David Beckham and Caramel Corn

Perhaps it was a European thing or perhaps it developed over time, but Dad really loved soccer. He coached my brother’s AYSO team in the 80s, and he also encouraged me to play. However, when I got on the field with a team for the first time, I stood there and cried. In my defense, I was very young. But that was the end of my illustrious career as a soccer player.

However, when the World Cup came to the U.S. in 1994, Dad and I started watching the games, and I was immediately hooked. At that moment, I became a lifelong fan of World Cup soccer and would forever root for the U.S. and France. Dad and I watched games together whenever we could and emailed about the ones we watched separately. In 1998, when France won the tournament, he was so happy he blasted his record of “La Marseillaise” from our home speakers. I’m sure the neighbors adored us that day.

We never got too interested in local soccer club activity, but for Father's Day in 2009, I gifted Dad with two tickets for us to attend an L.A. Galaxy game in Carson, CA. He was really eager to "see some good soccer," plus we were both anticipating seeing if the hype around David Beckham was warranted.

I could tell Dad really enjoyed the experience. He started shouting at the team "Come ON, you guys! What are you DOING?” when, in his eyes, they did something ridiculous. When a truly marvelous goal was scored, he commented on the sheer beauty of the ball curving into the net. Maybe that was the engineer in him talking. Or maybe he really did just find it beautiful.

During halftime, he bought himself a huge bag of caramel corn. Now, I can count on one hand the number of times I saw him eat popcorn, and I had no idea he realized the caramel variety existed. But I watched with a bemused smile on my face as he sat in his seat in the stadium, happily munching on handfuls of that caramel corn.

By the way, the hype of David Beckham was totally justified. He scored two goals and played wonderfully. I took the above photo of him on the field using my digital camera aimed through binoculars. Very high-tech. Dad was impressed.