I like sports, but I might be in love with soccer

It will come as no surprise to many that I like sports. A lot. And not just because they serve as a diversion to real life. They are to me, in fact, as real as it gets in life. And this is not to wax poetically about men and women rising above the odds, meeting the challenges head on, being beaten but not defeated, or even having God on their side - although I'm pretty sure God, or whatever you believe in, is on your side all the time. The better question is, are you on your side? Anyways....

The reason I love sports so much, is that it gives you a glimpse into the soul of where you are, in that moment. Unedited and unabashed. Whether it is parents rising at 6 am to get the kids off to practice, a coach giving their time to be in the gym, some athlete lifting themselves to unforeseen levels, or a fan giving up two or three hours to yell, cheer, stomp, and curse their team to victory, you are seeing what people hold dear to them - human connections.

These connections transcend time and space. How else do you explain me not being the only one to miss the first day of teacher's college in Australia because Canada finally won Olympic hockey gold? Or the fact that three guys who'd just learned about this weird game called cricket nearly get evicted for noise complaints - in the middle of a Saturday afternoon - as they watch a Canadian smash his way to the fastest century (100 runs ) in Cricket World Cup history??
Blogger's note: Yes I was as surprised then, as you are now, to learn cricket had a World Cup, and even more surprised to learn Canada had a squad in it!?!

Sport brings people together, removing class dinstictions (except at the Air Canada Centre) and giving everyone a chance to be themselves. And so it why in my brief appearance on his planet, I believe nothing unites people more than sport, and in my even brief-er(?) sojourns around the world, nothing unites like soccer, umm futbol, umm, football...oh whatever, soccer!

The country I find myself in now, Korea, first fell in love with the beautiful game right around the same time as I did. It was 2002 and the world's eyes were on Korea and Japan as they were hosting the World Cup. And boy, did they ever. World Cup fever gripped this nation, and in fact you can still get "Be the Reds" (ahhh, Korean English) t-shirts around town. I was in Australia. I had never given the game much thought except to laugh at my Canadian-Italian buddies when Italy choked in 1994, or cheer along with my Canadian-Croatian friends as they made an improbable run in 1998. In fact, even with the U.S. hosting it in 1994, I really didn't care, outside of the aforementioned choke by the Italians, and I certainly wasn't old enough to understand the significance of Canada's first and only entry into the tournament when Mexico hosted in 1986.

This time would be different. I was traveling, the tournament was in the same time zone as where I was, and school was out. A recipe for sport watching success if there ever was one, but then add living on the very beaten backpacking track of eastern Australia and I was in for a treat. This backpacking trail brought people from all over the world to my little corner, and with them, a permeating excitement I had never witnessed. The clincher came when I headed north to Cairns for some traveling and we wound up watching the England-Brazil semifinal game on a patio that had three giant TVs and about 600 people. But it wasn't just the bar. It was the city. The whole place shut down, but at the same time was electric. And when the final whistle went, and with it, just about every Englishman's pint, I was in for life.

But sadly, after that, there would be no outlet for this new passion for years. In the next year or so I would have love affairs with cricket, rugby, and Aussie Rules Football - which nearly won me over - but something about soccer just stuck with me.
Blogger's note: I still consider myself a hockey guy and then a basketball guy, but soccer has probably moved to #3, just ahead of the football (CFL first, NFL second)...which all take a backseat every two years to the Olympics. Oh, and lacrosse is in there somewhere, and I don't mind golf when Weirsy or Woods are up to something, and the tenth end of curling can get pretty damn dramatic - did I mention I like sports?

But it all changed in 2006 when it was announced that Toronto was getting it's very own, shiny, brand new Major League Soccer franchise. Now I must admit, I was skeptical. The MLS was an American version of soccer that had failed so many times already, and Toronto had no proven track record for supporting it (we had the Blizzard and we have the Lynx, but neither have ever captured the attention of the fickle Toronto sports fan). But with the unveiling of the team in early 2007, I was hooked, and that passion I had first discovered in Australia came bubbling to the surface. And with Toronto hosting the FIFA Under-20 World Cup, I was ready to rekindle the romance. That summer, I made it to the first ever TFC game (thanks Lids), a couple of those World Cup games where we got to see what real soccer fanatacism is (thanks Chile) and witnessed the historic and electric first ever goal for TFC. But just as this love was blossoming, I was again on the move.

This time though, I was going to South America, to where soccer really is a way of life and likely a religion - I believe in Ecuador about 95% of the country claim to be Catholic, 100% ARE Ecuadorian soccer fans. I was in for a true education in soccer. Stepping off the plane sporting my Toronto FC jersey, I was immediately spotted and knew from that moment I was in a different sporting world.

Ecuadorians live and breathe soccer the way Canadian live and breathe hockey - except they continue to live and breathe it when they're aren't even the best team on their continent, let alone the world - I think we'd do the same, wouldn't we?

