World Cup Fever

I played soccer beginning in the 2nd grade and played 4 years of varsity high school "futbol." I never did, however, become much of a fan of pro or World Cup futbol. Nevertheless I was sporting my yellow #9 Ronaldo Brasil jersey for my Wednesday weekly bike commute. My parents got it for me when they vacationed in Brasil a few years ago.

It actually is pretty good as a cycling jersey since it is close, if not identical, in hue to the hi-viz yellow many cyclists wear, anyway. This was not the first time I've ever worn the Brasil jersey for my bike commute. Even though I certainly chose to wear it consciously knowing the World Cup was underway, I didn't think much about it once I had it on.

So there I was not even a couple minutes into my commute and I encountered a Latino guy riding toward me on the sidewalk. I looked in his direction 1) because I had just seen another cyclist pulled over on the sidewalk changing his tire, and 2) because he was a "sidewalk salmon," a common variety of the bike salmon. The guy shot me a blank look and then yelled something unintelligible at me with, oddly, still no change in his expression. I was perplexed until my brain reprocessed what it had heard. I still don't know exactly what he said, but it definitely had "Brasil" in the middle. I then took a look down at my chest. Duh.

Brasil was still in the tournament when this happened. As you may know, in the time it took me to write this post, Brasil has since lost to the Netherlands in the quarterfinals.