Dim Sum and Mizzou

Photo by Bill Carter, from www.rockmnation.com

Today I woke up in a nervous tizzy. Mizzou vs. Oklahoma, the number one team in the nation vs. number 11, at Columbia, homecoming, ESPN College Game day. So much hype. This is a little hard to explain if you aren’t a Missouri sports fan, but there are some serious psychological issues involved….for too, many years Missouri had a very, very bad football team. I’m talking something like 30 years. We would have occasional flashes of hope and progress, and then a kicked touchdown, a 5^th down, a blown play, a drunken coach, well, you get the picture. Mizzou fans are loyal but pessimistic. We are always waiting for the other shoe to drop.

But for the past 7 years we’ve had a good coach, and increasingly good teams. We’ve improved, but not quite enough “to get to the next level” as the saying goes. But maybe, just maybe, this year is different.

It seems almost perfect that I would be back in Hong Kong for the “big game”. Watching US sports in Asia involves searching the internet for the appropriate video feed and watching and listening at odd hours of the day or night. Watching college football on a Sunday morning in Hong Kong is part of the Asian experience for many American expats.

I found the requisite video feed and started watching the game on my PC. It didn’t take too long for me to think; hmm this team seems different from other Missouri teams. I don’t know if they’ll win this game, but this is a good team. It made me happy.

I watched them play online until the middle of the third quarter, and then had to leave to go eat dim sum. It was just as well. I could feel the old pessimistic worried feeling setting in, and this team really didn’t deserve that. When I left the score was Mizzou 20, Oklahoma 14, so we were ahead, but a long-time Missouri fan knows better than to get excited until the clock runs out.

We walked to the MTR from Jane’s apartment. The weather was simply stunning. The skies were blue and the distant mountains were absolutely beautiful. It’s the Hong Kong of picture postcards and calendar art, so gorgeous that it doesn’t seem real. On top of that it’s Sunday and the helper’s day off, so the streets were packed with Filipino and Indonesian girls having fun visiting, shopping and having a good time. It was Hong Kong at its charming best, even though this also meant that the MTR was absolutely packed.

Dim sum was a hoot. For one thing, I was hungry and I knew that meant that EVERYTHING on the carts would look good to me. And Lee wasn’t there to say “Lynn! No!!” Jane, Chris and Adrian were far too nice to me. I told them to watch me but they thought it was funny and let me have my way. So we ended up with some strange things, but that’s okay. Some were wonderful as always, some were, well, interesting…no egg tarts either, so I have to remedy that before my visit is over.

After dim sum I went back to Jane’s to check the score and grab a taxi as I prepared to move into our hotel for the rest of our visit. I couldn’t believe it. 36-27, we won. WE WON! We beat the number one team in the nation, at home, on national TV, during homecoming. We are 7-0 for the first time since 1960.

It’s a great feeling and I have just been happy as can be all afternoon. It was fun taking a taxi to Mid-levels. Our hotel is on Robinson Road in the heart of my old stomping grounds. It’s nice, a suite with a beautiful view, close to the escalator, Bowen Road, the trail to the Peak. Lee has landed in Hong Kong, so all I have to do is wait for him to arrive at the hotel and then go eat Indian food at one of our favorite restaurants in the world. Not a bad life! I know he’ll be tired, but it will be okay.

I’m just very happy right now. I know it’s kind of silly, but I am.