As part of my Soccer 101, I took part in marches across the city...I stood in a line that wrapped the entire stadium just to get tickets...I got out of the way when the crowd surged through the security doors (after they had jumped the fences to get in) for a club match...I stood in the rain for three hours to hold our seats during World Cup qualifying, only to be told to sit down once the game started...I sang songs, singing words I didn't know or understand...I drank beer...I hugged strangers...I hung my head and yelled Spanish obscenities at the referee...and I loved every second of it!

And now with my imminent return to Canada this summer, I am thrilled with where soccer has gone in our great, multi-cultural country in just two years. Sure we still suck as a nation, but Toronto FC has added more skill (incidently, two major additions are Canadian) and Montreal just hosted 55,000+ people in the 'O', in freaking February, to wacth the Impact battle it out in our continent's Champions League (Blogger's note: while I am cheering for Montreal at this stage in the game, they are now Toronto's arch-enemy having defeated them earlier in this tournament, and this will be the last time I cheer for them!). Should Montreal manage to get through to the semi-final, they are talking about 60,000+ screaming, flag-waving, drum-beating fans. Unheard of! And I love it. And if you can, you should go. It just may be a part of our nation expressing itself that hasn't been given the chance.

Sports. Unbashed. Unedited. Loved.

What's with Korea? Part I

I feel like I've been slagging Korea a bit in my early posts - you know, small apartments, lots of people, EVERYWHERE, tons of concrete (even on the mountains) - you know, those sort of things. So I wanted to set the record a little straighter and try to give a little insight into this Korean adventure of mine.

And in my quest to keep things short, I will be presenting, "What's with Korea?" in several parts, just no idea how many at this point.

APARTMENT LIVIN'

So while it is true we live in a very tiny apartment surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands of other tiny apartments, that also means that we have everything we need, literally out our front door. In fact we don't even have to leave our building to eat at two great restaurants (one is Korean BBQ and the other is raw fish place) and have a drink in little dive of a piano bar that is literally in the basement of this place (which is why we haven't done that). If there is one thing I will commend Koreans on - there are more, but that's for another post - is that they know the value of space and will squeeze every inch out of something.

And although it does seem we have everything in our building, we do from time to time manage to wander out (especially now that we've watched the four seasons of The Office we picked up in Beijing), and when we do there is no shortage of anything within walking distance. We've got restaurants, movie theatres, more restaurants, three grocery stores, a 6-storey mall, and singing rooms - yes karaoke is huge here!!

There's even one in our building as I believe it is mandated that every building gets one and a computer games room. But we also get an indoor driving range (on the 5th floor), that I can't use because everyone in Korea is right handed. Same goes for the batting cages just across from us!! But we are also a 15 minute walk in one direction to a hiking mountain with those paved trails all over, and another 15 in a different direction we are at a pretty sweet beach.

The one thing I can't get used to though, even after 6 months, is that everything here, is up. But when space is at a premium, I guess there is no place to go, but up. I hope we figure that out in Canada before we encroach on anymore of what makes Canada special - our unbelievable amount of space!

Odds, ends, and green words

So I've completed one week on here and what I can say at the very least, is this has gotten the writing juices flowing. And I am pretty happy about that. I've got loads of ideas about what to write, but for most of my posts here, I will try to keep it to what I've experienced or am experiencing through my travels, and will try to not blather on, on just any topic (as many of you know I can).

My other goal for this blog is to shorten things up. I am known for being a tad long-winded in just about everything I do - emails and meetings are where I aggravate most - and am attempting to NOT add blogging. There is a wonderful function on this blogging thingy that allows me to hyperlink my text, which basically means, if you see a word in my blog that is green, you can click on it and it will take you to another web page to give more detail, should you desire. This should help shorten things up considerably and help me with my need to explain every little thing - twice.

BUT, having said that, I will end this week and this entry, with some comments about one of my first entries (hey, I'm taking baby steps).

In the days that followed Ontario's Family Day there was at least one article stating the loss of productivity as a result of this day off. There were also comments from readers talking about the negative effect the holidays have, as they "had to make people work". While I am all for productivity, the truth is, we live in a time at the highest levels of production in history, and where has it gotten us?

Sure we've got floors that heat up (standard in most Korean apartments), but we also have a technological world on hyper-speed with things like cell phones, blackberries, and now twitter (I really have no idea what this is, but my man Chris explains it quite eloquently....but I still don't quite understand why). We also have cameras that can take a photo of every single person in a pretty large area - this is a photo of Obama's inauguration, zoom in, and give it a sec, it's crazy. YOU CAN SEE EVERYONE!! I can somewhat understand the reason behind this technology but it worries me no less.

And if it does cost you too much to be open on such a day because of the justifiable increase in wages you have to pay, then close. And if you do have to be open, then paying your employees more shouldn't be a worry as you are open because you are making money.

So to everyone, I say, slow down. Relax. Breathe.

And if it weren't for holidays like the Family Day, we'd miss out on good times with our family and gems like this, which are truly needed in "These Economic Times".