Owlspotting

I just saw my Steaua clobbered by Middlesbrough in the semifinal (Final Four) of the UEFA Cup and I’m pissed. I skipped work, drank vodka by myself in a DC dive that broacast the game and actually paid $5 to see 11 idiots huddle and tremble in their own penalty area like lost sheep. Steaua lost 4-2 after leading 2-1 at half-time. They had won 1-0 last week in Bucharest.

So, how do you define an idiot? An idiot is part of a team that allows three goals in one half. This idiot can often be found playing for a Romanian soccer team if not the national squad itself.

I know — I’m angry and I’m using hyperbole. But I earned my right to do both by having to watch this game.

It’s been three years since I’ve seen Steaua play a game from start to finish. When I left Romania in 2003 they’ve had a consistent record of blowing games at the European cup level. This season was different — something came over Romanian soccer and we had two teams in the final eight. Steaua itself came 45 minutes away from the final and then… as on command, they remembered their past 10 years of sucking.

They rushed back to their own half, waited there like sheep on crack and allowed the English to pummel them.

I guess I wanted to post something because apart from my anger at the way Steaua played, I’m trying to anticipate the anger that overwhelms me after soccer apologists in my country take the mic. These people usually say the grass was wet, the referee was against us, key players were injured or the beds in Steaua’s hotel were too soft. There is no one else to blame but the 11 terrified sheep that were on the field that second half and the coaches who thought that was a smart strategy. You can’t blame anyone when you lose a semifinal after being 3-0 up.

I knew there was a reason I switched to watching American football. No matter how many games the Redskins lost in the final minutes (and they lost a bunch last season) I was never as emotionally invested as to yell my heart out in anger.