Day One: Mexico vs. South Africa @ Barney's Beanery

We begin our sojourn with an early morning trek to the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. This first entry will be a running diary; not sure how often I will use this format, but let's give it a whirl...

5:40am Alarm clock goes off. Are we sure about this? The couch is looking awfully comfy right about now.

6:00am No turning back--we're in the car, on the way down to Santa Monica via Wilshire.

6:03am Arrived at Santa Monica and 3rd street. That was incredibly fast. Almost made the early wake up call worth it alone.

6:07am Finished reading the parking restrictions. That's right--took me longer to determine if I could park on the street than it did to drive 4 miles.

6:10am Arrive at Barney's Beanery. A bit surprised no one has walked inside yet, since the bar opened up ten minutes ago. Or so I thought... chairs blocking the entrance is seldom a good sign. Turns out they open at 6:30, despite a phone conversation to the contrary the night before. Thumbs down to Barney's for this error (I was not alone in my annoyance at having wasted 30 minutes of slumber).

6:12am Mexican fans begin to mill about, including several fine gentlemen who proceeded to blare their horns not only until we walked in, but then also INSIDE the bar. World Cup Fever: Side effects include pierced eardrums. The situation was summed up nicely by the guy next to me; "Let's do this. Sugar man needs a cocktail." Well then...

6:30am The floodgates open! Well, sort of. The dozen or so die-hards stroll in, as I take my place at the bar. The bartender, knowing the crowd all too well, immediately begins taking drink orders.

6:32am Negra Modelo arrives. Just trying to fit in around here. When in Rome...

6:40am Cell phone goes off next to me. The ringtone? La Cucaracha. Ay, dios mio.

6:46am After holding out as long as I could, I placed my breakfast order. Almost went with the chorizo, but settled on french toast instead. I am, after all, an unbiased journalist.

6:58am National anthems. Surprisingly, not many people singing along with the Mexican national anthem. Not surprisingly, no one singing along with South Africa's.

7:05am And away we go! Bells are ringing, fans are shouting... this should be fun.

7:07am Right off the bat, Mexico with a pair of excellent chances. They are controlling the pace completely, and the crowd is abuzz.

7:15am The bartender asks why Mexico is wearing black jerseys. In case you were wondering, yes, we are definitely in Los Angeles.

7:21am We have our first dive! Player rolling in brief agony--the World Cup is officially under way. I just wish I took the 16 minute mark in the pool.

7:23am Our first yellow card! That seemed pretty quick; today's officials have apparently been keeping a close eye on the NBA Finals.

7:31am Blatant foul by South Africa, yellow card issued. On a side note, if you want to learn Spanish, forget Rosetta Stone--just watch futbol with some serious Mexican fans. Donde la amarilla?! El gato esta sobre la mesa, chicharron!

7:37am Awesome save by the South African keeper, who went spread eagle to keep things scoreless. Moments later, Mexico sends a shot just wide. Toying with our collective emotions!

7:43am Gooooooooal! The crowd erupts in jubi-- what? offsides? On a corner kick? Never heard of that one.

7:44am My new found friend Suman explains that since the keeper came off his line, and left only one defender between the Mexican attacker and the goal, offsides was the right call. I countered with: "So is that like an offsides trap? Seems like a low percentage play." He nods in... let's say... agreement.

7:47am South Africa with a corner, but Carl Lewis can't jump high enough to get a header on it. I think that was Carl Lewis. Don't think so? Prove it!!

7:55am Halftime. No score, but plenty of drama. Meanwhile, I decide to go with chili and a Bud Light Golden Wheat for the 2nd half. I would like to remind people that one full bodied beer before 8am makes you a fan. Two regular beers before 8? That makes you a drunk.

8:15am South Africa building momentum. I swear I wrote this as it happened.

8:16am Goooooal! Sure enough, #8 on South Africa with a shot that goes Johnny Walker Blue--top shelf, right under the bar. Gorgeous shot; not even the Mexico fans can hate on that effort As Suman put it, "I knew that would happen. they are just waiting around."

8:23am The crowd urges Mexico to pick up the pace. You know, from 8,000 miles away.

8:24am Raido! Rapido! Andele, muchachos! When did Speedy Gonzalez get here?

8:28am South Africa with a chance to put a nail in the coffin with goal number two, but can't swing the hammer.

8:30am Suman asks me if I know what club #8 on South Africa plays for. Safe to say Suman has misjudged our dynamic. I eventually look it up on my phone to discover he is unsigned. For now.

8:34am Javier Hernandez checks in for Mexico, which gets the bar crowd going. His nickname is Little Chick Pea, I am told, and he recently became the first Mexican player to sign with Manchester United, at the tender age of 22.

8:40am Goooooooal! Rafael Marquez cracks one far post, beating the keeper and tying things up at one apiece. The bar erupts with emotion; bartenders hi-fiving patrons, complete strangers hugging one another with emotion... good time to be a server. When you think about it, aside from sports books, you could argue that bartenders have as much at stake as any other profession during the World Cup. Pretty sure that goal was worth an extra 5 percent tip.

8:42am The crowd chants Si se puede! I looked around, but no sign of President Obama.

8:52am 90th minute, and South Africa with a golden opportunity to steal the game, but the ball glances off the post, much to the delight of the Mexican keeper, who looks like he just realized all his family members will be safe for at least one more game.

8:56am Full time. We have ourselves a 1-1 draw. Feel the excitement!

Post script report card:
Game Rating: B+. The Mexico match was a fantastic atmosphere, and definitely entertaining, but not much scoring, and at times the pace seemed slow.
Location rating: B. Knocked them down for telling me 6am on the phone the night before, only to have it be 6:30. But otherwise the service was pretty good. Not a long wait for food, a huge menu (full of breakfast items) as well as an impressive beer list. They even had a cider from South Africa, but I decided to pass. They have a ton of TVs all over the bar, not a bad seat in the house.

Beer rating: B. The Negra Modelo was perhaps a little tough to pull off that early, but the Golden Wheat was a solid choice as a second beer. Not where I would want to start off, and not the best light beer out there (Slim Chance and Sam Adams Light, to name two), but more flavor than most, and decidedly easier on the palate that early in the morning.
Tomorrow's match: England vs. USA, at Ye Olde King's Head (pending seat availability).