I decided that because I thought I would be tired. But while I said in my last blog post that I wasn't 100% alert, I thought I could go another 1 1/2 Games. That would mean I "did the marathon" and saw all four Group Stage Matches in a day. I've never done it before, but after I published that post I thought about doing it. I mean, why not? It's ... well, something I've never done before. That might be a strange "accomplishment," and I don't think anybody will be impressed except me, but still.
And this thought crystallized in my head: "When will I ever do this again?" That is a tremendous thought to me. When confronted with choices, I usually go with the thing that I probably won't be able to do again. That makes sense, right? Not only is it a quadruple-header, it's one on Thanksgiving, and part of probably the only World Cup to ever be contested in the winter.
But ... it is Thanksgiving. With the arguable exception of Christmas, there is no holiday as steeped in tradition as Thanksgiving. There's turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, family (well, not me, but that's been the way it's been for a long time, and I don't mind), and football. And I have a tradition on this day that is basically set. I go to the local grocery store to get a turkey dinner before the first NFL Game of the day at 11:30, and then I ... just watch football. I think. OK, so maybe I do just one thing. Maybe two with A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, even though that's harder now that I can only see that special through streaming. But the holiday is sacred because you do the same thing on that day every year. That's not just routine, nor is it boring, let alone stultifying. It is an exercise in self-renewal, that you are the same person that you were, and that you plan on being, and that is worth revisiting annually.
So would I break that tradition, that eating that turkey dinner, just so I can watch four World Cup Matches? Do I do something I've never done before instead of something I do every year? The answer is ... no. I left just before 11 like I planned. There are two big caveats to this. One, I think that I am going to try to do the quadruple Sunday. I initially thought I would go to Brit's Sunday because the last Game that day, the "nightcap," is Spain-Germany, arguably the marquee matchup in the World Cup's Group Stage. But the Timberwolves play at Target Center that afternoon, and even though that Game starts 90 Minutes after the Match begins, I'm not sure I want to go through any traffic I might face that afternoon. I don't work Wednesday; I think I'll venture to Brit's for the Games that day, even though I have to pay for parking. Anyway, if I am going to Black Hart for Spain-Germany, and since they are the only place in the Twin Cities that will be open for every single Match of the World Cup -- well, why not try the quad Sunday? So that means I could leave early today.
The other caveat: After getting that dinner and eating it at home and juicing a lemon for a cocktail I'll enjoy hopefully before 10 p.m., I did fall asleep. Probably conked off before the start of Brazil-Serbia at 1, and I woke up at 4:30. So maybe I don't have the stamina to watch four soccer Matches. But I think I'm going to try Sunday. Hopefully I'll pull it off. I've never done it before!
Anyway, my point of this blog post is that sometimes I do things because I don't know if I'll ever be able to do it again, and sometimes I do things because I always do them, and those two things seem to completely oppose each other, and so what do you do when you're confronted with being able to do only one of those things at the same time?
No comments:
Post a Comment