World Cup Special edition

0:00 Good. Welcome back to record of my father. Today, we're going to be talking about his experience at the World Cup and what that was like for him and I think it was his first World Cup. I'm pretty sure pretty, pretty sure, pretty close to sure about that. But uh, how is, how was your experience over there and caught her? Oh, to meet it actually to be there. Yeah, I I've actually seen them before Have you been to another world cup? No, I've never. I've been to like world soccer game. In Spain. We saw Barca. You were there actually. Are you mean like a soccer game in the world? And I was football. It's not soccer. Stop that are right? Yeah, but we saw messy play. Yeah, we didn't remember that campaign knew when he was still there on the border came that was really, I was crazy. But anyway, that we were asking if I've ever been before, no, I've been in other countries and watched when the world a cup was happening, we were in Tokyo with the last World Cup and we watched Japan play.

0:58 I forget who they played, and it was just, it just the feel of the Countryman because when he was in Serbia, I can't remember. I don't remember getting this is like four years ago where they were talking about, didn't want to know this is when we climbed Mount Fuji, but Loose could I went there and we actually went to a bar when the world goes playing in. Japan was playing and it was just so cool because it really got me. Sense of feel that if you really want to feel like country them or whatever you want to call it football. And let me say football, I mean the football is just the come together. Anise is like nothing I've ever seen camaraderie.

1:39 Yeah, we feel, we feel it here because for our sports, like, for football, for baseball for for all the different things that basketball for measurement system, too. But but all three of Those things take a lot of money, skiing all that stuff takes money, a court, a place. It's not an expensive to to, to do, what I mean. I understand basketball, you know who peed ball? Well with football. You only need a little round ball that you throw into a field kids kick it around. And I mean, that's why you have a country. Like Uruguay that has her Guai. Sorry has a few million people and they won multiple world. Pop's because when we met, we met a couple urgh, why ins there?

2:29 And we went to a match at the world cup with Uruguay playing and they play Portugal. And I think it was I think Portugal be Dome one-nil. I think that was the ultimate score. I don't remember play. So it was to hang out with them, was to it du listen to the stories and that, you know, when you're, you know, when you're Or when you're not even in elementary school, you want to be a football player, you want to grow up and you want to be that. Not like and I'm sure that here you know, meet you say well people want to be a basketball player, they want to be a football player baseball player, but all that it seems like that's such a broader Choice, whereas in very small countries, you know, footballs it that's it and every Everybody Plays and even Even your parents have played at some point all the way through every single person.

3:27 I mean, it's kind of, like, you think about Texas in Friday Night, Football everybody plays football. Well, the rest of the world football is Art what we call soccer. But it's everybody, that's it. That's this, it's a World sport. Football is not a World sport. Basketball is not a World sport, best balls. Baseball's kind of a little. Well, not really. It means playing a couple of Nations Mexico, and Japan. Yeah. When you start to look at the little Nations, the little nations compete with football. That's what they do. That's it. That's where that's where Brazil comes in. They don't play bait, they may play baseball, they may be I don't think they put a not to the degree or saying what they play for the MLB, that's what they do.

4:11 And that's when you look at this nation, after Nation, after nation and we're like sort of the odd country out then that we kind of like look back and go. Oh wow. This is weird. Why you're bad at it? Maybe I don't know very well. I think. Medical exam. It's never been a priority. However, this this time around, even though we didn't Advance, we have a really young team and they did really, really, really loose do. Yeah, I do. But the trip was, the trip, was amazing. I was there's a lot of trepidation going into it. I mean my it's because of you heard all the print, excuse me, you heard all the Pressed where Qatar was going?

4:53 Birra very restrictive and then they had the no alcohol policies which of course didn't apply to us. Because we were on this boat MSC / celje where they had 12 bars and you could drink 24/7. So it didn't really matter. Even in the waters though because international waters are eight miles out. So it's going to be interesting or just docked and they had bars and no one was saying anything in there, wasn't a big deal and, you know, and we didn't, he's really interested in the u.s. one when they beat her on. We went to the England, Wales came Right. Which the English were? They were not nice. They were not very good. The, the nice as in the fans are like good this morning. I mean, the beginning of every football game. Each side's national anthem gets sang. Yeah, right.

