We drank a lot of ale. On the way home I got some of Oxford's world famous kebab. After more than 40 hours of being awake I finally got to crash out. Rumor has it that we will make a secret appearance at the Lamb and Flag this evening. Then in the middle of the night I will steal off for the bus station to get to Heathrow by 6 tomorrow morning for my return to the States.
Monday, July 10, 2006
I Came To Oxford and All I Got Was This Stupid Hangover
The Armitage Shanks reunion tour kicked off at The Duke pub last night, where we watched Zinedane Zidane lose his temper and Italy, which if not for its perfidy would not have tied the US and thus would have been knocked out in the first round, win the World Cup. While the whole crew could not make it out, City Counsellor, future parliamentarian, and master of all things chav, Patrick (and his snazzy cream-hued suit), met Roger and me at the King's Arms and we headed down to the High Street and the Duke to meet Ginger, Moose, Johnny, and eventually City Counsellor and DCAT member Richard Huzzey. In our little sphere was the nexus of LibDem power in Oxfordshire.
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2 comments:
The view from Spiros:
Actually, I don't know what the good people of Melville thought of Zidane's "moment of madness" as (being the only sad lonely soul in the back room) I had been pushed so close to the big screen by half time that my neck nearly snapped and I gave up and watched the remainder of the match at the B&B
"Let's forgot about the headbutt and remember the football" appears to be the refrain. But, I think Zidane gave us the perfect climax to a world cup that, on reflection, saw the world's most talented players forgo their duty as entertainers. Let's not forget that all of the last four teams had their moments of sly, "clever" football. The entire knockout stage was marred by defensive tactics that saw teams playing with five men strung across the midfield and a series of cramped, low scoring borefests more usually seen in Serie A.
And on to 2010? The conclusion is obvious - of course South Africa can handle the world cup, not in the way Germany did, but then view other countries could. But it's not the organisation, the stadiums or the fanfests that should be the benchmark, but the football. Like the German team, FIFA 2006 was full of potential, had a bright start, but ended on a low. Bring on Bafana Bafana!
British Rob -- Thanks for joining in on the fun.
It does seem that FIFA or whomever still has not managed to find a way to free up the game from what ails it. Of course no one can make England go with more than one striker and there are going to be games like sweden-Ukraine every so often.
We talked often about South Africa's capacity to handle the World Cup infrastructurally, but I think a lot of it is simply a matter of planning and, as you say, putting the football up front. If they do that, and if they simply manage to, well, to manage, all will be fine. the world will see african passion for football, and hopefyully bafana Bafana will cure what ails them between now and then -- in world sport, four years is a long time.
I think we will learn a great deal when it is finally revealed what words set Zizou off. Part of me imagines that it was a culmination -- that he probably did say all of the things attribuited to him, but that Zizou snapped at whatever was said last. I hope we get an explanation, though i imagine that will be followed by a fast denial.
Cheers --
dcat
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