Thursday, June 15, 2006

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!

Univision is the shit. (Hence the Spanish spelling above.)

Like many Americans, I get into soccer once every four years. And I just find the World Cup fascinating. I think my favorite part is how into it the fans get - the chants, the songs, the cheers. Their excitement gets me excited.

The crappy apartment I'm getting kicked out of has pirated cable. The super basically rigged up the channels he wanted to get. So we've got Cinemax and The Movie Channel (for his softcore porn needs, I suppose) but no ESPN or Comedy Central, two channels essential to my health and well-being. The World Cup is being shown, for the most part, on ESPN2. So I thought I was out of luck. Which brings me to Univision.

Univision is one of two Spanish-language channels available in the US (Telemundo is the other), and they've got rights to World Cup games. So I spend my afternoons watching soccer announced in a language I can't understand. You can kind of get the gist of it by listening to the tone of voice of the announcers, so that helps (and here I must admit that I have a fantasy that after several days of immersion that I will be able to speak perfect Spanish), and you certainly know when a goal has been scored, because all of the announcers have these spectacular calls that last around a minute. You've really got to check it out. Trust me, you'll love it.

7 comments:

Melissa said...

Remember when Mme. Dellsandro showed us the Simpsons episode where Bart participates in a foreign exchange program but gets sent to a farm where he's made to work the whole time and sleep in a barn... he laments his situation but then realizes he's complaining en francais? I had a constant dream when I was in Miami that just being there would make me speak Spanish. Didn't work. Maybe you'll have better luck.

Bright-Eyes said...

You know what else helps with understanding a game that you are watching in another language???...

Watching the game...sometimes you can see what is going on.

Marj said...

NICE!

I work for a company that's obsessed about futbol, and we hear the cheers all throughout the day.

Let's hear it for Univision!

Well it sure does beat watching El Amor...

~wyn :P

The Rover said...

B-E, you should know by now that I'm a multitasker...unless the Steelers are playing, I'm usually cooking or on the computer or something while watching TV.

M, for the last four days I keep thinking about Bart making the switch to French: "I've been in this whole country for a whole deux mois!" That's funny.

Anonymous said...

nothing like being in mexico during the world cup...wow...they really like futbol!!

L. Britt said...

You know the guy who made that famous died earlier this spring...sadness.

The Rover said...

Really? I kept listening for that guy...maybe that's why everyone else is doing it...