la copa mundial!

It's happening in South Africa, the world's best athletes are there right now, and so are a swarm of angry bees...it's the World Cup! And in Spain, it may as well be a national holiday, because no one is really paying attention to anything else (like the painfully slow collapse of the economy). When there's a game that involves Spain, this city shuts down. It's 4 pm, do you know where your Spaniards are? In a bar, at home, wherever there's a TV. In banks, they bring in televisions so that they can watch the game, if they fall during work hours. And somehow, in this soccer/football crazed nation, Spain has yet to earn its first point (USA=2 points. Go figure). I wouldn't say the mood is dour, but there is a certain nervousness in the air. After all, Spain is one of the favorites. You can't be a favorite and lose to the Swiss. Puh-lease. So today, when Spain plays Honduras, I plan to be right there cheering on El Rojo. Why? Because the US isn't going to win (unless all the other teams suddenly come down with a short-lived but debilitating stomach virus), and if Spain wins, there will be a party. Not just any party. A party to end all parties. A let's jump in the fountain and run around like small children party. And that sounds like something I want to see. And if they don't win, everyone will start paying attention to the economy, and no one wants that.