Belated Summary of World Cup Germany 2006

Basically this Cup was not without many surprises and plenty of excitement... up until the very last minutes!! This I was not expecting. Not to this extent anyhow. But I loved it. After all, isn't this what dutiful fans get for a reward? What do I mean by this? Quite simple really. For so many Americans (for this is my current locale and citizenry, sadly or not depending on how you look at it) the World Cup passed on by as a minor blip on the nightly news, maybe when it first began and then again when it ended. But that's about it. Oh, and maybe there's someone at work who keeps talking about it. And there's a growing and ever hopeful, and patriotic, minority of folks who watched up until the US was so summarily trounced. Hence, those of us who are legit fans, who printed out the scoresheets and kept dutiful records of every game _as they happened_, who found a way to stay tuned to most every game even from work!, were rewarded for our _paying attention_ to discover many hidden surprises within the games. Some of them were huge, like Brazil not making it to the finals! Some were slightly less so, like who it was that sent the US team packing (Ghana!!). Et cetera.

And I will likely revisit this topic but that's it for now. :)

As for Zidane - it's not news anymore. Really it's not. Fact of the matter is, I understand. It wasn't cool - no. It was dramatic. It made for some interesting photos. But bottom line is: Materazzi is a jerk at best and a flaming racist at worst, _and_ Zidane has a pretty bad temper. But we knew the latter and the former probably isn't a surprise to some. Did Z cause the downfall of the French team? Did he steal the victory from out of his teammates hands in that split second reaction? Who can say? Probably. But that's between them and him. And I'm 100% sure he wouldn't do it quite the same way if he had it to do over again. And I'm sure he is as sorry as he says. Makes sense. But there will be those who will not forgive him. And he just has to live with that. The whole incident actually makes a good teaching tool for anger management and the consequences of not controlling ones temper/reactions. But I forgive him. And I'm happy for the Italians - they deserved to win just as much, they fought hard and Buffon is absolutely the best GK (can't wait to see him on Arsenal!!). As for Materazzi - well I'll let others judge him, I've chosen to not read too much about him...for fear I may want to headbutt him myself! ;)

Commentary

Well, I've been so busy with remodeling, and recently (at work) end of the fiscal year nonsense and such that I've not had anytime to blog at all in such a long time. With some exceptions, mind you, but not many.

This is ok though because ... well bc it is. :)

So my latest observation is the way in which the concept of torture is being co-opted and sanitized for the masses. Recently on NPR, it was said that "The US does in fact practice torture." and the statement fell so flat and so dull and without any shock value or anything, that I almost held my breath in amazement.
So just keep an eye/ear out for more linguistic subtleties...I gotta run but I'll try to say more soon. Cheers!