I spotted this truck parked by the amusement park in Sea Breeze. I had my España national team jersey on, we walked through the woods and down Culver to Shamrock Jack’s to watch the Nation’s League final with Spain and Portugal. The pre-game was on one of the seven big TVs so we sat right in front of it at the end of the bar.
There was an older couple next to us. We gathered their daughter was sitting next to them and they were having a good time. The guy said something about his birthday and Peggi and I wished him a happy one. I asked if it was a big one, Peggi and I had just celebrated one, and he said, “Yeah, guess how old I am.” I can’t tell anymore and I didn’t want to insult him so I went with 65, thinking he look older than us but was probably younger. “Guess again he said. “Seventy five?” “Higher,” the guy said. “Eighty?” He settled on 83. We clinked glasses again. The bartender said, “Everyone I know who drinks Johnny Walker lives into their eighties.”
The game was pretty good, tied 2-2 by the 40 year old Ronaldo on the hour mark, but it was frustrating for me. Spain had most of the possession but looked like they were scrambling. They clearly had a hard time moving the ball through the center and repeatedly lost the ball there. I was expecting magic. Professional coverage here.
There’s Notre Dame posters and gear all around the bar, the Irish connection, and they are the local hub for the Premier League’s Aston Villa fans but we were the only ones watching the Spain game. More family members showed up to meet the people next to us and they moved to a table. Another couple sat down minutes later. They were clearly older than us and our ears perked up when the woman mentioned something about Ezra Klein. They took forever to decide what they wanted to drink and the guy finally settled on an Amstel Light. It was served in a proper glass with the Amstel logo.
The sound was off on the tv so our squeals appeared out of context. The new couple asked me if I had played soccer. “A long time ago,” I said. They told us someone had given them a gift certificate to nearby restaurant and they went to Margies down on the lake but they were charging admission because there was a band so they were “bar hoping” before dinner. They told us they gone out to hear their son’s band, The Rhino Chasers, a surf band, the night before. We told them we are in a band as well and they acted like they wanted to hear us. We told them we are playing Friday at the Highland Bowl a whole lot of poets, Writers & Books Poetry Festival.
We each managed to nurse a beer the whole 90 minute match but we split a third for stoppage time. The match went the duration and Spain lost in shoot outs. We went home and played music in the basement.
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