Normally, waking up for a 7am kickoff is doable. However a recent addition to the bedroom has changed this. Simply put, temporary blinds are a huge upgrade in light-blocking over our previous window covering, a lavender bed sheet. We'll see how temporary they are.
I have, in the past, woken up far earlier to watch a match live. I've been at the pub at 5:30am before. But as TV coverage of the English Premier League has improved, it just isn't necessary for me to go anywhere. And as I've aged, even in just the past couple of years, sleep has increased in value tremendously.
Something is lost when watching a sporting event on DVR delay. Namely, the liveness. But for me, something about the nature of a soccer match makes doing so much more tolerable compared to other sports. Perhaps it's the lack of commercial breaks. I don't know, watching an NFL after it's already over seems weird to me. But with soccer, it's a more intimate presentation or something. I kind of feel like the match is being played just for me, even though that's patently ridiculous. What's the difference between watching at 7am or 9am? As long as I keep my phone turned off to avoid texts from east coasters and so I'm not tempted to look at Twitter or the internet, it's easy to create the illusion of liveness. It's live, if you believe it.
If the final match day had been Liverpool's victory lap, or if their odds of claiming the title were closer to realistic, I like to think I would have at least watched it live on my couch and maybe would have even gone to the pub to hug strangers. For Liverpool to be crowned champions for the first time since 1990, they needed to win (quite likely) and Manchester City needed to lose at home to West Ham (extremely unlikely).
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| 1990 was a long time ago |
But as it was, I watched Liverpool's match against Newcastle United about two and half hours behind real time. After falling behind to Martin Skrtel's fourth own goal of the season, the Reds equalized, then took the lead through nearly identical set pieces within two minutes of each other. And that's how the game and the season would end. City won at home like they were supposed to, and collected their second title in three years. How downtrodden must Manchester United supports be? Their two bitterest rivals finish first and second and United misses out on European qualification, while firing their manager in the process. :)
On the whole of it, this was an outstanding season for LFC. They qualified for next year's Champions League (their main goal), played some dazzling football at times, and catapulted themselves back into their rightful place as one of the biggest clubs in the world. And yet, the prevailing feeling among supporters (or at least this one) is one of disappointment in coming so close and falling just short. But the future is probably as bright as it's been for Liverpool since the salad days of the 1980's.
A Liverpool title occurring just weeks before the birth of my son certainly would have been special. I suppose the birth, on its own, still will be. But yes, we're getting close. The nursery is all set. Car seats are installed. Teeny tiny socks are washed and folded. I'm prepared for the stages of labor. I know how to perform CPR on an infant. And despite my earlier claim regarding the increased value I've come to place on sleep, I'm ready for a lack of it. I'm looking at is like an adventure. Cool stuff usually goes down in the middle of the night. I remember how exciting it was as a kid when we would all wake up super early for a road trip. So I'll just be doing that every single night, but instead of driving to New Jersey in the family minivan, I'll be delivering my son to the breast. That's fun!
Maybe the strange hours will allow (require?) me to watch more matches live come next season. I'll have to get him a Liverpool onesie.
