The little things make the unfamiliar feel just like home. Today, I hardly left the house. Mexico routed France and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals.

The downside to an overwhelming passion for sports is the anxiety bouts present before every game I’m invested in. This month, my ability to withstand the turbulence is being put to the test with the World Cup and the NBA Finals. Yesterday, I couldn’t keep still. I paced, took deep breaths, zoned out and even took a sip of tequila before tip-off to “calm my nerves.” The outcome of the game was great, but this is my best representation of what I was like throughout the day.

Tomorrow it’s Mexico V France in Group A World Cup action. Later in the evening it’s Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Lakers and the Celtics. Wish me luck.

We were donning lucha libre masks when we arrived at the gates of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Ca. The security guard told us they were not allowed and we agreed to take them off. 90k fans had already made their way in, but a few thousand were still converging on the stadium after sitting in traffic for more than an hour. We’d missed the entire first half of the Mexico/New Zealand matchup, but the score was 0-0 so we hadn’t missed much. We grabbed a few quick tacos and made our way toward section 7-H row 39.

“Nadie puede ver, como creen que van a ver con esas mascaras?” “No one can see. How do you think you’ll see through those masks?”

The atmosphere was festive and tense. We finally approached our tunnel; the screams of almost one-hundred thousand boisterous soccer fans lured us to get closer. “Stay close, man. I can’t find my ticket”, said Osito. We were stuck behind hundreds of fans trying to find their seats for the second half. Finally the floodgates opened, Osito found his ticket and we made our way in only to find our seats were taken by a family who had their seats taken.

Security guards were called away from other pressing matters, I locked eyes on the field, people yelled at us to sit down, the family was angry but we finally made it to our seats. Another minute had passed and the crowds rose, Mexican player Javier Hernandez flew through the air and snapped his head against an on-coming volley. The place erupted.

The roar of 90K soccer fans cheering for their team is a sound to behold. Like a sonic boom, the flex in power of this sound is awesome. Good thing there isn’t a need to travel South of the border to hear this. The fans in LA are well equipped to create it.

La Liga: Ronaldo on target as Real edge thriller [via ESPN]
Image [via Canadian Press]
Video [via YouTube]

You know what happens when you suffer injuries but retain first-team status with your national squad? Sports critics jump on your ass like a dog on a chicken leg. Though, Nery Castillo wasn’t about to let reporters get the last word on his relatively sub-par performances over the last year. In fact, he’s out to disclose to everyone that Mexican reporters know absolutely nothing about the game of soccer…unless they’ve played first-team ball on a professional team.

That’s Nery above telling reporters that Brazilian media knows how to cover soccer, but Mexican reporters don’t have the knowledge to deduce good play from bad play. And seeing that Mexico is coming off of a USA romping, the national squad is a bit touchy heading into their clash with Costa Rica at the Azteca tomorrow. I would be too if my captain was suspended for two games. Rafa will be in Europe while everyone else is in ol’ Mexico. Right, Nery?

Mexico’s Eriksson faces a day of reckoning [via ESPN]
Video [via YouTube]

Liverpool Crush Villa [via ESPN Soccernet]
Video [via Sapo]
Image [via AFP/Getty]

The world’s richest man, Carlos Slim, and baseball’s $270million man, Alex Rodriguez, were united this weekend while promoting a new sports complex “in the poor suburb of Nezahualcoyotl.” While most pundits and gossip-wranglers couple the story with Madonna’s coincidental visit to Mexico City — an obvious goldmine of gossip lore — I wonder why no one has mentioned how this new complex might divert scenarios like this by providing children with a venue devoid of hustlers, pimps, drug-addicts and inhumane Narcos. Mexico is rapidly succumbing to a morbid, drug-war laden reality, and something remotely positive could be dealt with a bit more optimism.

Rodriguez, known by fans as “A-Rod,” was invited to inaugurate the sports center by Mexico’s richest man, Carlos Slim, whose Telmex Foundation sponsored its construction. The site includes two baseball diamonds and 25 soccer fields.

“It’s a pleasure to talk about baseball, to talk about the importance of keeping children off the streets, out of drugs and out of all the bad things that there are in this life,” the New York City-born Rodriguez said in Spanish.

It wasn’t immediately known if Rodriguez and Madonna met while in Mexico City.

I swear the world still cares about you, Mexico.

A-Rod in Mexico City on same weekend as Madonna [AP]
Killing of 5-Year-Old Kidnapped From Market Shocks Mexico [NY Times]
Image [AP]

Landon Donovan, however, is poised to accept any offer from the UK, Spain and Germany because most of his teammates work a second job to pay for their outstanding college debt and he’s not comfortable with that environment anymore.

“Now when I get home from training I’m thinking about, ‘How can I be good the next day?’ What do I need to do? I need to rest. I need to get fluids in me. I need to eat properly. I need to sleep well. Those things go in my mind, and I’m craving a situation where that’s [the same for] everybody.

“Nothing against our [Galaxy] guys, but in a lot of cases when you’re making $12,000 or $15,000 a year you’re worried about other things than getting up for training the next day, or getting ready for the game. That’s unfortunate, but that’s the way it is.

Only five players in Major League Soccer make over a million dollars a year, so it looks like Major League Soccer will suffer another major domestic loss. Maybe Beckham (and the Galaxy organization) should spread the wealth until the league achieves stability.