allez les bleus!

italy v. france. wow!

in my life i have loved four sports teams: kansas city royals, the arsenal, the edmonton oilers & france.

this year the kansas city royals could be the worst team in the history of major league baseball, so i don't have to worry about them.

but i've seen the arsenal, the oilers and france make it to the finals in the champions league, the stanley cup playoffs and the world cup, respectively. i have had to suffer as a fan of the losing side twice already. you can guess how little i want to suffer again.

but my own selfishness aside, i want to see france win for two great players who i love -- henry and zidane.

zidane -- here's a guy who has leukodystrophy, a degenrative gentetic disorder of the nervous system. he has had a masterful career, alreayd won a world cup, and he's retired from football so that his last game is the world cup final on sunday. even better, he once retired from international football, but came back because a visitation in the night told him that if he came back france could win one more time. moreover, this man has done the impossible. not only has my mother, a canadian raised on hockey and the belief that soccer is a "fag's" game, become a fan of football, she even thinks zidane is sexy. if zidane and the french win it will be mythic. and even my mother will forever be a fan of les bleus.

henry -- then there's our captain. arsenal's henry has already had one major heartbreak this year, and this one just has to be. and if he gets it, if he plays an important role, this may finally be the year for him to win the footballer of the year (probably not, but it's nice to dream). regardless, i love the man, and think he is an exemplar of all things good in footballers and people. i am very proud my two year old son loves him so much. as milos says : "henry, henry, henry." go france go.

with love and optimism, the bananas