5:40 Like you seeing my cousin, whatever our national anthem and then sent them to, you know, you seeing Uruguay's Portugal's, Canada's Morocco's, whatever the case may be, well, they sing England's. And then they start singing way. Whales in the English. There's so many English there. They drowned out the Wales National Anthem with their national anthem. Again, that's crazy. Now that's shitty. That's not crazy. That's crazy. I don't know. I've never seen it. And the funny thing is we had people next to us to turn and look to us and say, man, can you imagine if they had alcohol? That would have been bad. Yeah, really bad. But they crushed and they crushed Wells. They you know, and Wales is sort of not not not a top-notch team anyway but they it was it was really neat to see it and to get the feel But also to see like the stadium was probably 70 80 % filled with English and the whales were they were all in read the English were white, I think, white and blue. So it was very obvious and you can see the little pockets of red and then a little pocket.

6:51 The red. Never stood up. Never scream, never yell because nothing ever. I mean, they really didn't. They were just, they were taken to the Woodshed the whole time. It was so sad. Yeah it was it was it was a pretty sad match, you know unlike many of the others like Spain. And Germany was probably, I would say the best game we watched back and forth very, very tough Germany's. Like I had team though, Germany's really good, they're really good with the rolled. They've won like three formed out really well. Yeah. So what's the the ultimate game coming up here? Let's I think you'll admit coming up is isn't Argentina, and Croatia in Croatia was never.

7:32 Back to go this far. That's the next one. That's crazy. I didn't even know Croatia. Was that good? It's to be determined from a little lot of them. A lot of them have come a long, you know, when you start to look at these, like Japan has a younger team. Yeah, the US has a younger team. Yeah, Morocco did amazing. Has done amazing. Were they knocked out? Weren't they walked out the other day? So right now we're looking at semi-finals or France Morocco. Yeah, Argentina in Croatia is most of the for you. Yeah. So of those, you they will each play each other. Yeah. And then the two losers will play for third place. Yeah, which is kind of interesting that they would have the two losers play for third place. And then the two winners will play for first and second. So it's kind of like a very, very I mean the the feeling I think you really have to couch it like, when we were going to Qatar, Qatar really can't pronounce very well. Can't pronounce it on two things. Well, it caught our, I mean, they always say they're caught are they said, Cotter, they say Kotter, but it's cut our and it's ours.

8:38 Kind of more the closest you're not emphasized. Anyway, What were the the stadiums? Like, there's five. Yeah. Well, no, there were seven total. I believe that's correct. I went to five. I went to al-bayt lusail. I'm in Ben. Ali Stadium Alpha mama and Khalifa International. I went to those and they put these together, I think winter, they get it in 2012, so they put them together in a decade when you see these. It's, I mean, they have cloth. Wrapped around one of them on the outside and they're just, what color, really gorgeous. The first one we went to had 60,000 people in it. The second one had, 88,000 people in it. I mean they were filled to capacity, the crowds were incredible but but but before we get into it too deep, what I want to talk about and I thought was more sort of the play, was it?

9:45 Before we went there we've been wanting. I want to go to World Cup for a long time and I kind of book this a year ago and I never even thought about the whole wow they suck at Human Rights their shitty to the workers. They do all it never even crossed my but as it got after we purchased the tickets did all the stuff. It was a whole lot of what he call at issues that we had to jump through to get there and and like What? Well, you know that we the booking of the trip was you know the wasn't nightmare, right? Yeah. We had a lot of name changes in a lot of issues with the tickets and that issue with the burst. And then they matched me with, I went with a cup another couple and they had me staying in a cabin with his wife and him stand in my cabin, my wife, which, you know, I mean, hey, I didn't care.

