Sunday, June 25, 2006

World Cup - trying to be positive about it

I've noticed in my posts, as well as those of others in the blogosphere, that there is a temptation to dwell on the negative and be more critical than positive.

So in a bid to consciously reverse this trend, I decided to look for the positive in something I don't usually engage with or enjoy.

Football in general. The World Cup in particular. You'll notice that I haven't made much mention of the sporting championship currently being played out in Germany. Can't work out whether I dislike it more than Wimbledon, or whether the four year cycle is better than the annual tennis-fest.

Jon Snow - bicycle riding, tie wearing, Channel 4 News presenter - commented recently on his Snowmail podcast that more countries (total of 208) are signed up to FIFA (governing body and organisers of the World Cup) than to the United Nations (191 member states).

So more countries are willing to have football in common than will share their political opinions for the good of all. That's good.

Jon explained his personal reasons for deciding to support the Iranian team - which made me want to look up a wall chart (if had one) to figure out the chances of USA having to play Iran!

In fact the only football match I've heard any of was the USA v Italy match - and then only because Jett and Wayne based their LTA chapter 40 podcast around their visit to a Belfast bar to watch the match. I’ve just realised that although I’ve heard that England are through to the next round, I’m not sure if they’ve finished playing all their group matches yet? Ignorance is bliss.

Why stop at one good thing about the World Cup - there must be others. Well, for the ardent fans, it seems to bring a real enthusiasm and passion to them that rubs off into other areas of their lives. So the extra long water cooler moments in work discussing the latest games are more than offset by the extra oomph in people’s work. (Maybe fuelled by their desire to get finished early to get home for the late afternoon kickoff! But let’s not knock it.)

No comments: