- 2 days ago
ITL celebrates the excitement around the first matches arriving in Houston and what makes this event special for the city.
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00:00I got World Cup fever. Look at this.
00:02I see it.
00:02Look at this right here.
00:03I see it. That is indeed a game-used, I guess, soccer ball.
00:07I almost said football. I'm sorry.
00:09I'm going to be the annoying person that talks about it in a way that Americans do not enjoy.
00:13But that is a game-used soccer ball.
00:15Yeah, but I don't want to lean in too heavily.
00:18I call it soccer. I call them fields, not pitches.
00:24And not sideline, not touchline.
00:27And I did this for a living.
00:29Jerseys, not shirts?
00:30Yes, because now here's my theory on that, just real quick.
00:34I was riding. I went to five World Cups.
00:36Wow!
00:37I was riding for five.
00:38Wow! Five?
00:40Excuse me.
00:41Wow.
00:42I was riding for American readers.
00:45You don't want to bog them down.
00:47That's right.
00:47You want to make sure that they know what's happening.
00:49So it's teams, it's field, it's sideline, not touchline.
00:55It's is, not are.
00:56But you really, and I think it made a difference.
00:58I think it made a difference.
00:59That's fair.
01:00Yeah.
01:00That's fair.
01:02Anyway, this is a badass ball.
01:04Anyway, no, he does indeed have a 2002 World Cup in, what was it, South Korea?
01:10South Korea.
01:11The game used ball, when the, it was actually the last, I'll show it on YouTube, it was
01:16actually the last time the USA won a knockout phase game, round of 16 versus Mexico.
01:22Incredibly intense environment, and that was one of the World Cups that I attended.
01:26It was in Seoul.
01:27The USA won, Landon Donovan scored a goal, I believe, in the 65th minute.
01:31I don't know why I know that.
01:33What'd you have for breakfast today?
01:34I can't remember.
01:35Okay.
01:36But after the game, they started kicking the ball that was used, well, several, but the
01:40balls that were used on the field into the stands, and I was in the press area, and one
01:44came right to me, and I caught it, this one.
01:47And I actually looked around, and Christine Brennan, you may know her from USA Today, was
01:52sitting over my right shoulder.
01:53I'm like, what do I do with this?
01:55Because, you know, the old journalistic integrity or everything, she goes, keep it.
01:59I was like, all right.
02:01So here it is, 2002.
02:03A game used for the Novo side.
02:06So I am so pumped.
02:07So are we going to do penalties in the hallway later?
02:10We could.
02:11We could.
02:11Okay, very good.
02:12Dang, I was thinking playing dodgeball.
02:15Oh, dodgeball.
02:16Oh.
02:16You can actually see some of the markings from the kicks and the jerseys and all that
02:20stuff.
02:20It's pretty cool.
02:21It's pretty cool.
02:22It's one of my favorite World Cup stories.
02:24And by the way, all these World Cup stories just keep flooding back to me now as you get
02:28caught up in the moment.
02:29And we're going to have, we're going to talk about some of, one of them, most incredible
02:34ones.
02:35And those who are just casuals, I think you're going to come up with a backup team when we
02:39get to that.
02:40So, yeah.
02:40Well, let's do that.
02:41Let's do that now.
02:41Like, one, how excited are you about the World Cup?
02:44I know that, you know, maybe the matches yesterday that honestly were pretty damn good.
02:48Maybe they didn't grab you, right?
02:49Maybe the story of Raul Fernandez, who, or Jimenez rather, Raul Jimenez, who has been
02:57with the, this is his fourth World Cup with Mexico and never, you know, played more than
03:0160 minutes in an entire World Cup.
03:04Only had a couple of appearances, handful of appearances.
03:06He scores his first World Cup goal in the, in the day, the first goal for him, for his,
03:12his nation.
03:13And you can see the pride flow through.
03:14Maybe that doesn't do it for you.
03:15Maybe South Korea coming back from down one or nothing and controlling the game and ultimately
03:20winning.
03:21Maybe that doesn't do it for you.
03:22But dammit, I know what should do it for you, which is waving this red, white, and blue.
03:26They get going tonight at 8 p.m.
03:28Um, and so I imagine that there's some level of excitement there, right?
03:32Uh, 7, 1, 3, 5, 7, 2, 4, 6, 10 is the number to text.
03:34How much of that exists for you?
03:36And you know, if that's, if that's all that you have, that's fine, right?
03:40It's absolutely fair.
03:42But do you have a second team?
03:43Who is, who is the secondary team that you mean for?
03:46Cause there's definitely some options that are popping.
03:47Yeah, look, man.
03:48And I highly recommend, we're actually going to, to FanFest tonight to watch the USA.
03:52Uh, I, and I highly recommend you do something along those lines, get capture the environment.
03:57Even if it's via social media, via, you know, the internet, whatever, uh, capture the, the
04:02spirit of these teams and you'll start getting caught up in it.
04:05Uh, obviously USA, my backup team is Mexico.
