World Cup Day 1: A Great Start!

The soccer gods were smiling on me today. Walking through the pouring rain to my work as a programmer the only thought in my head as that it was June 9th - World Cup Day. Nearly every for the next month would be a holiday in my mind, but his would be the commencing day.

Thinking that I was a responsible recent college graduate I figured I was going to be missing several games in the name of staying employed. On this day I was rewarded for my commitment. Tragically, my computer refused to boot up properly, getting worse with each successive try. My boss walks in, I tell him my dilemma and he tells me to go home - he'll call me when it gets fixed. A software can't do much work when his machine is down and the network admin doesn't come in until the middle of the day, right?

What's a guy to do with a free day off work on a World Cup day? Michael Davies over at ESPN.com's Page 2 is blogging his experience during the tournament while traveling around Germany. Well, I can blog about my World Cup experience as seen from Utah.

Germany v. Costa Rica

The 2006 World Cup began with a nearly perfect match between the host country Germany against tiny Costa Rica. There were goals. Lots and lots of goals.

I caught the match on a small tv in the eating area of the Utah State student center known as the Hub. Free cable, with free wifi makes the location a regular spot for watching games.

Overall an exciting match. The Germans flexed their muscle and dominated the Ticos - bombarding their goal with long range missiles into the upper corners of the net. On the flip side Paulo Wanchope saved the match from turning into a rout by streaking through the German offsides trap and burying a pair of his own.

Representing RSL was Douglas Sequeira for the Ticos was practically invisible at his defensive midfield position. Which is good, you usually don't want to notice those guys.

During this match I ran outside the student center to get within range of a stinking cell tower to make a call. Something inside a window of a room I had never seen shocked me - the game was being shown on a very large flat screen.

At half-time I went searching for this room and found a dimly lit secluded corner of the building with big plush couches, love sacs, recliners, tables and chairs if you had food and of course the flat screen mounted on the wall.

This little known haven became my destination for the Poland-Ecuador match.

Poland vs. Ecuador

What a great upset. Poland looked like absolute crap! And the Ecuadorians were all over it like...well use your imagination.

Good on the South Americans for defying their critics who said they couldn't win at sea level.

Plus, watching the match from a nice plush couch with my feet up instead of in a cafeteria style eating area was a welcome change. And did I mention their was an even better wifi signal in this room?