The Journey Begins!

So, this is definitely not meant to be an exercise in vanity. One of my biggest regrets from my trip to the 2002 World Cup in Japorea was not keeping some sort of diary (another regret was not eating dog). Fortunately, Andy Gustafson did a great job of chronicalling the trip in his book: 23 Days in Korea. So, here is my attempt to make good on a promise I made to myself 4 years ago. The title of this post is really a misnomer - the Journey actually began in 2004 in Columbus, Ohio when we kicked off the qualification campaign with a 3-0 win over Grenada.

The matches I personally attended during the qualification campaign include:

• June '04 - Grenada (3-0) @ Columbus
• August '04 - Jamaica (1-1) @ Kingston
• September '04 - El Salvador (2-0) @ Foxboro
• October '04 - Panama (6-0) @ Washington, DC
• March '05 - Mexico (1-2) @ Mexico City
• April '05 - Guatemala (2-0) @ Birmingham
• June '05 - Costa Rica (3-0) @ Salt Lake City
• August '05 - Trinidad and Tobago (1-0) @ Hartford
• September '05 - Mexico (2-0) @ Columbus
• October '05 - Costa Rica (0-3) @ San Jose
• October '05 - Panama (2-0) @ Foxboro

I will continue to follow the US team through the group stage:

• June 12 - Gelsenkirchen - Czech Republic - 12 noon EST on espn2
• June 17 - Kaiserslautern - Italy - 3 pm EST on ABC
• June 22 - Nuremburg - Ghana - 10 am EST on ESPN

I will introduce the accompanying cast on this trip as they join me. As this is my first experience blogging (or publishing anything on the net for that matter), please forgive the technical difficulties that are sure to occur.

I am going to try and post as often as I can and hopefully I'll be able to upload pictures as well.

So here are my goals for this trip:

1. Gain fewer than 10 pounds
2. Do not excessively strain international relations (note: excessively)*
3. Survive
4. Party with as many people as possible
5. Experience as much culture as possible**

* Goal #2 does not apply to the French or the Mexicans (unless it's Salma Hayek).

** Bier Gardens and Red Light Districts are indeed culture.

So, here are some of my favorite pics from 2002:

The Red Sea in Daegu- Now that is passion!

My 2002 travel buddy - wish you and Jag could have made it.

Uh-Oh! I think I stole someone's sombrero!