Ever since I was a wee-thing, I have followed sports. One of my earliest memories is watching a Bear game with my dad at my great-grandfather's home when we were on leave, and him jamming a pennant into my hands after the Monsters of the Midway scored a touchdown. As I grew up, these type of moments are what kept my dad and I together, when many other things did not.
But on a much larger scale than father-son, there is also like nothing like walking into a football stadium or racetrack with 90,000 other people who are all there for the same thing. I have no problems going to events by myself. I know that it's always possible to turn to the person setting next to me and strike up a conversation that could last the whole game.
And why are people so willing to do so? Maybe it is because a game can make a person forget about how shitty their lives are. For a few hours, they can cheer, boo, celebrate and console with their best friends and total strangers. Their first worry is not how the bills are getting paid or when they are going to leave their FEMA trailer. Instead, it is simply whose going to score the touchdown to beat Ole Miss or USC.
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In international soccer, the world is divided into varying regions. And during the summers in which a World Cup is not held, these regions have their own tournaments. This summer the Asia regional held theirs, and among the teams that participated was the Iraqi National Team.
Not much was expected from them, as Iraq does not have a rich history in international competition. The Middle East is often dominated by Saudi Arabia and Iran. But the team's make-up was an inspiration for a country bogged down in civil war. Shi'ites, Sunnis, Kurds and Christians were all represented. Just going there was a victory in itself.
But then something special started to happen. They won their group and advanced to the knock-out rounds. And earlier this week, they defeated a vaunted South Korean team on penalty kicks to move on to the finals.
Their opponent in the finals was Saudi Arabia. The Saudis, a three-time winner of the competition, are also a perennial World Cup qualifier. The Kingdom pumps a sizeable amount of money into the team and their investment more often than not pays off. So, many figured that today's result was over before the game even started.
Too bad those folk forgot that sometimes miracles actually do happen. The greatest moments in sports are when underdogs win. And today, the ultimate underdog did. In the 71st minute, Iraq's captain headed a ball into the back of the net and the team won 1-0.
The victory doesn't solve much on a political level. At least three members of the team have had relatives killed in the past two months. And the team wore black armbands in memory of the fifty people killed during the celebration of their win over the Koreans. But perhaps it does something even more important.
It shows the Iraqis that not everything they get their hopes up over turns to dust. These atheletes are not politicians, but they seemingly accomplished more in a few weeks than the new government has accomplished in 4+ years. They are good men who were able to put behind them whatever ethnic differences separate their countrymen in order to achieve a common goal. When was the last time you heard that phrase relating to a story coming out of Baghdad?
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