Hey, sounds good. I'd like to visit that region - especially love the food.

On other other hand - I guess sports is a distraction from politics and disagreement - a proxy war if you will. But watching others play is entirely different than getting out on the field.

Well, if you are interested in visiting the area then I would definitely recommend Lebanon(I'm obviously biased, but still). Most people speak English or at least understand it, though fluency does vary quite a bit. So you shouldn't have too much trouble talking to people even if you don't speak Arabic. And we have really good weather for most of the year though it can get very hot and humid in the summer.

If all you know about this place is gleaned from the news it sounds like a warzone but it really isn't, and there's usually quite a bit of warning before anything security-compromising happens -- With the exception of the 2006 war with Israel, that was quite sudden. But relatively few areas were affected.

As long as you stay away from Hezbollah-controlled territory(The deep south, the bekaa valley and the souther suburbs/ghetto of Beirut) you won't get kidnapped or anything like that :P

If you do take a leap, shoot me an email(in profile) and I'd be more than happy to assist :-)