Sports Fans...in the Wrong Time Zone

As previously mentioned, I love autumn sports. Baseball World Series and American Football are two of my favorites. This year is special because Doug's favorite baseball Team, the Minnesota Twins pulled out the Central Division title in a one game 12 inning play-off game against Detroit. My California Angels won the West awhile ago. Now the Twins play the Yankees and the Angels play the Red Sox, teams we both hate. It would be awesome to have a repeat of 2002 when the Angels and the Twins went head to head for the American League Championship. That was the year the Angels went on to win their 1st World Series. I'd love to see a repeat, with the Angels man-handling the Twins again and going on to win it all! I have committed to my darling husband to cheer for the Twins if and only if the Angels are eliminated. He has not promised the same to me. He really has a hard time cheering for California teams. It is a source of contention in our household and makes me want the Angels to win even more!
This week was particularly thrilling sports-wise because the Minnesota Vikings were also featured on Monday Night Football in the US against the Green Bay Packers. This game is always big, but this year it was huge because the current quarterback for the Vikings is the former quarterback for Green Bay! It is quite difficult for Doug to see a former arch rival leading his team to victory, but the fact that the Vikes are 5-0 certainly helps.
One of the oddities of our life here is the fact that American sports are live during our night. More often than not we have to tape the games and watch them the next morning. It's pretty easy to avoid scores if you stay off the internet because I think we may be the only couple in the greater Stockholm area that actually cares about American Football and baseball! Now, getting a DVR (tivo in the States) has made a big difference. Push button recording, not messing around with video tape, etc. has ensured much more viewing pleasure. However, we still have a problem with not recording long enough. So, while watching the Monday Night Football game early Tuesday morning, I began to get concerned that the end of the game was going to cut off. Fortunately, the teams ran the ball a lot and the clock didn't stop as often and so it all worked out. But this morning, at 6.00 a.m. while up watching this incredible 12 inning baseball game, in the bottom of the 12th, with runners on 1st and 3rd, Twins up, getting ready to win the game and along with it the Central Division title and a trip to the post-season, the stupid recording ran out! We both moaned in despair and jumped on our computers to get the final score! Thank God for the internet...at least we can get the information and many times espn.com shows great highlights. Still...there's nothing like being totally engaged in a game, and having the recording shut off.
Such is the life of an American sports fan living in Europe. But at least in this day and age we can get coverage from the States and see a lot of the action that in the past we could only read about. After living here for 11 years, the American sports scene is still something I love to follow. I miss watching games live, with others around me who are equally interested. There is no banter in the office about the games. Perhaps that's why the household rivalry between the Twins fan and the Angel fan is still going strong!
It's likely we'll have some early mornings over the next several days as we each wake up thinking about how our team did the night before. Go Angels. Go Twins, until they meet the Angels. Then it's Go Angels all the way. This is, afterall, my blog and not my husband's.

October

I love October. It is one of my favorite months of the year. Why? My birthday is in October. The autumn color blazes away in October. The sports are awesome: Baseball World Series (and my favorite team, the California Angels, have made it to post-season play again. I know that's not their name anymore, but the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim is absurd. I'm sticking with California Angels), American football in full swing, and in my younger years, it meant volleyball season. I just love October. After a hot summer, the cool off feels good and it's fun to wear clothes with a cozy feeling. While I always mourn not being able to wear shorts anymore, I welcome the opportunity to don sweaters and fleece. I'm not a big fan of the hat and gloves scene so the real chill can hold off for a bit longer.Today was cold. We took Tanner for a walk in a nearby park and I had to wear a hat, gloves, and my warm jacket. But the color was so lovely. The sun was shining high in the sky which was a deep blue and the leaves were golden and red and beautiful. Tanner went swimming again. It made me shiver just watching him, but he loves swimming after a big stick.

We change the clocks at the end of October. That will be rude awakening as even now the afternoon light disappears rather quickly and the mornings are pretty dim. But for the next two weeks, the ivy will be red, the leaves will still hold on to the branches and I will enjoy the dazzling display of color and light that October brings. And, I'll be cheering for the Angels, hopefully, all month long.