Week 12 – “Wasn't it beautiful runnin' wild 'til you fell asleep?”

In case you missed one of my shouts of excitement (or in case there is somewhere on this planet where the sound of vuvuzelas did not reach), some friends and I had the privilege of going to the USA vs SA game at the World Cup stadium in Cape Town!!!

I’m not usually a big sports fan… Don’t get me wrong – I love me some home team victories from the Yankees or the Giants… but as for live sports events? I went to a bunch in high school and a few football games in college. There is something about being at the actual event. The power of the crowd hums through you like it’s got a heartbeat all its own (or too many vuvuzelas).

My friends Suzanne, Helen, Amanda and I decided to take the train into the city and then do the Fan Walk through the city center to the stadium. The forty minute train ride was a riot! We sat roughly in the middle of the train, between the two sets of doors on either end of the car. In the aisle between each pair a group of particularly excited fans congregated: one group was drunk, the other was still drinking on the train. The still-drinking group rocked out on the costume front; they donned flag-decorated hats, face paints, jumpsuits, wigs. One guys was dressed as Batman! They weren’t as loud as the less-costumed more-inebriated group, who started with the songs (singing everything from the South African national anthem to “I Gotta Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas and vuvuzelas right away. The train literally shook with all the fan excitement. It was like sitting in a train car with two vying fraternities on either side of us – each competing for the honor of most school spirit… while simultaneously celebrating homecoming. I had a flashback to the type of antics I often observed homecoming weekend during my years at university.

Surging with fan energy from the train ride, we enjoyed a warm summer night’s walk through the city center. The stadium grew larger and larger in the distance – more and more real. As if to herald its approach, the vuvuzelas seemed to multiply – as did the number of South Africans around in us in their yellow and green Bafana Bafana (South Africa’s soccer team) shirts. Occaisionally, I caught a US fan in the midst of us: a man with a flag tied like a cape, red-white-and-blue shirts or groups, a guy singing the Star-Spangled Banner. When we finally reached the stadium, the US fans were even harder to spot. Bafana Bafana fans cheered and shone like sunshine against the black night sky visible above the roof of the stadium, which was lit as bright as day. (Did I mention that the game didn’t start until 9:30pm in order to air live in the US at a reasonable time?)

The teams were a good match for each other – neck-in-neck. No goals were scored in the first half. In the second half, Bafana Bafana seemed to get more aggressive. While no goals were scored for most of the second half, those South African boys seemed to want it more in the face of all of their fans. I was starting to lose faith in those US boys I was cheering for. They just didn’t seem to want it the way their opponents did, but then, out of nowhere, GOAL for the USA! Typical, America :-) And that right there is how the US beat SA 1-0!