We Live in a Political World

 Love don’t have any place

We’re living in times where men commit crimes
And crime don’t have a face  (Dylan)

was watching the world cup draw yesterday and my mind began to wonder.....i know some people don't care for soccer and that's okay.......i'm not a true fan of the sport, but i love an event that commands international attention, an event that stretches on for 4, 5 or even 6 weeks now with the expansion to 48 teams.....an even that is primarily played during the daylight hours and sometime depending on time differences, it is played early in the morning.....and everyone packs the bars and drinks........they could be playing checkers for all i care.....if the bars are 3 deep at 8:00 am, I LOVE it.

i barely remember that 1978 WC.....i think the title game was televised on Wide World of Sports on a sunday afternoon....probably on tape delay......i remember watching it and thinking the cosmos and NASL were more exciting.......

in the early summer of 1982 my good friend Charlie H informed us that his parents were going to Ireland ( I think)  for 2 or 3 weeks........and myself, Dano, Donnie Hoff , Griffin, MCevoy, Collins basically moved into his parents home on 6th ave.......we were wrapping up our junior year of High School and we had ( or took) a lot of half days......Me, Donn, Eddie G ,Charlie, Chico, would walk up the hill from Xaverian via 69th street all the way to 6th ave.......buying suitcases of beloved budweiser along the way.....firing up the grill immediately and blasting Rock & Roll.....Dano would arrive from Ford, Collins from Xavier and Mac from the Fort.........and one day i was fiddling with the TV.....No Mets Matinees, but i landed on the Spanish channel ( 68 ? 47 ?) .....i landed on the Peru vs Poland game....fuzzy black & white Tv and the announcers were speaking Spanish.........Poland crushed them....and as we were crushing cans of Buds the announcers kept screaming Goal........the now famous call of GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLL

we loved it, we were drunk and we were hooked......10 to 15 guys watching a sport they didn't understand listening to announcers speaking a language we couldn't figure out (despite the fact that most of us took spanish in school for 3 years) ........I remember Dano squinting at the TV as if that would help him understand what was going on.....and finally just yelling at the television to "Speak English" .

we came back everyday.......watched soccer , drank a case and blasted the new album from the Plastic Bertrand "Ca plane pour moi " and sang along in french....or maybe even spanglish..........Charlie's older siblings were polar opposites.....Big brother Bobby cheered us on and even started taking his own half days and watching the games with us......but Sister Joan wanted us all hung from the Gallows.......and so some of the lads took to turning her high school graduation picture that hung on the wall around, so that she now faced the wall...

I don't remember what happened first.....did the world cup end ? or did his parents come home from vacation ? not sure.....but i do know that every 4 years i roll up my proverbial sleeves and get cracking on some serious day drinking.....from the Dubliner on Stone Street to the Iron Monkey in JC, to Texas -Az in Hoboken and of course the Liev........from watching Ireland advance in PK's in Martins Bar across from the Bull and 2 Broadway to hanging with Seamus O'Donnell and Danny McFadden in Woodside....from the Steak Exchange to the Redrock....from Suspenders on Broadway with my nephew who was a summer intern to the Brooklyn Dodger.......from drinking Guinness and having an Irish Breakfast at 6:30 am in the Fitzpatrick Hotel on 57th and Lex to just Guinness at Diamond Jim Brady's on Maiden Lane....that was 2002.......the games were being played in Korea ( i think) we were still in a 9/11 fog......but the bars secretly opened at 6:00 for a 6:30 kickoff.......yep...i do love the World Cup and i'm looking forward to watching games in Captain Archie's and Molly Darcy's this summer.....no matter who hoists the trophy, there is one constant.....2+3=BEEER

USA received a favorable draw.......we WILL be advancing to the knockout stage.....mark it down......and buy more AUR....it's starting to inch upwards

We live in a political world
Under the microscope
You can travel anywhere and hang yourself there
You always got more than enough rope