Soccer

Olé, Olé Olé Olé!! EURO '08 - What an amazing three weeks of soccer! And, in the end, the best team definitely won. The Spaniards - who have been on fire all tournament long, and who finished undefeated, with six straight wins - clearly deserved to hoist the cup today after their 1-0 victory over Germany.

After watching the Dutch crash out of the EURO 2008 Soccer Championships a little earlier today, I decided that I had no choice but to, once again, write about the agony of being a Dutch soccer fan. Not wanting to repeat myself, however, I went back and re-read my "Pity The Poor Dutch Fan Rant" from the World Cup two years ago in Germany. But after having read what I had written back then I realized that there was no need to try and re-write what had already been put so perfectly. So, here, once again, are the opening and closing paragraphs from that sorrowful rant of the summer of 2006. Absolutely nothing, it seems, has changed.

I hope you've all been following the EURO 2008 Soccer Championships since they started back on June 7th. There's been some pretty exciting soccer so far, with a few fantastic games and only one really dull one (France and Romania's 0-0 draw). Portugal, Spain and Croatia are all looking pretty good. However, as far as entertainment value goes, two teams clearly stand out 9 days into the tournament, one for their flair, flash and fabulous goal-scoring ability, not to mention all-round domination, and the other for their incredible heart and perseverance. I'm talking about the spectacularly talented Dutch and the never-say-die Turks, of course.

With the Euro '08 Soccer Championship about to start in just a couple of weeks from now I think it's important that everyone should try to really understand the game. I'm not going to attempt to explain the intricacies of the world's most popular sport myself; no, I'm going to leave that to Canadian comedian Steve Patterson. All soccer fans and non-fans alike should most definitely check this out.

Hey all you fans of soccer, you should definitely check out this clip. It's one of my all-time favs and it features one of the most peculiar games, and one of the greatest goals, in soccer history.

Not a fan of soccer? Well, fans of philosophy have also been known to enjoy this too.

Like philosophy even less than you like soccer? Well, then, you'll be glad to hear that all fans of Monty Python also love this classic clip.

‏How much more money can the bloody Dutch national team cost me, anyway? That is the question. And, really, can't the whole world feel the pain of all the fans of The Netherlands? I'm not just talking about all the Dutch people out there, but all the misguided non-Dutch dreamers who call themselves fans of Dutch soccer too. I mean, World Cups and Euro Championships come and go and the Dutch crash out way too early, year after year after year... 8 years ago, 6 years ago, 2 years ago (4 years ago they didn't even qualify for the World Cup!!), it's always the same story. How many times can they let me down? Or, maybe the real question is, how many times can I be let down and still continue to believe? And, really now, how many bets - and how much money - are these bloody Dutch going to cost me in the end?

Either you get it or you don't. Either you feel the joy or you don't. Either you understand and feel the glory of the World Cup or you just don't get it. For all you dissenters and non-believers out there I can't make you believe... but Argentina can.

So there we were, two nights ago, celebrating Canada Day here in Istanbul by watching the Euro 2004 semi-final between Greece and the Czech Republic when Greece suddenly, somehow, inexplicably, won the game in extra time to advance to the final against Portugal (who they've already beaten once by a score of 2-1 in the opening game of the tournament). It was just us and about a dozen of The 5 Pack A Day Guys sitting in our hazy smoke-filled hotel lobby, with me and Son being the only ones a) not smoking and b) cheering for Greece. The reason we were alone in supporting Greece, in a room full of people, was due to the fact that everyone else was Turkish and, considering that Greece is Turkey's age-old enemy, few Turks feel any desire to cheer for their Greek neighbors. But, in all honesty, the only thing The 5 Pack A Day Guys really felt any desire to do was have another smoke, but that's beside the point