Here’s some random thoughts from last week when I was sick:
- Wednesday night I got to watch the US women’s soccer team play Germany in the final of the Algarve Cup. The US dominated the game, but couldn’t put a ball in the net, and ended up losing 4-3 in a shootout. It reminded me of the time when me and some friends decided to become women’s soccer fans for the 1999 Women’s World Cup. A few of us painted our faces for the final (USA vs. China), dug out our American flags, and walked through west philly to someone’s house who had a big screen tv. I remember Bill Clinton being interviewed during half-time talking about how great the world cup is for women’s sports and how it was great that 1 billion Chinese people were watching the event unfold. We laughed about that for a long time. The US won on a penalty kick by Brandi Chastain who proceeded to tear off her jersey and launch a heated debate and commercial campaign about sports bras.
- While I was sick, I took to walking around the apartment wearing my green and gray plaid Martha Stewart fleece blanket like a cape. My roommate said I looked like a monk, and then I started wearing it over my head as well. Say what you will about Martha Stewart, but the woman can make a nice fleece blanket. Or at least some Indonesian kids in sweatshop can make a nice fleece blanket with her name on it.
- March Madness on Demand is the greatest thing ever. I got to watch my beloved Penn Quakers take on the mighty Texas Longhorns Friday morning. It actually turned out to be a really good game, as Penn clamped down hard on defense. Maybe you didn’t notice, but Penn point guard Ibrahim Jaaber hit a nice bank 3 pointer towards the end of the game. Maybe that doesn’t mean anything to you, but you should know that the bank 3 was perfected at Penn by a group of intramural basketball players known as WonderBread. WonderBread was quite possibly the greatest intramural basketball team…ever. By our second season we hit at least one bank 3 per game. One time we even hit four in the same game. Four bank 3’s! It was amazing. It’s great to see that the legacy of the bank 3 lives on at Penn.