Sports Talk: 10 Reasons to watch the World Cup

As a correspondent sports writer for The Casey County News, I write an weekly editorial column for the publication. Published June 4 , 2014.  
I know we're a basketball-centric state and county, but guess what the rest of the sports world is getting pumped about right now--and I mean WORLD--THE WORLD CUP.
I admit, this was not always something I paid much mind to; however, 2010, the last World Cup, two things opened my eyes to what an event it truly is. First, I started dating my now husband in 2010 and he is a life-long soccer player. Obviously he cared and had me tuned in. Second, I visited Brazil the week leading up to pool play. I'll go into further detail on that later, but let's just say, I REALLY learned how much he rest of the world cares about the World Cup.

So, why should you care? Here are my top 10 reasons to tune in:

1. No other sport is more universal throughout the world. You know how learning to dribble a basketball is like learning to walk? In other countries, learning to dribble and kick a soccer ball is the same way. And what's more is that even the poorest of the poor countries and cultures have soccer, because it is SO extremely simple to set up and play. If you have a ball... you can mark off a goal and play just about anywhere. 

2. It's easy to understand. Yes, the field is HUGE, but the rules are simple and you can catch on in no time if you're watching. (Except maybe the offsides penalty... That one is kind of odd and took my husband drawing a diagram for me to understand, but otherwise, you're in the clear.)

3. These are some of the best athletes in any professional sport out there. Yes, you might compare basketball athletes, BUT when considering the make-up of a top-notch athlete (not specific skills in a particular sport) there three key differences in soccer and basketball: (a) The playing field is over 17x LARGER in soccer; (b) Soccer has 90 minutes of playing time, basketball has 40-50, depending on the league. (c) There are no timeouts in soccer. With that in mind... your soccer athletes need EVERYTHING when it comes to what makes up an athlete: speed, endurance, agility, creativity, coordination. If you aren't advanced in any one of hose, you won't be on the field. Watch the World Cup and you'll be watching incredible athletes.

4. Aside from the Olypmics, you cannot really compare any other international stage of competition to the World Cup. If anything, the US is the oddball who does NOT tune in to the degree of the rest of the world.

5. You'll get to watch the best of the best soccer. If you've never been into the sport or watched it before, this is where to start because it doesn't get any better than this.

6. All teams come in equal. There is no seeding in the World Cup. After the qualifying games, 32 teams are put into eight pools at complete random draws, and then two teams from each pool advance to the tournament (16 teams). USA is in a pool with Ghana, Germany and Portugal. (Tune into the pool play if you want to watch the US, friends...We drew a tough, tough pool.)

7. You can plan your schedule around watching a game...at least to some degree, compared to something like basketball or baseball. Without timeouts, a close game cannot be extended on and on--and on--like we see in basketball sometimes. While stoppage time is added to the clock to see that the ball is in play a full 90 minutes, athletes and coaches cannot control the time so easily.

8. You might miss something crazy like a Zidane Headbutt. Never heard of it? You know all of the crazy incidents you've watched over and over from your favorite sport? Yeah, soccer has those too... Just go Google "Zidane Headbutt"...

9. Watch for your kids. Casey County has never been a big soccer county. Finally, we have a girls' high school team. If your kids have interest in the sport--especially if they are young--encourage it. Don't shove them into another sport just because it's one you know. The World Cup is a great chance for you to learn and get excited about soccer and be happy your kid might want to play. Plus, you don't want them growing up thinking soccer is as obscure of a sport as curling.

10. Brazil is hosting. OK, so I don't know that watching on TV from Kentucky will give you the effect of what this means. As mentioned, I was in Brazil the week leading up to pool play in 2010 and my WORD! If you thought Kentucky got crazy during March Madness, you haven't seen anything. And Brazil wasn't even hosting that year! Their McDonald's actually created about 20 different sandwiches in honor of different countries competing in the world cup. Every other person you saw was sporting a yellow and green soccer jersey or waving a flag. If I could have managed a trip to visit my friend, Gui Buso (CCHS exchange student in 2003), this summer, I would have. (A baby and home construction got in the way... Maybe we can hope for the Rio Olympics in 2016...) Just imagine Kentucky hosting the Final Four... Brazil IS soccer.

Pool play starts on June 12. USA's first game is on Sunday, June 15 against Ghana. See the full schedule here.

Sports Talk: My favorite Brazilian at the Olympics

As a correspondent sports writer for The Casey County News, I write an weekly editorial column for the publication. Published Sept. 5, 2012. 

Gui Buso was a foreign exchange student at Casey County High School during the 2002-03 school year where he participated in football, basketball and track.

