A lost phone finds a new friend in Doha's Al Bidda Park
Chris Jones is in Qatar covering the men's World Cup for CBC Sports.
I finally latched on to a pickup soccer game in Doha.
We played on Thursday morning in Al Bidda Park, a sprawling complex that includes a fenced-in turf field. Our 10 a.m. kickoff was meant to avoid the worst heat of the day, but we were still the only people in that entire park. A tiny, nice man in a blue security jacket unlocked the gate for us and settled in to watch.
My game was with a group of journalists. We played good, fun, sweaty soccer. Julien Laurens, a French writer at ESPN, was particularly handy, and at one point he struck a volley that made an incredibly pure connection with both of my testicles, like Mike Tyson driving into a speedbag. It really was a cataclysmic nut shot.
Whether it was the thunderous groin ache or burgeoning heat stroke, I did something after we'd finished that I wouldn't normally: I packed up my soaking wet stuff and just assumed my phone was in backpack. I was so tired. I'd fish it out later.
I realized I did not have my phone after I'd walked back to my flat, showered, and taken a bus to the World Cup media centre. More specifically, I realized I did not have my phone when I went to go hear Louis van Gaal, the head coach for the Netherlands, hold court. FIFA has an app that provides immediate translation. I started rummaging through my backpack.
I unzipped pocket after pocket. My phone was not in my backpack.
I sat there listening to van Gaal speak Dutch for 30 minutes, trying to work out what I'd done with my phone. (People laughed several times at what van Gaal said. I have no idea what he said.)
My phone must have fallen out of my backpack when I went home to shower, after the game.
I took a bus back to my flat.