"So, I'm just a sports fanatic."
That's how San Diego resident Alex Kirkwood described himself via Zoom from a Qatar hotel room over 8,000 miles away from his home.
Kirkwood goes to as many games as he can. A lot of San Diego Padres and Dallas Cowboy games, but the U. S. Men's National soccer team trumps them all.
"USA National Team games are my favorite games to go to. I'm in Doha, Qatar, right now. I've never been to this side of the world, but here I am," he said.
And there he was in Doha with awesome seats for Tuesday's US-Iran World Cup match.
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"Yeah, I was right behind the goal. Like, if Matt Turner sneezes and looks back he probably would've sneezed on me," he said.
Now, one thing you need to know, is that Alex has a tradition when Team USA scores a goal. He takes off his shirt and goes crazy in the crowd.
"Yeah, I can't really control what happens at that point. When the USA scores a goal, my shirt comes off. I was at the game in February in Minnesota when it was negative 10 degrees. My shirt came off," Kirkwood said.
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So, during Tuesday's match, Christian Pulisic scored his unbelievable goal to put the US ahead and, you know, who has taken off his shirt?
The broadcast caught Alex in his red, white and blue short shorts celebrating the goal and subsequent win in his skin.
"I can't control it. It's as simple as that," he said.
But, it's not as simple as that in Qatar. It's a nation that has strict social guidelines. In fact, World Cup fans have been threatened with jail or fines for removing clothing during the games.
Kirkwood took that into account but still took off his shirt.
"Qatari Police, and security were staring at me, but it's really not in my control at that point. When we scored that goal, the goal that's gonna put us through, the shirt comes off. I stand up and that's what happened," he said.
Kirkwood avoided jail and it turns out his shirtless celebration actually went viral after a tweet calling him a "hero American" gained traction.
"A hero American is what everyone strives for throughout their life, to be called a hero American, right? Some people go off to war to be called that, some people run for political office, some people save the economy, but other people just take off their shirt," Kirkwood exclaimed.
With the US aving at least one more World Cup match, Kirkwood hopes to take off his shirt many more times in Qatar. After all, he's got some skin in the game.
