Bloed Oranje

We've had an odd week-or-so in Laguna. A friend and I got into a friendly series of bets and heckles over the Celtics/Lakers NBA Finals. While we live in Orange County (defined as "not LA" by so many in Laguna), when it comes to basketball, the Lakers have a decidedly large following in town.

The betting started with game four--a Laker victory and I would have been wearing some verison of a yellow Speedo and purple cape to the Dirty Bird (our local watering hole), but a Celtic victory would have Ron Pringle, aka "Ron-i" the lead singer for World Anthem, a great reggae band, having Boston Chowder dumped on his head on-stage. Ron-i got chowdered.



Sunday, before game five, Ron and some friends burned my Laker Hater t-shirt (stolen the night of the chowdering) and left it on my steps. In my mind, they were unleashing a deeper Celtic magic by sacrificing something stolen. . .and the Celtics won again.

Monday morning, a bigger event happened--the KNVB, the Royal Netherlands Foot Ball team beat Denmark 2-0 in unspectacular play. It's funny, but I didn't really care that much about the Celtics v. Lakers--it became interesting because of the betting and shananigans. With the Oranje, I could watch them play what is arguably one of the most boring sports on television (not a lot of scoring) because I feel actually connected to them somehow. . .weird, I know.

Then a friend posted this epic Nike ad on my page--"Orange is the Color of Insanity," which captures the character of the Dutch and their passion for the Oranje so well. Bloed Oranje or "Bleed Orange" is my new mantra. How can we be born across an ocean from our homeland and still feel it deep in our souls?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0BStdL8siY

insanity is
cheering for a ball passed
oranje dna