Wednesday (August 6th) is Bolivia’s national holiday. And the national team is playing an exhibition match at RFK stadium in Washington, DC. And it looks like Jaime Moreno will be playing. Wow. I’m so glad Baltimore is only a Light Rail, a MARC, and two Metro rides away.1 So, yes, K8 & I will be there, wearing our jerseys.
At least two MLS teams start their season (sort of) in the inaugural Pan-Pacific Championship (PPC), which pits teams from each of the following leagues: North America’s MLS (Houston Dynamo & LA Galaxy), Australia & New Zealand’s A-League (Sydney FC), and Japan’s J-League (Gamba Osaka).
Neither my beloved DC United nor K8’s Chicago Fire are in it, but I still hope to catch some of the LA Galaxy v. Gamba Osaka due to the magic of DVR. It’s a good way to get ready for the regular season, which starts March 29th. By August, Javi should be just old enough (eight months) to appreciate his first trip to RFK stadium.
I don’t have time to post much today, but (since K8 reminded me): today is “Santa Cruz Day.” Today’s also the Oriente Petrolero vs. Blooming cross-town “clasico” match. Here’s hoping Oriente wins!
Stories like this make me glad I decided to add Frank Foer’s How Soccer Explains the World to the reading list for next semester’s comparative politics course. It’s a story about Iraq’s national soccer team (by Time magazine’s Tony Karon), which plays tomorrow (against Saudi Arabia) in the Asian Cup final. Could a victory help bring an end (even a temporary one) to the violence? The Ivory Coast’s civil war ended in similar circumstances last year. The combination of sports (and other elements of pop culture) & politics is often underappreciated.
-----
PS. Iraq won the 2007 Asian Cup, it’s first ever.
Summer school is much more time-consuming that I remember (from my student days). I’ve only three students, but I have to prepare daily lectures. I only hope the students are somehow keeping up w/ the 30+ pages of reading per day; we’re trying to cram a semester’s worth of material into four weeks (the fifth week is devoted to them writing their research paper). It’s certainly an experience.
It’s been a long trip. And it’s good to be back home. But before the unpacking, it’s time to catch up w/ some Copa América action. I just called to activate my sports package subscription (for GolTV), where I just saw USA tie Paraguay 1-1. Here’s hoping for victory.