England were knocked out of the European Championships last night by Italy on penalty kicks. If you are reading that and you felt like you've seen that somewhere before, you definitely have! England gets knocked out of every major tournament on bloody penalty kicks! I've gotten used to them breaking my heart over the years however so I wasn't too surprised at the result last night. One of the biggest heart breaks that team has ever given me was back in 2002 at the World Cup in Korea/Japan. I was 18 years old at the time and home from college for the summer. I remember the matches were on live at very strange times due to the time difference between New York and Tokyo. England had come out of a group of Sweden, Argentina, and Nigeria it was the closest thing to the "Group of Death" that this version of the world cup offered so I was pleased to see them come out of the group stages. I had high expectation for them, and in the first knockout round England destroyed Denmark 3-0, I was so excited I believed that I was going to see them go all the way this time.
The next match was against Brazil and England never beats Brazil but I had a feeling they would this time. I woke up at 2 am to watch the start of this match and my dad was up as well. We both sat in the living room watching it and cheering like it was the middle of the day. Brazil ultimately ended up winning the match 2-1 and went on to win the World Cup that year. I think i might have cried a little that night before going back to bed sometime after 4 am when the match was over. Part of me knew that I had somehow fallen in love with another team that were perpetual heart breakers just like my NY Mets.  ¶ 6:34 PM