04:08My other backup team is Scotland and Scotland is incredible.
04:14The Tartan army.
04:14I got a story about Scotland and, and, and, and I apologize that, you know, this is going
04:19to be me, you know, doing that thing again, where I talk about all the places I've traveled
04:22around the world.
04:23But in 1998, I was in Paris for the world cup while I was in France, but I was based
04:29in Paris for the world cup and I had to go, by the way, 1998 was the last time Scotland
04:34was in the world cup until now, until now the, and so in 98 and I went everywhere by train
04:42and I could hear this rumble as I'm going down, uh, to the platform, uh, in wherever
04:48I was in Paris and it was a giant rumble and I was going to start the France, uh, to,
04:52to
04:53watch, uh, Scotland versus Brazil.
04:55And that train, when I tell you that, that the platform was shoulder to shoulder and the
05:01train was shoulder to shoulder, there were people, there were security and officers, you
05:06know, throwing people off the train, not very successfully to, to, to, to where I got
05:12on the train and like, literally you hunch your shoulders, your shoulder to shoulder
05:16on a train with nothing but Scottish fans in kilts and, you know, drinking beer, uh,
05:23pouring beer, singing their songs out of 45 minute train ride.
05:27And by the end of that ride, they were telling me happy birthday.
05:29I'm not exactly sure why, cause it was July.
05:31My birthday's not in July.
05:33They were telling me happy birthday.
05:34You never figured it out to this day.
05:36They, I think they just wanted to like, they saw an American and they were putting their arms
05:40around me and singing their songs and bouncing and jumping up and down and everything else.
05:44And, uh, they said, you know, whatever, it's his birthday.
05:47Somebody just said it's his birthday.
05:48And I'm like, no, it's not.
05:49But, but I was like, okay, throwing down beer on me, drink, giving me beers, drinking,
05:53singing all the songs.
05:54We finally get to start the France, uh, the France literally stumble out of the train.
05:59I will never, ever forget not one single issue.
06:03Like, like nothing.
06:04It was just party.
06:05You know, like that, that's something where people could go trampled fights, all that
06:08nothing, absolutely nothing.
06:10And I went into the, into the stadium with the, well, I went through the media entrance,
06:14but, uh, into the stadium and they played their ass off.
06:17They, they lost to Brazil, but it was like two to one or something like that.
06:20Uh, and then the train ride back, I'm thinking, okay, this is going to be easy.
06:23This is going to be better.
06:24Nope.
06:25They were still partying the whole time.
06:26And they lost the game.
06:28That's incredible.
06:29Yeah.
06:29It feels like just, it is the type of, uh, it is the type of event where people are just
06:34here to have a good time and they're going to make sure it's the case.
06:36How often does that happen in sports too?
06:38Especially, I mean, I know in, I guess, lower level for lack of a better way of saying
06:42it, non like international level sports, uh, I always say that it's, it's one of the weirdest
06:48things that we spend money on because how many things do you buy a ticket for?
06:52And you go, there's maybe a 50% chance that I might be absolutely livid by the end of this,
06:57right?
06:57Like I might be really mad because my team does something stupid because, you know, because
07:01Victor Wimiyama throws the ball into the back of his point guard, right?
07:05Uh, which paid good money for supposedly an entertainment product.
07:08And I'm leaving mad, right?
07:09How often does that happen in sports?
07:11Because that's the nature of it.
07:12You're, you're playing a game.
07:13There's a possibility you lose.
07:14It feels like when it comes down to like the world cup, they didn't care.
07:18They're like, they're like, no, no, no, no, no, we are going to have a good time.
07:21I mean, keep in mind, they haven't, that was the last time, but they're just, they're
07:26just happy to be here.
07:27Yes.
07:27Right.
07:28And, and they will make it happen.
07:29I don't know if you saw like some Korean fans.
07:31I don't think it was at the Houston fan fest, but what the various different fan fests.
07:34And you should know this if you're trying to make it to Edo tonight, which mind you, buddy,
07:38that's going to be tough.
07:39Like, can you imagine for the first U S men's national team match of this world cup cycle?
07:43I'm going, we're going.
07:43You're going to fan fest.
07:44Okay.
07:45So you may watch the USA.
07:46I'm going to try and go to that one.
07:47I'll post some stuff.
07:48There's also dynamo.
07:49Don't forget.
07:49Soccer celebration is also another option.
07:51If one of those things is not a possibility, but I was, I can only imagine like, or sorry,
07:56one of the fan fests where Korea was watching, obviously their team play last night and win.
08:00And there was a bunch of Korean dudes that brought some tequila.
08:03Cause they were like, again, we going to have a good time.
08:05They get to the doors of fan fest or like the gates and you can't bring in alcohol from
08:10outside, which I mean, no kidding.
08:12Good call for fan fest.
08:13Koreans know how to party, party, buddy.
08:15Oh yeah.
08:15They just started, they just started.
08:17They drank the whole bottle.
08:18Downing tequila.
