World Cup Fever.

Casa de McGarvey has been taken over by World Cup Fever. Seamus and I are watching (on average) a game a day since the tournament began on June 18th. I truly enjoy watching soccer and Seamus loves playing soccer. It feels good to "bond" over this event. All four of us are rooting for team USA, but other favorite teams include Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico. So far, all our teams have advanced to the second round.

Advantages of World Cup madness:
- Bonding time with Seamus.
- A feeling of camaraderie with other World Cup obsessed friends and family.
- Seamus and Finn (along with anyone they can wrangle) play soccer outside everyday.

- Nationalistic pride at watching our USA boys do well.
- Guilt free tv watching.

Disadvantages of World Cup madness:
- Seamus plays with the soccer ball in the house constantly. We havent had any accident yet, but its only a matter of time if he keeps it up. Not only does he like to bounce and dribble the ball inside our small home, he also likes to juggle it up in the air with his feet. It seems that everyday I am telling him to take the ball, and his playing, outside.
- Seamus has worn his soccer cleats everyday since the games began. Normally I wouldnt mind this fact, but he's not always walking on grass. Wearing his $30 soccer cleats to the store, and to math tutoring and on errands is going to run the spikes down too quickly. Yesterday we drove down to Del Mar to enjoy the San Diego County Fair and in the frenzy and confusion of us getting out of the door, we didnt realize that Seamus was, not suprisingly, wearing his cleats. He wore them all over the fair for over 4 hours!

- Becoming very emotionally involved in soccer games. The USA v. Algeria game was such a rollercoaster ride for Matt, Seamus and me to watch. We were physically and emotionally spent by the end. It was a huge adrenaline rush when Landon Donovon scored in stoppage time, but overall the game was much too intense for my comfort level.

Tomorrow we will be watching the USA v Ghana game with family. We kind of forced my mom to have a party. It should be fun. I hope we win. It feels soooooo goood to win. GO USA!

Happy Friday.