Eve of the African Cup of Nations.

In the process of getting amped for the African Cup of Nations, starting tomorrow with Ghana v. Guinea, I watched most of the first half of an Argentinean match between Boca Juniors and San Lorenzo.

Despite not having any idea which team was which until a process of elimination based on uniform and crests colors, I found particular elements intriguing. First, I love when a game is being presented in a language I'm not familiar with (anything other than English, of which I have a remedial understanding), it creates a greater sense of meaning to the words I actually do understand when they're spoken or pop up on the screen. Occasionally it's the name of a player I've heard of, but since there weren't any playing in this game it was mostly coming from the banner ads that line the pitch, in this case the blinking "No Crack" followed by a similarly flashing "Megaflex." Apart, I can make sense of these words, the need to stay off the crack being the basis for most of the hilarious comedic routines I'm aware of and Megaflex sounds a lot like a home workout machine. Together, they make little sense to me, the American viewer, and I considered a few possibilities, namely whether it was possible that there was a serious enough crack problem in Argentina that, perhaps, Megaflex was some sort of patch, gum, or methadone-like substance for easing the physical withdrawal associated with laying off any drug one has become accustomed to. The widespread usage of crack down in Southern South America way would explain why my girlfriend's grandmother is so adamantly against her dating an Argentinean, but if I'm being honest with myself, this is all unlikely, and it's probably just some sort of cure-all elixir to be rubbed on the skin of broken joints not yet passed by the fools, criminals, money-grubbing capitalists and the socialists in the FDA.

Also, apparently San Lorenzo is sponsored by Wal-Mart, likely putting out a lot of mom and pop crack stores with the low margin they're able to apply to their bulk product. Jerks.

I stopped watching after the first half in order to catch the Houston v. San Antonio NBA game, so I didn't see who won, and surprisingly, through all of my searching online after the fact, I can't find any evidence that the game was actually played. It's possible it was a match in the Torneo de Verano, but I'm not sure. Whatever it was, I should be able to find scores from the African Cup of Nations after the fact, and even more excitingly, I think I'll be able to watch a number of the games. Starting tomorrow, six of the first twelve matches will be played when I'm not in class and hopefully I'll be able to catch a few of the rest on replay. I haven't decided which team I'm rooting for, outside of knowing random English Premier League stars like Toure, Drogba, Martins, etc., I don't have any knowledge of how these teams will play, so I'm going to wait until the style of a couple of the sides strikes me before picking an allegiance.

Starting tomorrow, I'm going to try writing about the matches, which should be interesting (to me only, which should be obvious for a multitude of reasons I have little desire to describe, other than this:) because I have no real concept of how to write about soccer. The knowledge I have of the game has come from watching a few games, listening to podcasts, and playing FIFA, despite knowing that Pro is better, more realistic soccer.

Twelve hours and counting, I'm pumped and jacked.