08:19The whole bottle.
08:20A handle of tequila straight up and they couldn't finish it themselves.
08:22So they just became friends with some Mexican fans.
08:24And now we just all getting drunk outside the fan fest.
08:27And I'm like, this is how we, this is how we fix geopolitical issues.
08:31Yes.
08:31Just put everybody outside.
08:32Give everybody a world cup.
08:34Yeah.
08:34Well, imagine, imagine you're in Boston this morning, you're in Boston this morning, 630
08:42AM, your neighbor across the street, out of the house as an Airbnb, unfortunately, or very
08:49fortunately, I would think it'd be very fortunately.
08:52Uh, you wake up, get your cup of coffee.
08:55You look out the front window.
08:56There's Scottish flags flying off the windows.
08:59There's dudes in kilts standing in the front yard doing this full bagpipe and everything
09:08bagpipe at 630 in the morning in the front yard in a Boston neighborhood.
09:12I'm sorry.
09:13I might still get out here and yell at y'all the guys laughing.
09:16You can, you don't, you might hear it here, but like this is all quaint and folksy.
09:20But if this, if, if this bagpipe was instead a lawnmower, I'd want to fight somebody.
09:24And I don't think that that changes for me just because this is quaint and folksy.
09:28You know what I mean?
09:28The guy that's doing the video is like laughing, like, what am I going to do?
09:31You know, what am I going to do?
09:32Tell him to kick rocks.
09:33Did you see the airport, uh, interview?
09:35No.
09:36The Scott, cause there's apparently 30,000.
09:39You're rolling on.
09:40Hey, you guys should be rocking with Scotland.
09:41Mexico is my backup team and Scotland for you, for me.
09:45I think that I might be jumping on with Congo for a couple of reasons.
09:50One, I don't know if you guys have seen Houston Chronicle was covering this because obviously
09:54various different nations, they have to have a home base in, you know, in North America
09:59to be able to get to various, uh, different, um, you know, places where they're playing.
10:03Congo is the only nation that chose Houston as their home base.
10:07And Houston is the type of place where if you choose us, we choose you.
10:11Right?
10:12Like, I think that very much Houston cares about Houston.
10:14If you don't care about us, that's fine.
10:16But if you choose us, we walk with you, right?
10:18Like this is that type of place.
10:19And so that's one.
10:20And two, you know how much this particular show enjoys the, uh, cinematic experience coming
10:26to America.
10:27Well, I don't know if you guys, I know that the Houston Chronicles social media pages have
10:31this, but if you saw the democratic Republic of Congo's soccer team, dude, touchdown at
10:36IAH buddy, them boys was in suits that had leper prints.
10:42Not leopard print.
10:42They had the leopard, uh, I don't know.
10:44How would you like the, the, the pelt over the, over the shoulder.
10:47Yeah.
10:47They look like King Jaffe Jaffer.
10:49Uh, and like, they just touched down from some movement and their suits were tight.
10:53They had, they had these, what is this velvet?
10:59And so, yeah, no, like I think that the world cup will offer a lot of different stories
11:04that give you an opportunity to rock with a team, not necessarily because of how they play,
11:08but because of how the fans come through or just like some fun thing that they do.
11:11And so for me, I think it taps into the best things in sports, which is just the fun and
11:16nonsense that can happen around it.
11:18That's it.
11:18That's right.
11:18Obviously there's a lot of places here on sports radio 610.
11:21We're going to break down the nitty gritty of a, of the football team with the Texans.
11:24We're going to talk about whether or not, uh, the Astros, right.
11:27Whether Joe was spot and made the right decision going to the pen in some circumstance.
11:30We're going to talk about if email Doka is making the best of his team.
11:34This is the part of sports where we could just sit around and have fun about like the, the,
11:37the fun of it, the nonsense of it.
11:39And so I'm excited for it to start in earnest, at least in the U S tonight with the U
11:43S men's
11:43national team.
11:44We'll talk more about that one and get you ready for the game itself.
11:47But I I'm kind of excited.
11:48Like, I hope that everybody has some level of excitement and is finding some things to
11:51enjoy, not just obviously from the U S men's national team to, you know, wave the colors,
11:55but then also some of these other nations.
11:57Yeah.
11:57Test in.
11:58Tell us where you going.
11:59Yeah.
12:00Tell us where you posting up this weekend.
12:02For sure.
12:02For sure.
12:03Cause I'm still making my decision.
12:05I think I might go to fan fest or maybe soccer celebration.
12:08And then I also forget, man, there's so many other bars and pubs and watch parties that
12:13are going to be going all month and a half long one by my house.
12:16You should have seen it right over there.
12:19And I thought I had him that time.
12:20I really did.
12:23Queens Boulevard.
12:24Just overrun with Mexican fans.
12:26It was, it was awesome.
12:27Yeah.
12:27Yeah.
12:27Yeah.
12:27See, I might need to get outside for the next Mexican match.
12:30Cause everything I saw was that the Mexican fans were up.
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