10:37 But that that wasn't gonna fly. And also like planes, there was all sorts of Wiggly stuff that it was the name thing. That was the biggest issue. I remember the, what the name is. Oh, yeah. The name thing name, still has like four months to resolve. That was, there was a lot, a lot of picky stuff there, but then, as we got closer and closer, then you start to see all this press that, there are oppressing people, they're horrible, and it's like, well, they've been doing that forever, you know? And if we really want to go into depression, you can sort of start to look at the different countries and how they differ oppress different people. And, you know, is there a Western Media. Yeah, it's tonight. Well, I mean, they're ones that have looser rules when it comes to control over women and it'd be like, it became very, it was very clear that that that they treat women very differently and that you need to dress appropriately, to respect the culture, respect the rules, and we can argue that.

11:41 It's not really culture. It's basically just Sort of religious entrapment, almost interpretation interpretation. Right? So it's not really even it's, it doesn't say that you have to have your head covered. It doesn't say that in its interpreted, right? Exactly. It's an interpretation and, you know, we can argue and well, no, we don't need to argue because there's no one here to argue. No, no. There's no argument at all. Yeah. And I didn't care and and but we went there with the idea that as is, we started getting closer and closer people started saying, oh, and then they change the beer. Right. Three days before that you're not going to have alcohol and I didn't care. And Budweiser ended up saying we're going to give all the beer that we were going to send the World Cup to the winning country. Did you see them?

12:24 It's crazy. Yeah, but I mean they still had all the fifo places, they hold these file FIFA, I like five know, I like finding a better anyway. They had all these different play event areas that you could go to where they had representations from all the different countries and they serve beer. But Very slowly. We're at, like, in the boats and where, we know, but throughout the city, they had multiple drills places, venues where they had and also, they just had venue set up all over like a park, they'd have a, you know, a 60-foot by 25-foot screen where you could just stop and you see a huge group of people watching the game and when I say huge group I'm saying 1,000 you know it wasn't it wasn't like 10 and also they just set out chairs. This was all over the city and it was just like large, speakeasies what came out will, but there was no beer there. There was no, no.

13:22 You just said there was. There was in the actual. I mean, they have certain, Like, official places where they had it all caged off and you had to go in with an ID. And yeah, and they are, they had the vendors at serve beer and it was so they actually had that one. Yeah. And it was restrictive and stuff like that. No, it was no alcohol in stadiums in the state. I thought it was you could only buy fake beer in the stadium. So that was, that was the big deal. Your Heineken 00. Yeah. But we didn't drink in the Stadium's. Anyway, we probably would have been nice to have a beer in the stadium, but you know, who wants to wait in the wines anyway and I wasn't there to drink beer. I was there to actually see the games and now, and it was just, they were so exciting. The stadiums were so cool.

14:06 The, the expectation that they would come down on you for how you dressed with your shoulders showing or you didn't have your head cover. None of that. It happened. We went through the middle of, there's a place called the Cornish, we went there, which is like abs are area where there's tons and tons of shops there. There were, there were hundreds, maybe thousands of Caucasian individuals and Asian individuals that and I would say Far Eastern, not like Middle Eastern, they didn't have headdress didn't have their arms covered. Didn't, I mean, they they dressed in any of the people you were. With really wear burqas are no, not really. Okay.

14:47 No I Jeeps none. Well it's like under that police that many people like I do. That's what that's what my buddy said, Jim said. He said he said there's 2.3 2.8 million people in this country and there's probably two million people going to show up. It's just the numbers, don't make seven possible way and I'm like, well I you know me I've got the biggest mouth of anybody in a room. So I'm the one going to jail. That's he's like damn yeah, that's why I know I'm not. But anyway, you know and you look at that but I thought it would be much more restrictive. I thought they would be a lot more, but they were not. They were incredibly nice and we went to show after show I mean event her match after match. I remember I got in through the quickie line because there's like, they call it the, what is it in fast fast like Disney World?

15:40 It was kind of like that, but it was for people that were what do you call? Elites or something like that? Yeah, they had the quickie pass or whatever it was and it was, and it was like you had to go through this long snaky line and then you had a straight shot through. And I just walked by and the guy looks at me and goes, oh, and he points and goes and I said, hey, is this, can I get in here? And he goes oh sure. And I thought like the first time I went through that they're being it was nice and I said and I was pushing the wife and everybody else. Like you got to ask you don't ask you get nothing. Yeah you know they like let We go through and they all smiled. And I said, hi, and I shook hands with everybody. And was just, you know, we were really gregarious Lee happy with everyone and and this happened three different times second time. They didn't.