Gui, still a close friend of mine whom I visited in Brazil in 2010, is now the communication manager of the National Basketball League in Brazil, the NBB. (Think of it as Brazil’s NBA.)

A sports lover, Gui and his bride of just over a year, Carla, recently went on a European traveling adventure that included a stop in at the London Olympics. Gui told me a little about the excitement of attending several events and looking to the 2016 Rio de Janiero Olympics in his home country.  

RH: What events did you get to attend?
GB: We went to the Women's Volleyball quarter finals (Brazil beat Russia and Japan beat China); Men's Basketball quarter finals (Argentina beat Brazil and USA beat Australia); Men's Soccer final (Mexico beat Brazil 2 to 1) and we saw one of the mornings of Track (Decatlhon's 110m hurdles, pole vault and hammer; Men's 4x400m relay and Women's High Jump)

RH: Which was your favorite? Carla's favorite?
GB: My favorite was definitely basketball, because I got to see not only the craziest rivalry in the world in Brazil and Argentina, plus the best ball players on USA against Australia. Carla's favorite event was the volleyball. She says it was such a tough and exciting game that the crowd, mostly Brazilian, helped the team get better in the fourth set and eventually win the game. They kept chanting: “The champion is back! The champion is back!” And they really came back and won the second straight Olympic Tournament. The game against Russia sure made them believe they could beat them all.

RH: Was it just the two of you or did you meet up with anyone else you knew while there?
GB: Basically it was me and Carla, but we met for a couple of dinners two of our friends from college. One of them lives in London and the other one was traveling like us.

RH: Was any of what you watched/attended work related?
GB: The trip was almost 100% vacation, but since I work in the NBB I always tried to catch every single detail of the Olympics organization to bring to our championships. I also wrote a few articles about all (of) the atmosphere around the Games, both for the NBA and NBB websites.

RH: In the U.S. the Olympics have a 'larger than life' stigma to them. You attend a lot of big athletic events through your work. Did these games seem as "big" as we might imagine?
GB: Absolutely! The Olympics is the most amazing event of all. They can bring all the best athletes of the world altogether. How amazing it is to see LeBron on the court playing for the USA Team and in the stands you get to see Neymar, the Brazilian soccer sensation, or Roger Federer, or Michael Phelps. And they are all living in the same Olympic Village. Not only that, but in the Olympics all the athletes compete as they only have that shot. They get close to perfection and we, fans, just have to admire this two weeks. It's just my favorite time of all years.

RH: Did you attend any other Olympic related activities or events happening in London outside of the sporting events themselves?
GB: We did. There was a park in Central London, called Hyde Park, where they put 4 big screens with all the Olympic action. When people didn't have tickets but still wanted to feel the atmosphere, they'd go there to watch the games. We got to watch two incredible soccer matches, both semifinals. The first one was USA against Canada. It was just incredible. And the other one was Brazil and Korea, surrounded by hundreds of Koreans. Pretty Cool.

RH: What else did you like about visiting London?
GB: I just loved the city of London by itself. It's such an organized big city. We were jealous. Hahaha! Sao Paulo should've been like that. I don’t know if it was because of the Olympics but everyone was nice and friendly and everything just worked perfectly. Rio 2016 will have such a tough challenge.

RH: Was there any stand out part of your Olympic experience you'd like to share?
GB: Well, you know I'm a big sports fan and I always desired to attend an Olympic event, first as an athlete then as either a journalist or a spectator. So, by the time we arrived for the first Olympic event, women's volleyball quarter finals, I just got pretty emotional and I couldn't believe I have just made my dream come true. I truly can say that (I) felt in me the Olympic Spirit they all talk about and that's one of the best feeling there is.

RH: Do you expect to have a role in the 2016 Olympics in Rio?
GB: Actually, I already have a role in the 2016 Olympics since I help organize the Basketball National Championship, which support the athletes who will be in Rio 2016. That makes me very glad, but I'd really love to have a more important role in the Olympics and help my country to make one of the best Games ever.

RH: Did attending this year make you more excited to be the host country?
GB: It's a mix of excitement and concern. I'm sure Brazil will be such a wonderful host city because the people are just incredible and all the tourists will love it in here. But, in the other hand, we still have some issues in infrastructure that need to be focused and I don't see the organization working on it.

