Even though Ireland's not in it, it's still a big deal. Almost like the Superbowl lasted a month. At work there's two seperate pools --- one just in our department, for cash money, another company-sponsered one, for some indeterminate corporate benificence (pizza?) --- and they had a cake on Friday, the day it opened. Traditionally, Ireland just roots against the English in such circumstances, but this go-round the free tabloids have been urging everyone to root for Poland, since, with 100,000 Poles working in Ireland, the shine off some of their glory is as close as we're gonna get. I have them in the draw, also. And then they got clobbered by Costa Rica, off all places. Looks like that's a fiver down the drain...
Though normally speaking soccer bores me, with all the national pride and complicated backstories and complex drum rhtymn being beat out on the seats and the rhyming chant-taunts and so forth it's actually quite watchable. For instance, Tirindad v. Sweden --- Trinidad has a population of 1.2 million, it's like the first time they were in the cup, they had to repalce thier goalie two days before the match with a 37-year-old journeyman, Sweden's team was all six-foot Vikings, and Trinidad got a guy sent off at the very beginning of the second half, so they were playing a man down. So even a scoreless draw was exciting to watch because everytime the Swedes got near the goal your heart was in your throat.
So far I have decided one hard and fast rule only:
Never to root for a team if any player thereon has a rattail.
(Seriously, Sweden? Argentina? What the motherfuck?)
Posted by Diablevert at June 11, 2006 09:46 AMThanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
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