Dog Days of Summer

With only one major sport going on and ESPN bored out of their mind during the lazy dog-dangling days of summer, here are some things to look forward to:

• 4 Days until the Indians trade Shin-Soo Choo, their leader in AVG, HR, RBI, and SB, for a bag of peanuts
• 12 Days until the NFL Hall of Fame Game, opening the preseason
• 37 Days until College Football kicks off
• 38 Days until Strasburg throws a no-hitter against the Pirates, the 10th in the majors this season
• 41 Days until I draft #1 overall in my Fantasy Football League, starting a 10 year dynasty
• 46 Days until UVA plays at USC
• 46 Days until UVA is no longer bowl eligible
• 47 Days until NFL Opening Sunday
• 47 Days until the Browns are out of playoff contention
• 54 Days until Albert Haynesworth goes to one knee faking an injury because he’s winded
• 57 Days until the NHL season begins
• 58 Days until the Caps clinch the Southeast division for the fourth straight year
• 62 Days until Skins fans start calling for McNabb to be benched
• 68 Days until Strasburg strikes out 16 Mets in a 1-0 loss giving the Nat’s 100 losses for the third year in a row
• 68 Days until Peyton Manning throws 6 TDs and 400 yards against the Jags, but my fantasy team still loses since I have no one else
• 75 Days until Albert Haynesworth needs to be carted off because of a knee injury because he’s winded
• 82 Days until Mike Holmgren comes down from the front office to coach the Browns to victory over the Steelers, improving their record to 1-5
• 92 Days until Bosh, Wade and Lebron all simultaneously tear their ACLs coming down off of a fun bunch style high-five during warm-ups of NBA’s opening day
• 93 Days until the Wizards lose their opener despite 20 assists from Wall and Arenas to each other, since they have no one else to pass to
• 111 Days until Albert Haynesworth demands to be traded because the new defensive scheme is too hard for him and is causing him to be winded too often
• 123 Days until UVA tries to end its 6 game losing streak to VT
• 123 Days until Ohio State tries to extend its 6 game winning streak over UMich
• 158 Days until the Winter Classic in which Crosby will complain it’s too cold outside and will force the Caps to play in the new igloo instead of Heinz Field

My World Cup Experiences in Spain

After we planned our trip to Europe back in March, we realized there was a real chance of being in Spain during an historic World Cup run. Luckily that came to fruition after their 1-0 defeat of Paraguay hours before our flight.

Semi Finals vs Germany: Wednesday night, 7/7

After several days of touring in Barcelona, we planned to watch the semi-final game in a big screen plaza setting. However, Barcelonans are fiercely proud of being Catalan and do not rally around the flag as much as we expected. Despite having many players on the national team playing for FC Barcelona, the locals complained it was a different jersey. Therefore, we had to find a random restaurant to watch the game.

After Spain outplayed Germany for most the game, Carlos Puyol finally put one through on an unmarked header during the 73^rd minute. Let the celebrations of tourists on Las Ramblas begin:

Finals vs Netherlands: Sunday night, 7/11

A couple days later in Pamplona, hours after the running with the bulls, we found the main plaza to watch the final.

We arrived an hour early and were treated to a live bear circus show

After the 0-0 first half, a storm rolled through

After a scoreless 2^nd half, a sprint to the bathroom and back, and 26 minutes of overtime…history:

(The goal is 5 seconds in, the final whistle is at 6:30)

After the happy group pic,

The aftermath.

Hours later we were off to the rest of our trip after enjoying a unique view of sporting history.

Spain in the Final and Lebron

I have plenty to discuss regarding LeDecision and Spain in the World Cup Final but I am in no position to discus without kickass video proof yet. (Which I cannot provide until much much later since I´m on borrowed time from the lobby computer in Barcelona with no USB cord.)