Nervous?

Never!

Okay, well, maybe a little. Tomorrow's the Ghana game and everything comes down to the final games of the group. After the 3-0 loss to the Czechs, it's really all we can ask for that the US has a chance to advance to the next round. It's nice that this game not only means something, but means everything. Ghana's a tricky team to figure out. Like all African teams, you never know what you're going to get. They can overwhelm us physically or get completely smoked. Judging by our first two games, we're not much more consistent — hopefully the motivated team that showed up against Italy takes the field in Nuremberg. It's arguably the biggest game the US has ever played, as they need to keep the boost from everybody watching and getting into the Italy game going. I've tried to do my part by biting my tongue around Italian fans, fearing that laying into them will allow bad karma and they'll lose to the Czechs. If the US wins and the Italians lose, meaning the US goes home, will I hate anybody more than those flopping drama-queens?

Haven't had anything significant happen over the last few days, and Blogger won't let me upload any photos so you can't judge for yourself whether I've gained weight from a steady diet of sausage and beer (probably not) or see me flipping off the advertisement that has 5-6 Italian players in their Dolce & Gabbana underwear. Just trying to recooperate from the emotional exhaustion from Saturday night (believe me, it took a few days). The major battle has been against the heat. I can't stress how much I yearn for that Arizona dry heat. It was a scorcher today, complete with that good old East Coast humidity, but fortunately it started pouring after the Portugal-Mexico (speaking of Mexico, has anybody dragged their asses more in a weak first round group and still gotten through to the second round than them? And then they'll still get the seed for 2010. The Dutch are going to roll them, light them and smoke them in the next round, then take LaVolpe's post-game cigarette. I'm not bitter) game and hasn't stopped, meaning the air in our air condition-less apartment will finally be pleasant tonight. I swear Joe and Veronika are going to start World War III in the next month over whether or not the windows should be open or closed (Germans prefer stuffy. Insert WW2 joke here).

Tomorrow's day starts early with a train to Nuremberg. We'll meet Aaron, Miles and their crew there and US-Ghana's at 4. Then it's back to Munich, late night, hopefully with a smile on our face. I carbo-loaded and drank plenty of fluids (not just beer) so I'll be ready.

P.S. Does anybody else think Ozzie Guillen was really talking about Italian soccer players?