Not quite up for the cup, as of yet
Topic: Football
Dunno what it is about the World Cup this time around, but as of yet I wouldn't say I'm full of the joys of International fever as of yet. Maybe its because I've been mostly sheltered from the mass hysteria thats been going on in the country for the last month. The only World Cup references I had while abroad being the run-in with the Socceroos in Melbourne, and a couple of posters in the New York underground, trying to sell the idea of a round spherical object that you can neither pick up nor hit with a bat, to a populance of mostly oblivious Americans.

Still, England's rather drab performance against Paraguay hardly helped, but then whats new? England go a goal up in the opening couple of minutes, and then have to sit on their lead for the remaining 87? And 9 times out of 10, its the old scenario, with 10 minutes to go, the opposition go and bloody well equalise. Well, okay it didn't happen this time, but....

So as this the way with these things, I managed to see the best bit (i.e. the goal) on the Radio, as at the tine we were stuck driving round the streets of London trying to get to the pub, bumper to bumper with around four dozen other cars with probably the same intention of trying to meet friends half way across the Capital, when it would have probably been easier just to watch it in the comfort of your own home.

On the other hand, the pub we ended up in was rather sweet and overly polite for such a sporting occassion. Though it was indeed packed to the rafters, it still fell to me of all people to start the cheering when the final whistle went. Somehow, that's just not right.

And is it just me, or are there even more atrocious football related pops songs dominating the shelves of HMV, than in previous World Cups? Stan Boardman, with no doubt some 'hilarious' references to Germans bombing his chipie. Tony 'keep milking it' Christie with "Do You Know The Way To The World Cup" which vocally doesn't even fit, and should therefore be banned from the charts forthwith. And not to mention "Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Jurgan Klinsman" featuring Frank Bruno on vocals. If anything's gonna send him back into rehab, it's that.

Of course, apart from the obligatory Skinner and Baddiel "3 Lions" re-release, the exception that proves the rule is most likely to be Sham 69's reworking of "Hurry Up Harry", "Hurry Up England". Go buy a copy. Anything to stop Embrace getting to Number 1. Actually, that's a mite unfair, as I haven't actually heard the Embrace track yet, but if their previous works anything to go buy, then it'll be the same, dull, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.............

Still, its good to see Arsenal's new boy Tomas Rosicky tearing lumps out of the USA whilst playing for the Czechs today, beating them 3-0 with Rosicky getting a couple.

So, whilst I'm not quite getting into the spirit of the World Cup as of yet, no doubt I'll be as rabid as the rest of England's lagered-up population, even going so far as to start thinking we can actually "go all the way" (TM) and "win the cup" (Copyright). Which of course at that point we'll find ourselves instantly knocked out of the tournament.

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As you might have realised, my trip round the world has indeed come to an end, having returned to these shores just over a week ago, and I've also run out of increasingly elaborate ways to milk it any further. Snif.