RH: What would you say to all your Casey County friends about why they should start planning a 2016 trip to the Olympics?
GB: I think everyone should always get to watch an Olympic Games live, even when you are not a big time sports fan. Be able to exchange cultural experience with the whole world while cheering for your country is priceless. Now, doing all that in Brazil is an once in a lifetime opportunity. Can you imagine watch all that action and then go swim in the ocean and relax on the nice beaches in Rio. I didn't have a chance to that in London, but in 2016, I'm sure I'll be doing that in Rio.
I'd love to have every single person of Casey County coming to visit Brazil. I will never be able to thank this community for the whole experience I had there and all the friends I've made. I'll be always looking forward to have Casey County people down here, with my arms wide open as the Christ statue in Rio

Sports Talk: America's up and coming sport: Soccer

As a correspondent sports writer for The Casey County News, I write an weekly editorial column for the publication. Published July 11, 2012.

I am finding myself more and more ashamed of my ignorance of one of the world’s most popular sports: soccer, aka ‘football’. In addition to growing up in a nation where the sport was always shadowed by basketball, football and baseball, soccer was never available in our county athletics.

As an adult, I am realizing what I have been missing, and apparently much of this country is as well. A study conducted by ESPN/Luker polls in 2011 shows soccer to be the second most popular sport in the 12-24 age group, right behind football, with basketball at number three.

Without purposefully planning it, I found myself in Brazil during the kickoff of the 2010 World Cup when visiting a former Casey County High School exchange student, Gui Buso. Of course, now, I realize I should have planned the trip for 2014 (or need to plan another trip??) when the event will be hosted by Brazil.

Simply being in the country that prides themselves on the sport beyond all else was incredible.  Their McDonald’s menu was even redone with a specialty “World Cup Menu”—a sandwich for every nation. No, the U.S. was not represented… You could not go anywhere without seeing people in soccer jersey. A trip to the soccer museum in Sao Paulo was included on our itinerary.

I also had the pleasure of attending one of the last games played in the famous “Maracana” stadium in Rio de Janeiro before it went under construction for the 2014 World Cup.  (We were told at the time it was the last game to be played but I cannot find confirmation of that.) See full blog post report on the event here.

Home stadium of the Flamenco, the Maracana was once the world’s largest soccer stadium seating 200,000 people.  Several renovations have brought that number down over the years and its current construction results in just over 75,000 seats, but with much more comfort.

Despite the rainy evening and the, then, close to 85,000-seat stadium being far from full, the atmosphere did not lack enthusiasm. Drums, chants, cheers… I did not know a word but still found myself attempting to sing along.

Some argue soccer to be a ‘boring’ sport. I am quickly learning this is simply a lack of understanding the sport. My husband, an avid soccer player through his youth, can easily get sucked into a game.

He always points out that his biggest beef with basketball is the drawn-out endings with time-out after time-out, where 59-seconds turns into 30-minutes.  With soccer, the clock never stops and neither do the athletes. It’s 90-minutes of sweat and action. I just have yet to learn all of the words and terminology to quite keep up.

The recent report from ESPN/Luker reflecting the youth’s rising interest in this sport excites me and seeing that Casey County is following that trend definitely excites me.

Soccer had its first season in the middle school this past spring with team members spanning from eighth graders down to the elementary level. I had the pleasure of watching their first game of the season and despite coming up short of a win, it was incredible to see the vast improvement of these young athletes from the first to second half of the game. I can only imagine how far they had come by the close of their season.

Like any sport, soccer skills take time to develop; the good news is, it is an easy sport to dive into. I remember while in Brazil, Gui told me that soccer is to them what basketball is to us: as a toddler you begin learning to dribble a ball... but in Brazil it is dribbling with your feet instead of your hands.

If you never have in the past, learn something about soccer and give it a chance for your attention. I think you will find yourself loving it more than you might expect.

On a Boat... in RIO

You may remember me saying in my last post on Monday that it was 8 p.m. and we were exhausted and going to bed. Well, that changed a little. Exhaustion was still there but bed time didn't arrive until after 5 a.m.

Micah and I got a wild hair and decided to kick sensibility to the curb and spend our last night in Rio out, but not out on the town; out on the water!

Just like the soccer game we went to on Saturday and the City Tour earlier on Monday, there were night events you could attend through the hostel and this one was a "Boat Party". It didn't leave until midnight and wasn't returning until 5 a.m. We had to be up at 8 a.m. to catch our cab to the bus station by 8:30 a.m. You only live once, though, right?

As predicted, the boat party was mainly travelers like ourselves. We rode in a cab with a girl from Argentina and two military guys: one from Missouri and one from California. We also met a guy from Colombia from our hostel, Eduardo, and a guy from Germany, Mario. Through the night we met plenty more--two girls from London doing a world tour, a girl from Brazil, a guy who'd been our tour earlier from Vancouver.

The boat was no Belle of Louisville but that was probably for the better. My guess (and I'm not very good at this sort of thing) was probably 25-30 ft wide and about 70 ft long--not too huge. That made it easy for Micah and I to never get lost from each other but feel safe to leave one another (for the bathroom or the bar) without the other feeling abandoned. Only two levels but it wasn't completely packed so there were only a few people up top at a time. There was a bar aboard and a raised platform that became a dance floor.

We took off around 1 (my guess). It was great to see the city at night. The long, long bridge we'd seen in the far distance from both Sugar Loaf and the Cristos was our destination. We got just to the other side of it and just rocked in the waves for quite awhile. This bridge, we were told, takes 15 minutes to cross. Someone gave me the distance of it but I've forgotten now--1500 meters? Seeing the Christ on a clear night from the ocean was pretty awesome as well. He's just lit up in the night sky above everything and you cannot see the cliffs and mountains around him, so he appears to be floating above. Beautiful.

I definitely could have afforded to come in long before we did, but at least it was before 5--probably a little after 4 when we docked and we grabbed a cab back with a few of our new hostel friends. A few short hours of sleep and we were on a bus waving goodbye to Rio.

True Tourists For The Day

These days really seem to wear me out. It's definitely reminiscent of the days in Europe with Dani. There were times when we wandered through cities without talking at all simply because we were taking it all in and exhausted while struggling through the language and being hit up by streets salesmen right and left. That was today.

Starting the day out in the sunshine of the beach probably didn't help our exhaustion--laying under the sun, letting it zap all energy. But there was no resisting: it was an absolutely magnificent morning for the beach--the best kind of weather you could ask for: completely clear blue skies, 70-degree weather, just a slight breeze (nothing like yesterday's gusting wind) and sun-sun-sun! Before even getting there, though, we noticed on the street parallel to ours what we would consider in the US the farmer's market. It hadn't been there any other day so far, so we figured we'd stroll through. Aaah! no doubt fruit here is something a world away from any fruit I've ever experienced in the US. I first took note of this from the bananas in our hostel. They tasted more citrusy/fruity and less mushy banana like. Then, through the market people kept offering us samples freshly sliced off the fruit. The strawberries are something I cannot get out of my mind even though it is no 8pm at night. The man handed Micah and I each one and I thanked him and kept going. But once I'd bitten in I had to stop and look down at what I was eating. Was it dipped in sugar--the way you often times will eat them in America? No. I took another bite. Unbelievable. It was nothing but a fresh, ripe strawberry and I swear it tasted like it had been grown in soil made of nothing but sugar. Amazing.

We laid by the ocean for about an hour then walked down Ipanema towards Copacabana. We got right to the point where the two meet but had to turn back in order to make sure we were at the hostel for when the city tour we'd signed up for arrived.

The tour wasn't too costly, but that was somewhat reflected in what we got. I am glad we visited Sugar Loaf yesterday on our own time. Things were slightly more rushed in the tour (not to mention we didn't have our own personal guide and translator, Carla) but I'm sure our tiredness played a factor in how much we enjoyed the tour. It began with The Cristos, The Christ. We were in a bus/van and the road to the top was bumpy BUMPY and the driver sure didn't mind the bumps. He sped right up there taking every turn without hitting the breaks I'm pretty sure. We had to go through Santa Teresa, which was the rich neighborhood and through the national forest, which was quite beautiful. It was fun to see monkeys scurrying about the trees.

It was a bit disappointing that the lower half of The Christ statue was covered in scaffolding where they are doing some work on him, but it could've been the face, right? Quite magnificent. It's really awesome thing to be in this city and at any point you can look to the sky and see the figure--from a distance looking just like the Cross, overlooking you. Such a great reminder of the truth that we do always have someone overlooking us and keeping us safe. Or as Lawman Chibundi once said, "God's got your back."

The ride down was just as exciting as that up, except this time I was in the very back. You can remember what riding in the back of the school bus was like: ten times bumpier. This was so ridiculous it brought back memories of Cedar Point with Holly and Boo in 2000 and whatever the name of the park's oldest roller coaster is that was made of wood. So rickety and loud and jerky. The middle eastern guy sitting next to me kept laughing along with me and even made the comment, "It's like being on a roller coaster." Amen to that! We then stopped at the stadium but didn't go inside--lucky for us we got to experience that on Sunday at the game. Then it was to the Cathedral. I had no idea what it looked like so I was quite surprised when the van stopped and I realized that's where it had stopped. It's circular, but as if someone flipped a funnel over and cut off the small end that you stick into a bottle so you've only got the portion with the slanted edges. Strips of stained glass ran up the edges in about six or eight different lines. Natural light poured in from three main entrances and the alter had a huge wooden crucifix hanging above it. I have a weird thing about taking pictures in churches for some reason. I suppose I know that so many people come to just take pictures when to me a church is not a place for tourist attraction--it's God's house, right? I guarantee half the people who visit with their camera's are not people who truly practice any kind of faith. So I knelt before the alter and had my time to pray before continuing on with my pictures (which I'll mention I did without using the flash; it seems less disrespectful for whatever reason.) Oh, and for the record, the kneelers at this cathedral knocked St. Bernard's out of the ballpark for discomfort! These were straight wood with no cushion. Definitely not long adorations happening here!

We stopped by the strip/location of Carnaval and then the group was going to Sugar Loaf and we were dropped off at our hostel, which was a fortunate thing since Micah was starving. (So much for his insisting on "something light" before the tour and nothing more.) Our hostel hosts gave us advise for an all-you-can-eat pizza place just up the street--sounded perfect to us. Well, this was an all new experience for the three of us. Not only were we trying to figure out costs and what we could or couldn't eat without knowing the language, but this was an all-you-can-eat in a new fashion. Rather than having a buffet to select from over and over, the waitresses would bring out one pizza after another to the table and you'd simply let them know if you wanted a slice or not. Was kind of tricky when you couldn't ask what was on each one or what else they had or request certain things. You simply had to look and guess. I'm pretty sure we all left satisfied though because this deal also included the best dessert pizza I've ever had in my life!

I hate to admit it but it was only about 8pm when we got back to our hostel but we were all completely wiped and since we are heading out of Rio semi-early tomorrow to get on to Sao Paulo to FINALLY get to spend some time with the reason for this trip: GUI BUSO!

Just A Nice Sunny Winter Day

I have to keep reminding myself that it is winter time in Brazil. I knew it felt weird heading to the futbol game last night and it was so dark--it was 5pm and felt like 9pm because the sun was already missing from the sky. Then I remembered the season and realized it was much the same my for Kentucky winters.

Lucky for us, the rains from yesterday were gone when we woke up this morning. The sky was blue and the sun was shining. There was one problem though: the wind. Wowzers are we talking some wind! And it definitely had its effects on the ocean. I have never seen waves like that when there wasn't a storm rolling in. Unfortunately the wind made the beach not so warm except when the sun was shining (then it was quite warm), but the wind kept the clouds rolling quickly and we'd go back and forth from goosebumps in the shadows to feeling the tingling of the sun on our skin.
However, we saw a rather large cloud roll in that told us the majority of our sun rays were gone for the next little bit so we headed back to the hostel and changed into some non-sandy clothes and walked to the nearby mall. The idea was to visit the food court so that we could each get whatever we felt like for lunch. Wouldn't you know we all went with the same choice: the pasta bar! Bellarmine had a mini-version of this for one semester (what a terrible thing that they did not continue it!) This just had five times the options. You picked out your pasta type, your sauce and up to eight different ingredients to put into the sauce. We had a little learning session with Carla where she went through the order slip to tell us what every ingredient was so we could more wisely choose what we wanted. We followed that up with a stop at a cafe where I could have some glorious glorious REAL coffee--the super super strong type in a tiny mug. (The kind you don't find in the U.S.--Dani knows what I'm talking about!)

That bit of cafe was just what I needed to kick me off for our next run of fun: Sugar Loaf! These two giant cliffs--especially the taller one-- stick out of the ocean and the land like someone just stuck half a banana in the ocean. I've gotten used to seeing the taller one, but as I stared at it today I took note of how odd it is and really wondered what formed this unusual protrusion. It was so easy to get caught up taking picture after picture since none of them really felt like they captured the magnificence. It was good that we finally just bought some drinks and took a seat on a bench near the edge and chatted as the sun began to set over the ocean and behind the cliffs that bordered thedistant the city.


Carla left us later this evening as she headed back to her town so she can head to work tomorrow. Micah, Melody and I are on our own for the first time since setting foot in the country. We've learned the important phrases (we thinking... yes, no, thank you, help, excuse me, etc) and already have our bus tickets to Gui's town in Sao Paulo for Tuesday. Tomorrow we will hit all of the other high points of Rio with a tour group through the hostel (yay, they'll know English!) Two days and so much has happened...so much in so short of a time, yet I know it'll go all to quickly! Either way...bring on a new day!