There Is No Cat

Hollering into the void since 2002

Wednesday, June 5, 2002

Insomnia has its benefits

For some reason, my eyes popped open at four a.m. this morning, and after 20 minutes of trying and completely failing to fall back asleep, I gave in and got out of bed, figuring I could watch a World Cup match that should be starting in a few minutes. I didn't even realize that it was going to the United States' opening match against Portugal. I stumbled downstairs, turned on the TV, and was rewarded with one of the most exciting soccer matches I've ever seen. John O'Brien's goal in the fourth minute was a complete shock, and if I was at all sleepy before that, I sure wasn't afterward. The game was riveting, and I had to keep my cheers down so I wouldn't wake Laura, who was getting all the sleep I couldn't. Landon Donovan looked as stunned as Portugal when his cross was deflected into the net; I think "sheepish" best describes the look on his face. Brian McBride's goal at 37 minutes was just a thing of beauty. That first shocking goal seemed to take all the air out of Portugal, who never really played well. The last five minutes or so were dull as the US tried to run out the clock, but aside from that, it was wonderful. I'd have to disagree with those who said this was a bigger upset than Senegal over France; that had politics and history and stuff involved that made it more than a game. But this was pretty darned huge itself.

The game that followed, Germany vs. Ireland, was pretty good. I thought Germany totally outclassed Ireland, who played mostly a defensive game and never seemed to do much more than thwonk the ball as far as they could out of their own area when clearing. That was about as far from The Beautiful Game as you could get. But it sure ended amazingly, with Ireland scoring a goal mere seconds before the end of stoppage time. Ireland stole a point, and Germany missed out on a chance to cruise into the second round while hardly breaking a sweat. Sure, it was a tie, but you wouldn't have known that by the way the Irish team whooped it up on the pitch afterward, nor by by the way the Germans slunk off.

I keep waking up between 4 and 4:30 am this week, and I keep getting to see the World Cup as a result. This morning made it worth it.

Posted at 3:39 PM

Comments

Note: I’m tired of clearing the spam from my comments, so comments are no longer accepted.

You soccer fans are insane. My roommate went to bed at 11pm and woke up at 2:30am local time to watch the USA-Portugal match, and then woke me up (he knows I'm a non-fan) from a blissful dream to tell me who won.

But Go USA! :)

Posted by Dan at 12:06 AM, June 6, 2002 [Link]

Oh ya...um, this isn't the Dan that's already on your blog links section.

(Not that I would mind being the second)

Posted by Dan at 12:10 AM, June 6, 2002 [Link]

Yeah, we're nuts. But it's not like I'm waking up on purpose. I just happen to wake up, and think, "well, if I can't sleep, I might as well watch the World Cup". For example, this morning I didn't wake up until after 7 am. I guess I could watch France-Uruguay, but I'd rather read blogs. :-)

Posted by ralph at 8:11 AM, June 6, 2002 [Link]

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What do you mean there is no cat?

"You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat."

- Albert Einstein, explaining radio


There used to be a cat

[ photo of Mischief, a black and white cat ]

Mischief, 1988 - December 20, 2003

[ photo of Sylvester, a black and white cat ]

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