Amazing Last 2 Days!

Hi everyone!

WOW! Wow, wow, wow! The last 2 days in London have been absolutely incredible, as I have been a full participant in the Olympic experience, proudly cheering on team USA. It is so cool to see such a mix of nations, languages and cultures, all brought together by a common love of sport and national pride. Such a blessing to be here!

It started last night, as I had tickets to see 4 beach volleyball matches, 2 of which had USA teams in them. The matches were at Horse Guards Parade, and I have never seen such a neat venue in my life. It is literally a beach volleyball court smack dab in the heart of London. As I looked out from my seats, the backdrop for the court is the Parliament building, with the London Eye in the background, and Big Ben off to my right. At certain angles, you could catch glimpses of Westminster Abbey too. A side story of the night that was cool was that the Mayor of London commissioned a painting of the venue, so as we sat in the crowd, we could see a painter on top of the Parliament building looking out over us painting - pretty cool!

All four matches were great, but specifically those with the Americans in them. The second match had the US tandem of Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal, however they went down in two sets to a team from Poland. It was funny because anyone in the area who wasn't from the states was rooting for Poland. It seems that nobody wants the American's to win! I'm fine with it....that's what happens when you win as much as we do :)

The final match of the night was the one I was most excited for, as Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh were playing. It was a cold night, and the match didn't start until almost 11:20, so a good amount of fans had left, but nonetheless it was amazing. They are so incredibly skilled, and even at an age that many would consider to be out of their prime, the tandem continues to dominate. They won in 2 sets, and I started a huge USA chant on match point that echoed throught the stands as they put the match away. It was a perfect way to cap an amazing night.

My good friend Emi, who went with me to the matches

May-Treanor and Walsh on the court

Just a few hours ago, I returned from Manchester where I watched the USA Women's Soccer team defeat North Korea 1-0. We had AMAZING seats, just about 10 rows up, dead center of the field. It was by far one of the most amazing sporting experiences in my life. There was a group of 8 of us at the game, and we all had flags, hair color and face paint as we got loud and rowdy for the game. It was pretty funny, as people were taking pictures with us because we were so crazy about the USA. During the game, we jumped  up at every potential chance, and started chants left and right. Our group had so much energy that it made the game a really neat atmosphere. Funny enough, we were sitting by many of the families of the players, because after the game they walked over towards our seats and hugged them. We only scored once, when we should have scored easily four times, but I'll take the win.

During the game, at a quiet point, one of my friends shouted at Abby Wambach, telling her he loved her, and we all saw her say I love you too, which caused everyone around to break out in laughter. After the game, when the players waved at our stands and came over to their families, I was able to high-five Christie Rampone, captain of the US team. I join millions of other men around the world when I say that I think Alex Morgan is absolutely stunning, and she and Hope Solo both looked right at me and waved, which I got a kick out of. All and all, it was such an amazing experience with 7 of my closest friends on the trip. In fact, we had such a great time that we bought tickets for the semi-final match on the way home from the game. Should the US and Brazil both advance, they would meet each other in that semi-final, a rematch of the World Cup semi-final game that was highly-dramatic. Unfortunately, I have Men's volleyball tickets for that same night, so I am going to have to make a decision on that one. I would say I am pretty lucky to be deciding between those two things though.

The group with English fans before the match

Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan on the field

I decided to call my mom after the game and tell her to watch tonight to see if we would be on TV, and oddly enough, she told me she had already seen a picture of me at the game! As the story goes, a family friend of ours was watching the game live on Direct TV, she saw me in the crowd, and took a picture of the screen and sent it to my mom along with a 30 second video clip that I included. I was so happy that she spotted me and sent the video to my mom! I now have my five seconds of fame, looking like a completely crazy American.....although that statement isn't too far from the truth. :)

The last two days have been so incredibly amazing, and I cannot wait for the rest of my trip. I have officially hit one week to go, and while I am excited to get back to Tucson, I am going to soak up as much of London as I can in the next week.

Cheers,

Ben