Let's get this World Cup thing started already. I'm tired of waiting. So is Peter Crouch. Just look at him. He can't control himself. Here's a few World Cup heads-uppers.Michael Davies is writing about the cup for espn again. If my memory is working (and it rarely does), Mr. Davies was the creator of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire". Don't hold that against him though. If you didn't get the chance to read about Davies' World Cup experiences in Japan, you missed out. Though as it turns out, if you hit this page you can see that all the 2002 WC diary entries are listed in the right column, and as of right now you don't have to be an "ESPN Insider" to read them. Lucky you.
Harper Perennial has published The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup. The book features articles by a fairly eclectic group of authors, from Former Foreign Minister of Mexico Jorge G. Casta to Nick Hornby. I wish I could say that the book is perfect, but I'm afraid that the editors (both American) may have been a little ignorant about soccer in their home country. One of them tells us to watch for Freddy Adu at the World Cup (which I think we all knew wasn't going to happen). The other tells tales of his past World Cup fandom and the teams he chose to root for, but never once mentions rooting for his own country, which makes him a traitor (and that's the nicest word I could use). But I'll forgive them both, because the book is a very nice read. I just finished the entry about Cote d'Ivoire, which expanded a bit on the things I've learned through Bono's commercials.
The book was available at the downtown Borders (but not the Greenwood location), at it was $15, I think. It appears that if you order it through Amazon it's a whole lot cheaper, but then you'd have to wait for it. If you're the sort of person that believes in the Sports Illustrated cover curse, consider the USMNT dead in the water. They've put perhaps our four best players front and center in the latest issue, and all for a very short article. I guess we now know who to send hate mail to if things go badly. I'm not a fan of the whole "US National Team wants you" thing either. But I suppose until we can fill US stadiums with our own supporters that's the way it's got to be. Bah Humbug or something.
2 comments:
Man, I forgot about those Michael Davies articles from four years ago. That was a nice hour spent at work reading those again. Good to see he's doing it again.
I thought the most interesting thing about re-reading those articles was the pining he did for Chelsea (his favorite team) to sign some of the standout players in the 2002 WC.
I wonder what he thinks of his team now that they buy everyone.
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