Loving World Cup Soccer

There has been quite a buzz this summer about the FIFA World Cup Soccer matches held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Huge crowds from all over the world turned out in cities and towns to watch the televised games. I went with my family to Parkview Field in downtown Fort Wayne to watch the United States versus Belgium on the stadium's Jumbotron. The U. S. lost in overtime, and yes, soccer usually is rather low-scoring. But I have loved watching it.

There're lots of haters out there, actually saying that soccer is boring, just a bunch of men running around and batting a ball around a big field. They somehow think that white ball is just bouncing around haphazardly. I'm kind of amazed people actually think that.

I have loved watching the few games I have been able to see. The players are amazingly athletic. The cultural and ethnic differences between counties is wonderful to watch. I really enjoyed the final game between Germany and Argentina. Even hearing the differences in the two countries' national anthems was fun. The German anthem is Teutonic, classical. The Argentine started slowly, solemnly, and then eventually broke into something upbeat and cheerful, such as a salsa or samba or whichever beat it was. The people in the stands held up flags, shirts, towels or whatever cloth they had and danced and sang along.

I was routing for the South Americans, and it was an exciting game. But the Germans scored with a sweet chest-drop-to-foot goal, and Argentina never came back. The Germans really are incredibly strong as well. Bastian Schweinsteiger was hit more times and had medics called for him on the field than anyone I have ever seen. Blood was pouring out of this guy's face, they'd patch him and he played on. Yeah futbol, bigger than football.

Not only did the U. S. have its disappointments. Former World Cup victors England, Spain and Italy all were done after the first round. And the World Cup in Brazil had its bizarre moments as well, such as when Uruguay's Luis Suarez bit the shoulder of an Italian defender. Considering Suarez has been suspended for doing this in Europe twice before, I'm wondering why this is still ok. But hey, I did not make the rules.

So all you soccer haters out there: please stop harshing my mellow. Soccer speaks all languages and crosses all barriers. It was fun to walk into a Mexican restaurant in Phoenix and see a random game playing, with all the patrons laborers watching the game while having lunch and getting out of the heat. The game was on Univision and not broadcast in English, but that did not matter. Everyone watched it, and when the announcer gave out the classic, excited, extended, " GooooooooooaaLL.." we all knew what happened. Get over yourself, U. S. and American football. This is bigger than you. Now, we need to see the next step - this kind of accolade world-wide over women's soccer too.

Take me out to the Tin Caps

The Tin Caps are a Single-A division farm team for the San Diego Padres.  There are three other divisions between the Tin Caps baseball team and Major League Baseball.

It was a gorgeous week in Fort Wayne the second full week in August. Temperatures were mostly in the 70's, so Friday night was wonderful weather at Parkview Field downtown. The management works hard to come up with attractions, and this appeared to be an 80's night, and the team wore the 'Wizards' uniforms - the old name for the team. In the photo above, the groundskeepers raking the sand/dirt around the baselines were in costumes, and danced to the music when they threw down their rakes at the end of the line.

I like the fan participation between innings with features on the giant screen Jumbotron. A couple of funny things happened - they found volunteers to imitate famous screen faces: the 'Home Alone' (just slapped his face with after-shave and it's burning) face was the first. There was an applause contest to pick a winner as fans could see themselves doing their best up on the giant screen. Then there was a Mr. Bean face (the actor Rowan Atkinson): crossed eyes, tongue towards nose, eyebrows up - complicated! A winner was picked among imitators here as well.

In a three-hour baseball game, I have read there is an average of about 17 minutes of actual play. The Bowling Green, KY Hot Rods were the Tin Caps opponents this night. Their team leads to the Tampa Bay Rays. The Tin Caps tried hard, and we enjoyed some nice steals (and one great attempt that led to an out, although it took the umpire a few seconds to call it; he had to think about it). It's exciting when a player tends to foul up into the stands - one foul ball cracked up high and bounced off a railing in the stands behind the plate, creating lots of moans from the crowd - the loud rattle off the rail made everyone glad the baseball didn't hit a person. Another foul came up near us close to first base, and again bounced off the rails - as much as people want to catch fouls, it's hard to see the ball coming down in the lights and my seatmates missed it, much to their regret.

Again between innings, there was Jumbotron fan playtime - this time, a chance for fans to mimic the Leonardo DiCaprio "I'm King of the World" move. The stadium railings make a perfect background for fans to stand up and imitate this for a camera to capture: arms and head arched back widespread, hair blowing in the wind off the bow of the ship (ball field). Who comes up with this stuff?

The Tin Caps lost this night, but it was a family-friendly time, as I saw lots of little and big kids, popcorn and Dipping' Dots eaters, kids playing with flashlights and scaling the climbing wall, as well as the typical grown beer drinkers. There were fireworks after the game as well. A good time was had by mostly everyone.

Baseball has a long history in Fort Wayne - the Summit City Club was formed in 1862, during the Civil War. Men named Shoaff and Brackenridge started the first team. In 1871, the first professional game in the U.S. was held in Fort Wayne, when the Fort Wayne Kekiongas defeated the Cleveland Forest City Club, 2 - 0. In 1883, the first pro game to be played under lights also took place in Fort Wayne.

Baseball also made history in 1945, when the Fort Wayne Daisies (of the women's professional league) came to be during World War II. The women's league (the AAGPBL) got a lot of attention after the 1992 movie, 'A League of Their Own'.

The Fort Wayne Wizards became the Tin Caps in 2009, and moved into the newly-built Parkview Field. The stadium drew a record attendance of 408,000 fans in 2012. Since 1993, 117 players have gone from Fort Wayne to play MLB. Maybe I'm becoming a bigger fan of baseball than I thought.