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Remembering 9/11 on the 25th Anniversary
It’s been 25 years since 9/11. 2,977 people died that day, mostly American citizens. To put this into perspective, 2,404 Americans died at Pearl Harbor. This is not, “Some people did something.” Alan Jackson, a country singer, debuted Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning?) in November 2001 at the Country Music Association Awards.…
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It’s Mirinda’s Birthday Again
Today is Mirinda’s birthday. I am behind on the FIFA posts because my house decided to vomit all over my plans and budget and mood, which was already in the pits of hell. Mirinda is my daughter who passed away a day after she was born. I was think yesterday about how my sanctimonious mother-in-law…
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Things That Intrigue FIFA Visitors
I think one thing that has surprised me about the fans and visitors to the US during FIFA is their sheer delight in the littlest things that we take for granted. Yellow school buses: They spot one and act like they’ve just found the last unicorn. Bus drivers let them look at our yellow school…
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Yellow Cards, Red Cards, and Really Bad Acting Cards
I bought a subscription to something to watch the USA game against Bosnia/Herzegovina. Now I have to try and remember who I subscribed to so I can cancel it. It was the first full soccer game I’ve watched and it was good. I disagreed with some of the calls. That’s natural. Here’s my main take…
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Happy 250th USA!
I had planned on having this up earlier, but I got summoned to help a friend and then the kids went to the lake and I was babysitting Huskies. I don’t mind either. The dogs are always happy to see me and who doesn’t like to be loved? I want to start out by saying…
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American Food is a Hit
I couldn’t decide what to cover next. Since I’m playing catch up, I decided to give a recap of which teams have been eliminated and cover some of those before people forget about them and they shouldn’t be. Some of them were memorable in terms of fans. If you’re here for witty sports analysis, oh,…
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Norway Rows to the World Cup-FIFA
Norway hasn’t been to the World Cup for twenty-eight years. It’s been a year for miracles, it seems. They qualified for the finals in 1938, 1994, 1998, and 2026. Ironically, Italy was their nemesis prior to 2026. Their World Cup record prior to this year was:1938: 1 match – Loss to Italy (2-1 a.e.t.) 1994:…
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From Rodeo Roots to Soccer Obsession: An Unlikely Fan Story
I’m not an athletic person. As a kid I played basketball and baseball, and I still have the bat with my name engraved on it. These days it lives beside my bed—ready to “konk” anyone who wanders into my room unannounced. For three years I rode bareback bucking horses. I was the first woman to…
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Stevie
My little brother, Stevie Oversen, was born on June 28, 1954. He died just a few weeks shy of his sixth birthday on June 7. Probably of Reye’s Syndrome He had the flu and Mom had been shoving Pepto Bismol, aspirin, and 7-Up down him before he started throwing up blood and she rushed him…
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It Is Finished
I wrote this many years ago as a writing exercise on TheLitforum. The prompt was “Being a hero.” It’s a work of fiction, of course, but I wrote it to encourage students in my prison ministry. I hope I accomplished that. According to many who wrote back to me, it did. It Is Finished The…