Worlds Collide

First off, this is a soccer and Red Sox related post, so if you have no interest in such things, maybe just wait until thursday's update. I promise to talk about the garden plans we have underway, as well as why I can't be trusted at home with freezer pickles...It'll be great, with pictures! See you tomorrow!

So, my Connecticut Yankee sister and her Portuguese born and raised husband live in Lisbon (In their new place to boot!--Congrats guys!). He is a Sporting Lisbon fan, while my sister was born into a family with a healthy obsession with the Red Sox. It was only right that they should take an interest in each others' teams. Which, you'll be glad to know, spread to their families as well.

So, you can imagine the ripple of excitement that shot through the clan when it was discovered that Sporting would be playing Celtic AT FENWAY! HOLY SHIT! What are the odds? (As an aside, this Would NEVER happen in reverse--the Red Sox would never travel to Portugal for spring training--no sir, they'd much rather fly an additional 18 hours to Japan to play a game one day before the regular season...sigh...)

(Here's the old man this past spring. I think he's trying to figure out where to put the bullpens)

This game is scheduled for tonight at 8:00. I tried to get up to beantown, as I have my jersey and scarf washed and ready to wear, and have even been practicing my Portuguese in advance. Okay, i've been practicing my portuguese accent. That language is HARD, yo!

You know what else is hard? It's hard to travel 630 miles round trip on a WEDNESDAY night without a car. For two hours of pre-season euro soccer action. Who SCHEDULED this game? I know, I know--it's a meaningless contest, but if it was happening this Friday--I would have been there, Velogirl in tow, making friends with the Sporting supporters, swapping pastiche recipes, drinking Sagres...sigh. No, i'm not idealizing the experience at all. Not even a little.

(No, you're right--I wouldn't have made any new friends wearing this at tonight's game. Fuck.)

So...the next step is, "Where can I watch with other like minded individuals, preferably in a pro-Sporting setting?". I live in a city with every single major country represented by its embassy, yet the closest Portuguese themed restaurant/bar we have in town is Nando's Peri-Peri. Um... on the face of it, this could work. Peri-Peri pepper WAS well represented at the Continente I visited while in Lisbon, and they do have Sagres...but...no televisions. Eh, it was a stretch to begin with.

(By the way, If I looking for a Celtic bar, this would be no problem, as there are about 500 different places in DC with Celtic fan clubs. But who wants to listen to a drunk Scotsman sing "You'll Never Walk Alone" for 20 minutes if they don't have to? Although, it does sound better when sung with a glasgow accent, I have to admit.)

So, it looks like destination: couchtowne for the match. Eat 'em up Lions, eat 'em up!