hot--again

Urgh. It's back to hot again. I totally wanted to go swimming (or rather, I was desperate enough to consider walking my four kids to the pool and trying to watch them with half the town there, even though I can barely move), but son #1 had choir/recorder class and didn't get home until shortly after four. At which point this huge wind came up, doubling the trees over, and now there's thunder and the sky is black. And it's five pm and it's not going away. I hope this means it's going to cool down, but my kids are getting distressed at all the swimming plans that keep getting put off.

In anticipatory news, Germany plays Turkey tonight in the semifinals. Maybe I should make all the kids take a nap now. They're going to be popping out of bed with claims of  "I can't sleep" and "I just need a drink," anyway. I wish the game didn't start so late (8:45).

Random Fussball thoughts (skip if I'm boring you)

So it's 72 minutes and counting (a game is 90 minutes without the clock stopping except for a 15-min halftime, for those who don't know) in the semifinal between Germany and Turkey. I bet a lot of police are out for preventative measures tonight, in case drunk fans get out of hand. One of my Turkish neighbors in the US once jokingly told me that Germany is the biggest Turkish city outside Istanbul. Turks were the largest group of people to move in after WWII as guest workers, to rebuild the country. Turkish food is the Mexican cuisine of Germany. There are many people with strong ties to both countries. I've seen a lot of cars sporting both flags during this tournament. And now we're playing each other. We're 1-1. I'm sure we'll go into overtime.

Anyway, random comments. I'm sure edawn will point this out, but the German team sung their national anthem with much feeling. Nice to see. The German coach, Loew, is out of time out, but he still looks kind of sulky. The Turkish coach makes me think of a panther or something. He is entertaining to watch. Very expressive. He should be in a book.

The video link keeps going out. There are storms in Basel at the moment, apparently.

Okay, we're back. Soccer can be a dangerous sport. In the first half, two guys crashed heads and there was quite a bit of blood gushing from both.

TOR!!! (Excuse me--we just scored again. There go the fireworks. This game is much more exciting than some lately.)

Back to what everyone looks like--the Turkish fans are a sea of red. The Torwart--goalie--is a big guy, old (maybe in his 30s? he looks it, anyway), and looks like he is a pretty cool guy, sense of humor, etc. He's really good. In fact, he plays pretty much just like Lehmann, the German Torwart, who also is always everywhere, always catching that ball. They are both rather impressive; the most interesting goalies in the whole tournament, at least the ones I've seen.

I'm sure we've seen the Turkish governmental leaders, but I don't know what they look like so I can't recognize them. But all the German government is there. They are wearing business suits and clapping serenely. It's kind of funny in contrast to the face-painted fans of both nationalities in the crowd. But I guess they get paid to look dignified. Like I said, the Quidditch world cup sure makes a lot more sense after watching this.

I also notice there is a lot less dramatic rolling in agony on the field when the German team trips. Some of the games were really rather drama llama. The Turks aren't like this. They just roll over and keep going. Maybe the Germans don't want to look wimpy against them.

And the Turks also just scored another goal. Drat. 2-2, 5 minutes left. We'll be going into overtime on this one. The Turkish coaches are jumping up and down, and the coach just got bashed in the nose. Ah, there are the Turkish government people. The wife just leaped up and threw her arms around her husband. At least, I assume that's who they were.

Woohoo! In the very last minute, we score! 3-2, and as soon as the official clock stops (unless the Turks pull a miracle, which could happen), we win. A penalty shot, first, by Turkey. And it goes over the net.

We won! We're going to the finals!!!