A Little Pressure Off...

Ok, so I'm sure everyone is fully involved in the World Cup by now. Today Germany plays their second game, so the next set of games is underway.

Yesterday Brasil played and they looked pretty good, except Ronaldo, who maybe ran for 2 minutes the entire time he was in. It's always a nail biter in my family when Brasil plays because soccer is everything and a loss is only slightly better than death.

It reminds me of the 1982 World Cup. We happened to be on a two week camping trip to the Grand Canyon and on the drive out there, Brasil was playing Italy in the second round. We watched with the rabbit ears on some 13 inch TV in the old family station wagon. Well, they freakin' lost 3 to 2 and the hopes and dreams of an entire country of millions were dashed for another 4 years. I remember this day to be equally painful to the 1998 finals loss to France.

But, that was then, and there are new hopes and new dreams today. One game down, six to go.