I’m not a big sports fan or even participant, but I make sure not to miss events like the 2006 FIFA World Cup. As a young girl, I played all types of sports, soccer being one of them. I have to say I wasn’t bad at all. At the time, I lived in Africa. One day, as I practiced alone out front in the garden, one of the neighborhood boys saw me and decided to challenge me to a one-on-one game. We moved back and forth between our designated goalie spots and I managed to get the ball away from him several times. Best of all, I scored goal after goal after goal. After 30 minutes, the boy decided he’d had enough. He hadn’t expected me to beat him. Hurrying away as if he were relieved no one witnessed his game, he left me with a parting shot.  "You won because you don’t know how to play. You’re a girl."

At that point, I wanted to kick him instead of the ball.

I’ve always enjoyed watching "the Beautiful Game."  This is the description sometimes used for soccer, which is mostly known as football or association football in many other places. According to Wikipedia, the name came from soccer megastar Pele’s 1977 autobiography entitled Pele, My Life and the Beautiful Game. It’s fun to watch all the different teams play. It’s entertaining to see the pride of their supporters (Click here to see the celebration in Brazil). There are a number of different teams that I like to cheer. I know it sounds crazy. LOL! Don’t ask. I also like to root for the underdogs.

My World Cup reading list for this 2006 season is: Pele, My Life and the Beautiful Game  Pele with Robert L. Fish,  Hand of God: The Life of Diego Maradona, Soccer’s Fallen Star  Jimmy Burns and  Futebol: Soccer: The Brazilian Way  Alex Bellos.  I think I have some good reading ahead of me to do!

All those watching the Beautiful Game, enjoy!