World Cup Mania

I love the World Cup. I love cities. And being outside. So when I heard they were showing the games on Saturday at Dupont Circle, a park in the middle of a roundabout only a 15 minute walk from where I live (and I happen to live in a city), I knew I had to go.

One reporter I passed was saying there were 20,000 people there. That’s a lot of people to cram into a little circle park. I have no idea how some people had any idea of what was going on in the game, because when I would get in the middle of it I (A) couldn’t see the screen over all of the people and (B) couldn’t hear. I (C) also couldn’t move or breathe because I was squashed between sticky bodies, but that’s obviously not as important at times like these.

Watching games in huge crowds is fantastic because of how involved everyone gets. It automatically makes what’s happening a hundred times more intense. Popular chants included the traditional “USA!” plus “Obama” and then something not so nice that I can’t repeat about BP.

It was humid and hot (I hope to never ever sweat that much again), but it was an awesome experience. And I took some photos so you can pretend you were there too. I do have to admit, a fringe benefit of having a nice camera is that people seem to assume you are doing something important with it, so I could wander anywhere I wanted to in the crowd. Therefore I ended up conveniently next to the screen at the end...

For all of the pictures I took click on this lovely link below:

View Full Album

For some of the ones I like most with narration just keep going.

The day was filled with anguish:

And excitement (equal parts of both emotion since it ended in a tie):

People on the east coast apparently just keep some revolutionary clothes in their closet just in case they might need it. This game qualified.

Patriotism manifested itself for both countries in other ways as well:

Like I said, there were a lot of people:

Points for most creative sign went to this guy:

And this was my favorite headgear:

Hot Dogs:

Reporters:

People were thirsty since it was so ridiculously hot and sticky:

Shirts that represent the event:

At the end there was even a proposal that I just happened to be standing next to. I will post the entire sequence of shots for Amber, my sister, who will love it. For those who aren’t into that stuff there is an easy way to avoid it – just scroll fast.

Other stuff I like that I’m far too lazy to categorize.

Ok I’ll leave you alone now. Just look at the link to the album to see the rest. The moral of the story is that I still love my camera. And the world cup. What a wonderful combination. Just imagine how awesome it would be to be at the actual game… Maybe in four years?