Red Devils

Today is Korea's opening game in the World Cup. The Korean "Red Devils" are facing off against the football powerhouse of Togo. Anticipation has been building for weeks now and on the day of this storied match-up one question begs an answer: Where the hell is Togo?

It's on the Western coast of Africa apparently (and finding it on a map just now reminded me of the end of "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?". Remember that show? The giant map? I would have lost had I pulled the Africa map in the final round...). Anyway, Korea is facing off against Togo tonight. With Korea ranked #29 and Togo weighing in with a #61 seed, Korea is favored to win. Our next opponents of France (#8) and Switzerland (#35) should be much tougher opponents (rankings). But numbers shouldn't matter. This is a game of heart and passion and the Korean team has plenty of both. I'm assuming. I actually don't know the first thing about the Korean team. I know the coach is Dutch and we have one player who plays for Manchester United. Beyond that I don't know shit. I will venture a guess that 90% of our team is named either Kim, Park or Lee.

I say our team because I'm an American and don't follow soccer in the least. This, I think, allows me to support any team I damn well please. Korea is the easy choice though I will be keeping an eye on the Czech Republic, who today handed team America their ass in a 3-0 loss. I will be watching the games but more from a "I need an excuse to drink on a Wednesday night" than a "God I love this sport" kinda way. Tonight we're heading to the stadium across town to watch the game with a few thousand Korean fans. I just spent 2o minutes coloring the horns on my Viking hat red and we'll be waving flags, chanting in Korean, and cheering on team Korea. And drinking of course. We'll be drinking too.