16:26 Let me go through. They said go get in line tubby, you know, they didn't see tubby because if the managers looking. Yeah. But this is the third time he did. And then the guy said it and this is when it was funny and he looks over it like Jim and he goes it's because he's old. Whoa, and I was like, holy shit. I got in because I have gray hair. There was like this, they had no one waiting. They saw me walking with my silver hair and said old guy, he shouldn't wait in line and they let me go. Wow, and that's why they were do.

17:06 I didn't? I thought it was because like, well, I tricked, I was aggressive and being all this and going to ask and I was always nice. Anyway but it wasn't. It was because I was gray. Yeah, I was like wow. You're approaching 85 or something? Yeah, one way or the other get in there, get in there. Why? That's crazy though? Yeah, it's funny, well, it's sort of a lot of countries though, which shows you, they treat people that have aged with respect, no matter where you're from. So you look at Japan that to? Yeah, man is the same way. Yeah, well, we saw the Japan, Jack Japan. Game. We saw that we saw Japan who was a Japan Spain play.

17:48 Oh, that was an amazing game. Well, there was a questionable call. We're Japan 121 was like the lion, right? Yeah, it looks vaguely looked out for me, but I didn't call it and a piece of the ball was in and that's the way they measure. It's not like all of its out, all that has to be in. It's a little different and football than it is in our football or our soccer. Yeah, anyway, we were there with a couple that we met. And they were, they were wearing Japanese shirts. They had, you know, they were Japan and then I was like, oh, so you're from Japan. They're looking at me go. No, no, we're we just support Japan. Were from Singapore. And yeah. And then we talked to them for a while and they were like I mean I actually we exchanged photos and all this kind of stuff.

18:32 I've met a lot of people from a lot of different places. Did you get a contact info for the future of it? And they actually and they said and I goaded him into saying they should come to the games and all this the The in the US and that we would we be nice to them to. But they are the ones that showed us how we went from one game to the next. We went, we were Canada, Morocco. And we were there and they told us that there was a bus between that stayed even the other Stadium because that was like Alpha Mama Altima its Alpha mama, I think and to Khalifa International Stadium, there was a bus between the two. The worst thing there was traffic traffic because so many rows were shut down. The road, probably are the, the town, or the city really.

19:13 Wasn't ready. The country note was already. This the thing is they were ready for the way that they directed traffic was they shut down a lot of roads out of make it and they push traffic in certain ways and then if they're became a line on an off ramp, they closed it. Why would they close it? They closed it. And told you to go to the next off-ramp to turn around and sure. And that that one got too busy. They closed it. And told you to go to the toilet where the the so it never got busy. So then, They would open up the first one again at 0. And so, it was very much like, it wouldn't run out into traffic and stop the Mage, the whole road, because if everybody had to get off at the first exit, yeah, like it happens around here on 495 people. First they first they stop.

20:00 And they back up that one exit, they back up the first the slow lane, because they're all cutting over. And then the people back up the lane next to the slow lane because they're trying to cut in front of the people and slowly and you get off and then they end in slowly backs up all the They wouldn't let that happen. Very very quickly. You know, it was really really well run that's fantastic. Lot of security was it just like big highways like 495 or was it more like like roads like town roads? Or I say not it more like 395 more like two or three roads. Not we were always on three Road or to road going to and from the stadium Stadium. It was a six-lane highways weíre talking about. Yeah.

20:46 Okay, the stereo stadiums were there were two. There were four and six Lane. None were just too. So kind of like an Autobahn her, right? And you were, we were probably anywhere from the closest stadium was 40 minutes away. Before others was about, 60 minutes away. Sorry, that you are so. So we were on a boat on the, I guess the Persian Gulf and the we went to Five different games. They were, you know, they were scattered around. I was shocked by how, how far away they were. And, and the thing that was so amazing was the look of each stadium was just wow.

