why live sport is good

I went on an outing to see DC United play LA Galaxy at RFK stadium on Saturday night. DC United seems to be falling apart in the late season; their passing and defense left something to be desired. Perhaps consistenly booing Landon Donovan provoked him; some wag (ahem) was shouting “Le-ver-ku-sen!” when he would get hold of the ball…

However, it was good just to get out and see footie for real, even if I didn’t care for the result. There was a group in front of us who had come down from Pennsylvania to see Quavas Kirk play, as he was a nephew / son / cousin. The group was heavily tilted towards older ladies, all from Trinidad, who had a better line in trash-talking than the rest of the stadium. My personal favorite, after DC’s first equalizer, was this: they were damning DC United etc. and I said, oh sure, it’s all singing and dancing when it goes your way, but one own-goal… — to which one lady replied, “Oh we’ll be singing and dancing again… when you lose!” Anyway, it was good for a laugh.

The other thing I Was struck by was the range of people at the stadium — families, older people, younger people, your various ethnic groups, and though I shouldn’t be surprised, a fair few groups of attractive young females, who were plainly dressed to head out to bars etc. after the game. All hail modern times.

(BTW, having moved here in my late 20s, already married, I never really looped into the DC nightlife scene. So being out downtown after the match was an eye-opener, and not just because of the number of young ladies wearing ill-fitting, low-cut blouses with no bras… well, actually exactly because of the number of attractive young women about the place. Any remotely presentable bloke in his early 20s has no excuse for not wreaking havoc in this town; for an old timer like me it’s a series of attractive tableaux for when the conversation over beer lags…)