Photo of the Day: World Cup Distraction at NY’s Port Authority

New York’s Port Authority Bus Terminal at 42st Street was built during the second term of Mayor Bill O’Dwyer—which, for anyone keeping score, ended (hastily) in 1950. Commuters like me are familiar with how much it is showing its age, most notably during the winter, when buckets all over the place try to keep the leaks from the roof.

Maybe because it keeps hoping against hope that Something Big (like enough money for a completely new building, perhaps?), maintenance on this structure has been haphazard. Maybe the PA also thinks that, if they can give us some entertainment, bus and subway passengers won’t radiate so much palpable discontent.

In the evening rush hour, passengers have gotten used to seeing musicians and singers (even sopranos, for Heaven’s sake!) in a perch on the second floor. During the last two mornings, though, I’ve noticed something different: a big screen offering footage of the World Cup. 

I took this photo yesterday, when the crowd, as you can see, was already substantial. This morning, the crowd around this video had grown even more. One possible explanation of the intense interest in these video proceedings: Commuters were suffering delays in getting to their normal destinations, so why not while the time away a bit longer by watching the games?

As you can see, it looked like it worked.

Photo of the Day: Soccer in the Snow

Early this afternoon truly seemed the winter of my discontent. Warm temperatures might have boded well for the Super Bowl in the Meadowlands, but the skies had unexpectedly turned from sunny to overcast to drizzle. Neither the higher temperatures nor the very light rain had made much of a dent in the snow on the track in Winton White Stadium, not far from where I live in Englewood, NJ.

At least the guy in this photo I took was not about to let adverse conditions spoil his enjoyment of his game. H wasn’t risking serious injury by sprinting up and down the field, but at least he was having fun kicking the soccer ball around.

Photo of the Day: The World’s Biggest Sport at the World’s Crossroads

It has always seemed a bit odd to me that, even as a nation of immigrants, the U.S. has never embraced soccer the way it has baseball, football and even basketball. I thought that situation would be rectified in the ‘70s, when the likes of Pele, Giorgio Chinaglia, Franz Beckenbauer, and other foreign players brought their charisma to the New York Cosmos. But the North American Soccer League folded, and with it went the glamour and attention the sport had, for a short while, here.

Well, little did I know that the sport had roots older than I thought, at least in the U.S.  Last week, in celebration of the signing of the charter for the U.S.Soccer Federation at the onetime Astor Hotel, a weeklong celebration was held in New York City. Events included the ringing of the bell at the New York Stock Exchange, a press conference at City Hall, the lighting of the Empire State Building, and a WNT Watch Party at Nevada Smith’s.

This photo caught the action last Thursday at Times Square, when fans could play soccer on a small-sided field; sign their name and make a pledge to the future of U.S. Soccer; take pictures with the 1991 and 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup trophies; and share their favorite soccer stories with U.S. Soccer. We'll see what the next 100 years holds for the sport here.

TV Quote of the Day (Conan O’Brien, on Italy’s Defeat in Soccer)

“The U.S. beat Italy in soccer for the first time ever….America hasn’t embarrassed Italy this badly since the first Olive Garden opened.”—Conan O’Brien on Conan, quoted in “Sound Bites,” Entertainment Weekly, March 16, 2012