21:27 And people talked about I'm not being done and I didn't see that I didn't see that in any of the stadiums. Everybody without exception was well I mean besides the English being crappy to the whales but that may just be that's the sport. Certain amount people were just that civilian Philadelphia Philly, anywhere. People were really good to each other. That's what I was a really interesting thing, no matter who they were, no matter what they were, we went to museums afterward and people were really nice to us. and we went to just simple things, you go to get a table when someone else is going for the same table and they turn and tell you to take the table, And then you're like, no, no you were here first and then they just go. No.

22:16 And then they walk away. You like. Okay you I can't say no. Again. And then he went around and I think he was, he was from Cotter, he was a local I because he was dressed in the full. I go to the garbage. Yeah. The big, the white from, you know, floor to ceiling with the headscarf the whole thing. But we visit a lot of places after we went to the Museum of Islamic Art, we went to the copter National Museum, which I would say that I've been to Museums all over the world, a lot of beautiful museums and this one has to be definitely in the top 10, really?

23:01 It was like, I was, I was shocked, by the way, that it sort of brings you in, it was civilization first started. I realized. It was just literally, they talked about, they had one on Mongolian the Mongols because is about, because here we have our own history and his Middle Eastern. Right? Yeah. But it was not necessarily me. Police turn. It was about all the peoples, there were all related or going to York. So they had the Ottoman Empire. They had all sorts of different things and you saw it and as you and it's sort of a was very, very it walked you through the museum, medium one section at a time and it was just very neat. It was just like nothing I'd ever seen well, and I just thought, wow.

23:47 This just the, did you see the new water park being built? No, I didn't see that. Have you? In the new water park being built. Now, maybe that'll be the thumbnail for this, but it is like nine slides together, like swooping throughout each other. It's kind of like the one in China that they built five years ago, big. Oh, my water park data, and there is a slide in China, that is a gyroscope and constantly moving and when you go through it, this slide shift a shift in. Oh my gosh. So like when you're going through, The shift into the other tube. Wow, that's crazy. Yeah. Well I mean, I look at this and I went into this and I was worried and I started getting more and more worried and then I came out like after the Iran, u.s., when I expected some turbulence there, nothing we were on the boat and the place went crazy. We were up till 4:00 in the morning, morning celebrating the group eyes with stayed up.

24:52 Until the following morning, partying, and took sunset rise with beers and all that kind of stuff like that. So, that was crazy. But I mean, Iran was, they were wonderful. I mean, they they protested their countries restrictions on women, just like we would portray, you know, protest things that happen in our country. So it was just like very it was very neat to see this and understand this. I didn't I wasn't at that. That match. But I was at the party afterward. The after party is amazing. This is amazing. Did your your cohort go? No, no, no, no. We met people from upstairs at the top on the top of the boat from Kentucky, from Chicago from Idaho.

25:42 A lot of different people from all over the US that went to that game Idaho. Yeah and I was just like really what the hell you doing here? And it's like, it's the World Cup. And I mean And then you start to see it, it's kind of your senses. Well yeah. And I mean I think that overall when I when I look at this, this experience we traveled in, we stopped the de Barcelona on the way and out and we ended up going through Frankford which is what a pain in the ass but that's another story. But that's what travels all about. Coming back. We stayed in Barcelona. We were near the So I can't remember. It's the museum that kind of looks like Salvador Dali, but MacBook, there's a The Argosy one of the Gracia August, Sophia.

26:30 I guess if you know, right now that's on the different gun for. No, no your, you know. But anyway, we I mean, or is that I have to say wisdom, if I was, if I look at this to go to cut our again, I missed things I missed. I didn't go into the desert and do do the desert and camel. Ride and watch the sunset and sunrise. And the desert? No water, slide together. Like, I would do that. The water slide is something that yeah. Okay, we could do that. But for me, I didn't see much of the countryside other than the driving to, and from the different stadiums and stuff like that, we went to the place. That was the Pearl, which is like this really for a food tour, that was a really cool.

27:12 It's really Ultra crazy over-the-top but very, very neat. And So I mean in the end I got to say that it was a wonderful experience and if they do the Olympics there, I'd be very interested in going back and I have to say the World Cup was a great thing. So on that note I'm going to say good night Jack and I'm going to have to say goodnight mr. Phil it was a great time. Cheers. Bye.