Birthday nap

Today is my husband's birthday. He generally doesn't get excited about his birthday, though I'm not exactly sure why. For weeks I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday, made several suggestions that were rejected, until last night I finally got his list of things he wanted to do.

1. Work out
2. Play "my game" (that's his PS3 FIFA 2010 video game)
3. Watch Arsenal (soccer) game
4. Watch or listen to the Marquette basketball game
5. Take a nap
6. Have Maggiano's lasagna for dinner

He finished the first four, is now in the midst of number five, and we have a reservation for Maggiano's at seven tonight. As an added bonus, I made him french toast with cinnamon chip bread topped with blueberries for breakfast, so he thinks this may be the best birthday ever.

Everything I suggested to him was much more extravagent, but in the end, all he wanted to do was relax. Sometimes I forget that as much as I need to be stimulated after doing very little during the week, my husband needs to withdraw and relax after hours of constant stimulation at work. Even though I feel like I should be doing more to celebrate how awesome he is, he wants to spend the day doing the things he enjoys - watching sports, playing video games, eating good food.

Happy Birthday, Hubby! I hope you get all you asked for, and more!

Soccer crush

Remember how I said that my husband was going to name our hypothetical child Arjen, after the soccer player Arjen Robben? Well, move over Arjen! Our new hypothetical child will be named Cesc.

Meet his namesake, Cesc Fabregas:

Cesc plays center midfield for Arsenal and the Spanish National Team (that won the 2010 World Cup). My husband and I both love him, but in very, very different ways.

Just another reason to love Spain.

And this is why I don't have kids

Some of the commercials during the World Cup have been pretty good. Others, like the Hyundai commercials, have been a stretch. There's one commercial that gets at the idea of loyalty, and talks about how one family named their baby after an entire soccer team to show loyalty. It reminded me of the Nike commercial about destiny when they show Wayne Rooney scoring a goal for England, and then all the babies in the hospital being named Wayne.

In this vein, I asked my husband, "If we were to name our hypothetical baby after a soccer player, what would we name him or her?"

Without turning missing a beat, my husband replied, "Arjen." (That's Arjen Robben from the Netherlands for those who don't know).

Yep, that's why we don't have kids.

Who says Americans don't like soccer?

I have World Cup fever, and I know a lot of other people do too. This is my evidence for today:
We were in the middle of jogging across the pool, and one of the little old ladies said, "I guess Uruguay advanced in the World Cup. I thought it was a tie. I guess I should've watched the end of the game!"

I loved this for a lot of reasons. One, I never would've guessed this little old lady was watching the game. Also, the game did end in a tie but then it went to extra time and penalty kicks, plus the end of the game was crazy and she should've watched it. Mostly though, I loved that she said this because it shows the mass appeal of the World Cup despite the insistence that Americans don't like soccer.

For the record, I enjoy watching soccer. I haven't always been a huge soccer fan, but I "played" in high school (I use the term played loosely) and my sisters played growing up. One of my sisters was very good, and probably could've played in college if she wanted. My husband, however, is obsessed with soccer. He played and coached, and through his coaching I fell in love with the game. He taught me the tactics and showed me player development and introduced me to international soccer. And not just, "Let's watch Arsenal play Manchester United." (Those are two of the top teams in the English Premier League, arguably the top league in competitive soccer, for those who don't know). Rather, my husband taught me about styles of play: Total Soccer of the Ajax and Dutch systems, the futsal and free play of Brazil, etc. I learned the importance of working the ball through the midfield and when to take a defender one-on-one. I learned the game, and through learning the game, I learned to love the sport. It really is a beautiful game. I also learned about player development, and realized the way each country organizes its youth system has a big impact on players' educational attainment, especially in the United States. And from there, I found a potential dissertation topic.

As a side note, did you know soccer is the most frequently played sport for American youth under age 12? Americans play the sport, Americans like the sport. It's the organization of youth sports in this country that changes all that, plus the media attention, that change all that. But that's another blog... and hopefully my dissertation...

When people tell me they don't like soccer, I often ask why and generally get the same response: "It's boring" often coupled with "There's not enough scoring." But these are the same people who don't understand the game because they didn't play it growing up, and haven't taken the time to learn about it. With the number of children growing up with the sport now, the number of people who don't understand the game is decreasing while the number who appreciate it is rapidly increasing. In addition, the US population is changing and includes many more cultures who do appreciate soccer. "American" isn't a homogenous group, so saying "Americans" don't like soccer is just plain wrong.

Besides, if it's so boring, why is it the most popular sport in the world?