I don’t know how many of you follow the game that the rest of the world calls football, but I’m a bit of a fan. I think it’s all the time I’ve spent outside of the U-S of A that has made me the fan that I am. In the 90’s, when I was working on cruise ships, there was a lot less variety of programming onboard , and the officers were almost exclusively non-U.S., so if you wanted to watch sports, it was about 95% soccer. In the 4 years I spent on ships, I became a fan of the Dutch team Ajax because, well, if you’re going to be watching anyway, you might as well pick a team. My allegiance transferred when the English Premiere league started to get more broadcast time here in the states. I was on the west coast at that time, and I would set my alarm for 4:30 am on Saturdays, wake up just enough to crawl to the living room, lay on the couch and turn on Peacock to catch the early game, especially if my EPL team, which is Chelsea, was playing. Why Chelsea, you ask? Because I liked their manager at the time, a small, round, balding dude named Raffa (Rafael) Benitez. I just liked his vibe. Little did I know that Chelsea fans actually hated him, and he was gone after like half a year. But there was also their defenseman, John Terry, who I dug as well. He was older and a little rough around the edges. How rough, as a player and a person, I again, didn’t really know til later. But, a choice is a choice. At least I got to choose, as opposed to my Reds and Bengals, which were forced upon me by birth. I’m not putting them down, just stating that I didn’t really choose them as much as they chose me.

Digression alert; There is still no “D” in Cincinnati….

…anyway…

I have grown as a fan of world football. I really love sitting in a bar over in Europe, watching the game with people to whom football IS life. Watching my buddy Seamus LOSE HIS MIND when Liverpool scores a last minute winner is a joyful thing. And I am a fan of the women’s game as well. So when the Women’s Euro Cup tourney came around this year I was ready and waiting. I watched this tourney the last time around, when a plucky England squad came away with the championship, and a fiery forward named Chloe Kelly scored the winning goal and then went all Brandy Chastain with her celly.

So I tuned in to their first match…and watched them get thrashed by the French. In general, being of Irish heritage, I don’t really get too broken up over the English losing, but I developed a liking for the Lionesses, and, I mean, by the French??

But, the squad came back and made it into the knockout rounds, where they;

• Had to come back from down 2-0 late in the game to beat Sweden on penalty kicks, the winning pen by Mrs. Kelly
• Waited until the 96st minute to tie Italy, then win in extra time on a penalty kick rebound by…Chloe Kelly.
• Got out possessed and scored on by Spain before coming back and winning, again on penalty kicks, the winning pen again by, yup, you guessed it, Kelly.

I know she was born in Manchester and all, but there has to be some Irish in there, somewhere…Just sayin.

There’s a lesson there. I don’t think England was the best team in the tourney. I think that was Spain. They played circles around most teams, including England for much of the final. But on that day, in that game, they found the guts, the fortitude, to keep fighting.

Ever been in a situation where you feel like you’re being doubted, discounted, disrespected? I have. There can be a temptation to quit, tell the disrespecters ( I know. It’s not a word..) to get stuffed and take a walk. But maybe the lesson that was reinforced to me this weekend was that when I feel that way, the better option is to put my head down, get to work and give it my best shot. Do I think I’ll always win? Nope. But I know I’ll feel better about it, no matter how it goes…

…thanks Lionesses.

Talk later,

Bob