There’s nothing like a cheering home crowd with the excitement, chants and songs, ridiculous getups, and all around contagious happiness and hope, especially when working toward a championship title.

My dad took us a couple of times to watch the Red Sox play in Boston’s Fenway Park and we soaked in the rules and excitement of the game, along with the sun beating down on us for a few of the innings. Watching the crowd around us was just as much of the magic, even though it was never during any championship title game. Anticipating rising and sitting with the wave, joining the 7th inning stretch, hollering chants and cheers, all the activity kept us busy and engaged. That and the roaming vendors. My mom, who stayed seated with her nose in a book would raise her head and hand up only as the cold beer came back with Dad’s beverage runs; he knew how to keep everyone happy. I have great memories of that ballpark, as well as the Astros playing in the old Astrodome. I was just old enough to have a beer with him then.

ALL CAPS was the chant in DC back just a few weeks ago as the Washington Capitals went all the way and brought home the Stanley Cup in the National Hockey League Championship. A sea of red flooded the city, news shows disrupted regularly scheduled broadcasting, the Federal government announced that although there would not be an official day off, might something could be arranged for supporting the win when the victory parade went through the city.

I admit that I had to ask who the Caps were when I first got here and why all the fuss. Just been living in a different world for a while; and hockey just was never on my radar. College basketball was for a while. College football too, as was professional football when it was the Chicago Bears going for the Super Bowl. (Super Bowl Shuffle anybody?). Hubs would like to think that every Steelers game had me riveted too. I cheer for hubs cheering them. “The Beautiful Game”, however, that has become the sport with the most celebratory feels going on.

A study abroad gave me my personal introduction to a whole nation cheering on its home football/soccer team in a truly world competition. We are going back to 1990 and Costa Rica’s great showing. The whole country was feeling the PURA VIDA pride as the team advanced. When the games were on the country shut down. Walking down empty streets you heard the game out of every home, from every taxi pulled over with the radios on full blast and small crowds gathered to listen. You knew the score advancements with every colossal group-hooping GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL that reverberated through the air from every angle of the nation. A win meant every citizen spilling out onto the street for the biggest impromptu street parties, salsa music blaring, drinks pouring, and massive dances that nobody was exempt from. You couldn’t not catch the excitement buzzing through and in between every play, every game, everyone’s hope. Football was serious business in Costa Rica and that was just with the local teams. Taking it to the country team level brought a whole new frenzy of fandom.

As a family we started to catch the World Cup fever when living in Oman, of all places. There were lots of expats there with hopes for their teams to make it to the top. There was always somebody cheering. When South Africa hosted the venue, we were living right next door in Mozambique and the excitement of the games spilled everywhere into the capital, televised on huge screens in every park, every bar. I was told by Peace Corps Volunteers they all hitched to a gas station with a television on a random highway to watch a couple of the games with gathering crowds. Although we never went to those extremes, we kept up with the World Cup when we were living in Turkey, even once catching a few moments of one match while in the middle of darkening a forest preparing to hike up to see The Chimera.

Following the World Cup faded away for a bit with life, that is, until England. My son, now done and gone from boarding school, has keep an ear out for England’s quest for the Cup this year, which ended yesterday with a loss to Croatia. There was a soft spot there for its defeat, and the ensuing conversation with him about how this year’s World Cup has played out has shown me that for him, there will always be that nostalgia surrounding the sport and the teams competing for the title each year, and for England now especially. Maybe one day he’ll get to see a game in person and get to be part of a group city/nationwide celebration. I hope so. There’ nothing like having something really awesome to cheer about, especially joining with everyone around you cheering too!