so this afternoon, i loaded up the text updated webpage for the USA/Spain soccer game. the way the US had been playing the last few weeks, and the fact that Spain had not lost in 3 years, made me think the US would be lucky to only lose by 2 goals. following soccer like i have the last couple of years, i know the US is not on par with the BEST TEAM ON THE PLANET. i’m guessing the players watched the pregame speech clip from Miracle or something.
i started reading the feed about the 20 minute mark in the game, and when the score updated to 1-0 USA, i had to read it a few times and refresh the page. the USA scored? they scored FIRST? what? after the first goal, i loaded up the text updates from the BBC. i scrolled back to see what they were saying, and i saw this quote from before the game that i thought was awesome:
Having been on the periphery of success for so long, Spain are now THE dominant force in world football. They are Euro 2008 champions, ranked number one on earth, haven’t been beaten in 35 games and have won their last 15 in a row. The perennial dark horses, Espana are now the hot favourites for next year’s World Cup. Faced with all of that, do USA give themselves a prayer of pulling off an enormous upset tonight? Of course they do. They’re Americans.
that’s right, because there is ALWAYS A CHANCE! the game got to halftime and it was still 1-0. i got to doing some other work, and kept an eye on the text updates. when the score changed to 2-0, i pounded my desk in amazement. how is this possible? how come no one else at work follows soccer? 2-0 on freaking Spain? this is Miracle on Ice stuff here! when full time was called, it was amazing. the US pulled the biggest upset in modern US soccer history. sure, they’ve beaten Mexico in Mexico, but Spain? SPAIN? Spain, the team loaded with players considered the best at their positions in the world, who were about to set a world record for consecutive victories as a national team? the same US team who were embarrassed last week against Italy and Brazil? INCREDIBLE!
i had seen a poll earlier this morning before the game asking “how much would it matter if the US beat Spain today?” 28% of the people on ESPN.com said “not at all”. hopefully after today some of them have changed their mind.
and then i came home and watched LSU handle Texas and win the CWS. while great, it was not as big a deal, because i guess i was expecting it, plus i’ve seen it 5 times before. 
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