the giant flag that the Koreans got out before the kickoff.

The vuvuzela are so loud. I have a love/hate relationship with them. They bring so much energy, but when the guy behind you on the bus is blowing one it can be a bit much. In the end I think they are good and will most certainly be a enduring symbol (and sound) of this World Cup.

A couple of other random notes before I sign off today. First, neither of the two stadiums that I have been to so far have a score board. They have had video screens for replays, but no place that show the score or the time remaining. I find that odd. Tomorrow we are going to Ellis Park. I am curious to see if it is the same there.

And finally, there are cheerleaders that come out to dance at half time. I didn't expect that. They perform to the official 2010 World song, Waka Waka by Shakira. It's short, but fun.

Color Commentary

So... I almost forget to share this. Last night when we were driving back from Durban to Jo'burg we listened on the radio to the game between Uruguay and South Africa.

Anyway... the commentator was working alone, just doing the play by play. He was not afraid to add in his own color commentary, with such precious nuggets as:

"The goalie for Uruguay is wearing a kit that is head to toe florescent orange. You could not possibly miss him."

and

"That is the brightest yellow card that I have ever seen! Where do you get one of those?"

At the end of the match, which South Africa (known locally as Bafana Bafana) lost 3 to nothing, he signed off with:

"Well, Bafana Bafana are not officially eliminated, but they need to win by a cricket score in their next match if they have any hopes of advancing"

Over the Mountains and Through the Savannah to the Indian Ocean we went

Made the drive from Jo'burg to Durban today. It was 12 hours in the car, if I hadn't mastered left side drive before, I definitely have now. It was worth it though. Our first taste of World Cup fans in action. The Swiss fans were all decked out in red and white with their cow bells. There were more fans for Spain than I could count. Spain dominated the game, but Switzerland pulled out a 1-0 win for a shocking upset!

Lions and Tigers and Hippopotami, Oh My!

It was a long flight, but not as bad as I thought it would be. They lost my luggage, but then it was found again. So... that's my excuse for not posting sooner. No clothes and no computer.

We did not have a game today, so we decided to visit the Lion and Rhino Preserve which is just north of Johannesburg (aka Jo'burg). It only took us about an hour and a half to get there. One interesting note to me was that there is not much urban sprawl here. Once you are out of the city, you are in the middle of nowhere. I happen to think that's sorta a cool point.

The only way that I know how to describe the preserve is to say that the African Lion Safari is based on a place like this. I had only previously been to the North American version, just outside of Toronto. Logically, this place was similar, but not nearly as polished or as structured. The man at the front gate intoned to us after we paid to get in, "Do NOT get out of your car." There were no danger signs, no release forms, no overly repeated warnings, just one fatherly figure to put the fear of god in us.

The roads were all dirt and bumpy, but since going slow to see the animals is the goal, it was not a problem. We didn't make it around the second corner and we had to stop the car for a mammoth rhino to cross. I don't think the pictures do justice to how big he was.

We saw more animals than I will bore you with, but it was better than any zoo I had ever been to. There was one small part where we could get out of the car. They had a crèche and the baby lions, tigers and cheetahs to pet. There was a release that Meg signed for the both of us. It was one sentence and it basically said, "I know lions can bite, even the baby ones". True story. I am so used to much more litigious culture. In a strange way, it was a bit of fresh air.

Quote of the day:

Meg to a lion on the other side of the pen. "Mr. Lion, won't you please come closer, have you no pride?"

Today is the day! Today is the day that I leave for South Africa. It will be 16 hours in the air from Atlanta to Johannesburg, but I think it is going to be worth it. I had such an extraordinary experience 4 years ago in Germany, I have high expectation for this trip.

I am traveling with my friend, Meg, whom I have known since the first grade. She and I have been to no less that 10 countries together at this point. For reasons that I have not yet been able to identify, she has not murdered me. If you know me well, I am sure you are wondering that same thing. She recently shared some of her thoughts about this World Cup and our trip to the last World Cup.

I thought it would be fun to try and share some of our adventures and misadventures (as the case may be) from this trip as they happen. As long as I can get some Internet access, I going to try and post, at the minimum, a few pictures each day. With any luck, a few good tales, too.

Starting tomorrow, Meg will be acting as my editor. I am expecting a lot more from her than just filling in the commas and shit. I have a feeling she will be trying to keep my bad jokes to a minimum and the quality of my puns to be no less than "two dingers".

So... if you are interested in getting a fan's perspective of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, check this site for the next 10 days. Very likely some interesting things will happen for me to write about. If not, I assure you, I would never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

- Scott