The Battle of Iberia--is that on 2112?

I am a soccer fan. This means that the past month has been, for me, the super bowl and the Olympics all rolled into one delicious, chipotle sized burrito of sports achievement and controversy and pagentry and excitement. And barbacoa, and only half-rice, please and thank you.

(splashing cold water on my face)

Where was I? oh yeah--the World Cup. As you already know, the US team crapped the bed this weekend, disappointing every one of their fans only four days after proving it can perform under pressure. Yeah, that hit me pretty hard, but to be fair, it was hot as balls this weekend in DC and I think I probably would have fainted from heat exhaustion in either case. Just not with an american flag painted on my forehead.

But, I've moved past it and am now focusing on today's Round of 16 game: Portugal v. Spain. Normally, this game would not mean more to me than all the other games that feature NOTUSA. However, we(as in m'self and Reba) spent a week in Portugal recently with my sister, who happens to live in Lisbon with my Portuguese brother-in-law, (Forca Sporting, irmao!), in which they showed us places that look like this:
and this:and fed us so full of good food and hospitality so as to head to the airport looking like this:that I now feel like an honorary Portugal...person. A person willing to defend the borders from the evil hordes of the Spanish, with their galleons and their delicious tapas and their flamenco, which everyone knows is just wannabe Fado. There, someone had to say it. So, eat 'em up you sons of Sintra!

In other news, I have just spent two of the last three evenings awake until 2:45 am, watching the latest and greatest of the many Rush documentaries that has been on VH1 of late: Beyond the Lighted Stage. Some obvious takeaways after the second viewing:

• Dorky musicians love this band--duh. From Billy Corgan to Jack Black. Okay, that's not much of a range, but you get my point.
• Women dorky or no, avoid Rush like the plague. Finding a woman at a Rush show is harder than...well, it's damn near impossible.
  
• Neil, although one of the forces of nature that rule over time and space and percussion, comes off as kind of a dick.

Check your local listings, i'm not a TV Guide.