World Cup Begins (with Togo!)

In nearly every circumstance, I fit one gay stereotype perfectly, and that is I have no knowledge of sports. I did not watch a single game of the White Sox in the World Series. I could not tell you how the Bulls or Bears did last season. And the only reason I have the Cubs schedule in my calendar is so that I know when to avoid driving on Addison Street.

But there is one sport that I enjoy watching quite a bit, and it is soccer (a.k.a "football" to the rest of the world), the runaway most-popular sport on the planet, though you would not know that from US press coverage. My interest in soccer goes back to high school when, although I had no athletic ability whatsoever, I still needed to find an excuse to spend more time in the men's locker room, so I volunteered to be the statistician for my high school soccer team. I did that for three years in high school and then two years in college as well. Since I had to stay near the coach during the game to keep him apprised of various records, my coaches (college in particular) would often talk to me and teach me about the strategy of the game, giving me an understanding of soccer that I have of no other sport.

Then, while I lived in Europe for two years, I was immersed in a sports culture unlike anything in America. Europeans live, breathe, and die by soccer. The number and complexity of teams and organizations and tournaments is frankly hard to get a handle on, but any European worth his salt can recite the rosters, records, and standings of his team. I learned very early on to cheer for our local Belgium team Anderlecht. I also grew to cheer for Real Madrid and Arsenal and to despise Manchester United and everything it stands for.....though I have had a few people tell me I resemble David Beckham (I don't see it, he's way hotter than me), which used to bother me since he played for United but it's ok now since he moved to Real Madrid.

Africa is just as enthusiastic as Europe, if not more so. When I lived in Togo, there was an all-night party in the streets after Togo defeated heavily-favored Ghana in a qualifying match for the 1998 World Cup. Few people there have televisions, so those that did brought them out or set them in windows, and I would see hundreds of people crowding around this tiny TV watching the game as if it were a matter of life-and-death. When, this year, Togo qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time ever, the president declared a national holiday.

So, the World Cup 2006 tournament begins tomorrow in Germany, and Togo is there! They won 4-0 in their final warm-up game Tuesday, and they are excited to face South Korea in their first tournament game next Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. local time (8:00 a.m. Chicago time, shows on ESPN2, wanna join me to watch?). In the lists I have read of potential upsets for the tournament, one of the often-mentioned games to watch is Togo vs. South Korea. If underdog Togo wins, you will be able to hear Africa shouting from here.

I have been amused today at how many people have been talking about Togo. Articles in The San Francisco Chronicle (I e-mailed the author and he wrote me back a nice response), The Tampa Tribune, and elsewhere talk about the joy of this tiny African nation at their team's participation in the tournament. As someone who loves Togo, it's a lot of fun to see.

Well, I'm not a soccer fanatic or even really keep up with the teams I used to watch regularly in Europe (by the way, Togo's star player Emmanuel Adebayor plays for one of my favorite European club teams, Arsenal), but World Cup soccer is a lot of fun, and it's easy to get caught up in the energy. I'm looking forward to catching some games over the next month.