This is going to be my third World Cup while living in NYC, and I am really excited about it. (Yes, it sucks that the USA isn’t playing this time around, but USA Men’s management screwed that squad. They got what the deserved, and I would prefer to watch the USA Women, anyway… My two cents…) It’s fun living in an international city, when something very international takes place, like the world cup. When whatever nation plays, on that day, you can spot those national flags out on people.
And fans pop up everywhere to watch the matches. There will be tv in windows of places you wouldn’t expect showing them. A dry cleaner in my friend’s neighborhood put up a tv so people can watch.
Last World Cup in NYC gave me a pretty great memory. A good friend had gotten their wisdom teeth out, and he had asked me and my wife to be the ones to pick him up from the oral surgeon, get him home, and get him to bed. After we had picked him up and gotten him home, he asked if we could get him a milk shake. Sure, not a problem.
The wife got on her phone and found a dinner around the corner that make milk shakes to go. So, we walked over, and when we came into the dinner, it was when Brazil and Chile were going into penalty kicks for their first-round knockout match. Everything the dinner ground to a halt for the kicks. Waiters, cooks, busboys, dishwashers, patrons had all gathered around the tv over the register to watch the shots. The agony when Chile fell behind in kicks, the joy when Brazil won that match. And then everyone went back to work. Like nothing had happened.
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