I was at Dr. Robert Edwards home this morning when USA pulled a stunning last-minute upset over Algeria in soccer. It was kind of exciting with all the piling-on and waving of flags. I was reminded these folks who lived most of their adult years in Colombia, came from soccer country! I had belittled the sport of their adopted country and their children! Shame on me.
You would think I had learned better much earlier in life. Guess I forgot. When a student at Ouachita Baptist College in the early fifties I worked on week-ends and during the summer as youth leader at First Baptist, Brinkley, Arkansas. Two kindly widows gave me an upstairs room. They also fed me breakfast. Husbands had been physicians. They were mother and daughter. On Sundays one could expect them at church in their finery, with hats and gloves. These were two elegant women of the South. Polished in culture and refinement.
On Saturday evening you could also expect them glued in front of their large black and white TV,( which were still oddities for many homes.) They would be watching WRESTLING! They were not just watching, they were fans. They knew the "good guys" and the bad. They yelled and shook their fists and had a jolly good time. I also had one watching these two kindly women become ardent fans of a totally rigged and planned sport; professional wrestling!
Whatever your sport, be it the one of kings, or the one of back-alley smoothies, enjoy it. That doesn't mean I have to like it or even approve. You probably wouldn't care that I enjoy a good game of race horse canasta! So be it. Go USA! Beat the whoever is next. I am pulling for you.
