June 13, 2006 - Ed Carded

Nine in the morning is early in the day to be drinking beer, especially Guinness Stout. It would seem to be an early time for a World Cup Soccer match as well, except that the matches this year are being played in Germany. Because of the time zone difference, 9AM in Santa Barbara is 6PM in Germany. Ed, like the rest of us, is very familiar with time zones. He tells us that time zones are the reason why his VCR says 4:32, and the microwave across the room says 4:35.

Of course we’re kidding. Apparently someone was kidding when they said that the USA Soccer Team had a chance of winning the World Cup this year. We can’t remember who it was who said it, but we do know that our president called up the USA team before their opening match with the Czech Republic yesterday, to give them a pep talk.

But, once the soccer ball started rolling, it didn’t take long for the air to get taken out of it - at least as far as the USA was concerned. Four minutes into the game, Jan Koller, a really tall Czech player, got a cross-pass from his Czech ‘mate’ and headed it into the goal. Later in the game, the tall guy fell hard on the turf and checked himself out of the game. He was taken off the field on a really long stretcher. But, the Czech team had another way to score. Tomas Rosicky, nicknamed “Little Mozart”, scored two more goals - one that came from way outside and curved perfectly into the upper right corner; the other on a breakaway.

The USA team didn’t get any goals. In fact, our really good guys never even got off a shot. The final score was 3 to 0.

There could be no more disappointed fans anywhere than at the Press Room on Ortega Street in Santa Barbara. Any one who knows about soccer knows that the Press Room is THE place in town to watch it – World Cup or otherwise. In fact, just before the game yesterday, ESPN Radio called the Press Room to talk to the owner and hear the roar of the barroom crowd gathered there to drink beer and watch the game.

By the way, there was coffee available at the bar, the whole time we were there, no one was ordering it. Ed pointed out that Guinness looks like black coffee, sort of.

The Press Room was packed - standing room only - but with an easy trip to the bathroom. The dedicated staff of edhat.com was at the bar watching the game and counting the early morning spectators. At nine o’clock in the morning, there were 59 people packed into the small bar. Since we were already inside, we didn’t know if they were turning people away at the door. Based on the cheering (or lack thereof), it appeared that everyone present was rooting for the home team. In fact, at the end of the game, the Press Room became a De-Pressed Room. But, we have no doubt that many of the soccer diehards will come back again today. Brazil is playing. And, no one’s kidding about them winning.

Edhat subscriber gr8tr won yesterday’s Edhat contest with a guess of 58. Gr8tr wins a t-shirt. Not an authentic Press Room World Cup t-shirt, but an equally cool Edhat one.

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