Dear Carlos,

Did you see my brother-in-law's comment the other day on my post?  If you missed it, here it is again.  I am paraphrasing- "I don't need to hear about flowers and food...tell us about the electric atmosphere around the soccer match between Lyon and Bayern."

I love my brother-in-law!  He has been with our crazy family for more than 20 years!  and is as enthusiastic about family connections today as he was when they were first engaged- that is to say, VERY enthusiastic!  Really!  and he is a die hard, lifelong soccer fan. 

The last World Cup he got up in the middle of the night to watch the games live!  Shouting "Gooooooooooaaaaaalllll" when his team scored.  No matter that the rest of the house and the neighbors were asleep.  When another one of our siblings and her family moved to England for a couple of years and became avid soccer fans, my brother-in-law finally had someone to talk to about soccer!

This posting is really a response to his request:

Dear Carlos,
Surely you know that neither Jeff nor I have a clue about soccer...but, not wanting to disappoint you on your one request...

When I saw your comment, I felt that I should at least figure out what it meant!  I did a google search that told me that Lyon and Bayern were soccer teams.  I followed a few more links and found out that there was a semi-finals match on Wednesday night at 8:45pm.  Too bad we don't have a television.

Jeff  had seen men lined up in the local Bar du Sports watching something on TV a different night.  Possibilities.  On Wednesday morning, I stopped in the bar and asked if they would be open and showing the match that night.  "If there are people here watching, we will be open."  Didn't sound like electric enthusiasm to me.  It certainly wasn't contagious.

Later that afternoon I asked Jeff if he was up for going to watch the match.  I preferred having Jeff's company to sit in the bar while I was watching the soccer match and drinking beer.  He did not give off electric enthusiasm.  But, Dear Carlos, it was Jeff who said at 8:45pm that night, "Let's go see if the bar is open."

The bar owner, his wife and son were sitting outside having their dinner when we arrived.  They said they were closing soon, but what did we want.  "We'd like to have a beer and watch the soccer match."  They compromised and said they would stay open until half-time for us.  Not exactly electric enthusiasm on their part, nor anyone else's in the town given that we were the only ones there!  The bar owner chatted a bit with us during the game, asking who we wanted to win.  Of course we said Lyon (the French team).  He seemed pleased.  But then we blew our cover when we asked if the fans waving the red and white flags were from Lyon.  We had a 50/50 chance of guessing correctly.  We guessed incorrectly.  Opening the ignorance wound further, we asked if these were the semi-finals for the World Cup.  "Uhhh, non..."  These were the semi-finals for the European league, nothing to do with the World Cup.

I think you are getting the picture...we were not good lightening rods for the electricity.  Not only are we ignorant of the game, the teams, the global interest, but we are in a town where people must watch the games at home instead of the local Bar du Sports.

We guzzled the last of our beer as the whistle blew for half-time. The bar owner turned off the lights (the only electricity we could report experiencing) and we went home.  I don't know who won the game and who will advance in the Europa finals, but I do know that the team from Lyon is blue and the team from Bayern (which is Bavaria) is red.

In the dark, but under Blue Skies!