World Cup 6: Game Day

So we have less than 2 hours till we leave for the pitch. Now I've got to keep myself from getting too worked up into a frenzy between now and then. It's been hard because we've been doing a lot of mental focus type stuff and psyche up type stuff... not to mention the fact that in our team room we've created what we call our "Corner of Power". That's where we put up stuff to inspire us as we go forward into world cup. For example, in yesterday's newspaper a columnist wrote "Spare me the hot air about England, France, Canada, and the US have a chance to win it all". Nothing gets my blood boiling more than being overlooked and underestimated. Must go eat lunch to ease some nerves.

Well the countdown is on. 30 minutes until we leave for the pitch. A bunch of us just watched the NZ-Canada match live on the internet and now everyone is ready to roll. I'm going to update what's been going on over the past two days so as to not drive myself batty waiting.

Yesterday we had another easy day. We ate breakfast and then the non-rostered folks went down to the gym for a workout while the rest of us did some recovery work in the pool. That recovery work quickly turned comptitive as we played 500 with the South African team that was down there as well. It was good fun.

After that I came back upstairs and did some reading before lunch and then Carrie and I got into a rousing game of cribbage. Then there was waiting time, which involved some CSI and Fame, before we went to the field for our captains run. The practice was fairly short but intense as we ran through the last little things that we wanted to get ironed out. When we got back dinner was on, so we ate before showering for the jersey presentation.

As usual the jersey presentation was emotional. It was particularly poignant to see Patty get her jersey which for her is a 5th. Another thing that made this presentation different from some in the past is that it was open to all the family and friends that had come to watch the games. So there was a lot of support surrounding us throughout the process. I got a little shock when I looked at the tag of my jersey and saw that it was a small, but I guess that means no jersey tackles.

Front-Row Lovin'


Captains and Coaches


After the jersey presentation a bunch of us spent some time with Doc trying to work out all that last stuff before the match.
This morning was breakfast followed by a team meeting during which we watched "Do you believe in Miracles" which is the documentary about the 1980 olympic hockey team. It left quite a few of us teary eyed and ready for kick-off to happen. After that the waiting began, which I have been trying to fill with things that won't cause me to get too anxious (like ironing my dress shirt), but even as I'm typing this I can feel the adrenaline starting to get going. Need to stay composed and relatively calm for another 3 hours when finally it gets to be unleashed all over England. Time to sign-off and really get focused and make sure I've got everything ready to go and take it to em. Hopefully when I write next it'll be as victors.