New Year’s Day we drove into the city and went to a large park where we rented bicycles. Got to see the locals in action. Having thrived on sports as a kid I was curious to the quality of the pickup soccer and basketball games I observed. The soccer was deadly. They played on a small asphalt surface court. I noticed some played bare foot. Most wore sneakers or running shoes. There were the typical overage, overweight players still dreaming about playing world cup. Some had the ability to really kick the ball. I felt sorry for the guys who got hit by the kicked ball. It was a small court so the action was furious. Most attempts on goal simply relied on the theory of kick the ball as hard as possible and maybe it will find its way through the crowd to the goal. When the ball missed everything it often travels a 100 yards out of bounds across the lawn or paved paths. The pickup basketball looked like grown men played with grade school skills. Let’s face it most young Brazilians probably aspire to play soccer professionally.
Eric and I attended a professional Basketball game. More on that later. I can see why soccer is the sport of the rest of the world.
We took Alanna and Teresa along too. All the girls got their faces painted for free.
Afterwards we went home and celebrated Alanna's 8th birthday.
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