Thursday, July 06, 2006

Jackson Pollock

This is brilliant.

Found via Pete

Allez Les Bleus Again!

Well, Zizou's last ever match will be a world cup final. If that's not appropriate, I don't know what is...

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Wow

Just.

Wow...

That's by far the best game of the world cup, and it might just be the best World Cup semi final I've ever seen (certainly the best I can remember off the top of my head.) It's *definitely* the most attacking performance I've ever seen from Italy in a massive game. They deserved it I think...Lots will be said about the fantastic spirit the game was played in to - hope for all of us disheartened by the cynicism that is ruining the game we all love. It was a game that lit up the tournament, and if it's matched by any of the remaining games we might all remember this as a brilliant world cup after all.

Let's hope Portugal don't dive France out of the tournament tomorrow...

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Allez les Bleus

Well, Zidane must be a contender for player of the tournament, and that must be a contender for performance of the tournament.

My only worry now is that all the teams that have played really well have gone out - I'm hoping it's not gonna be an Italy-Portugal final. The last four are all European teams - that would have seemed fairly far fetched a week ago. It's clearly not been a great world cup, yet, in terms of quality, although there has been a lot of entertainment...I've enjoyed it anyway, and I'm glad that France at least have made it to the semi finals.

I was proud of England today, in a strange way. Proud of the way they played when they went down to ten, proud of the unabashed support they got from the fans, support which sounded whole hearted and non-judgemental, just support. It's all a bit soon to try and make sense out of it, but I had two predictions in mind for England and the start of the tournament, and this is the one that's come true. The other one would have maybe been better.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Finally, a game we deserved to win...

Let's face it. Penalties was never gonna go well was it...

Today's The Day

So, my Father's parents were both German Jewish refugees, who escaped to London in the 1930s and brought my dad up as an Englishman - there was little talk of the homeland, apart from fond memories of the Weimar Republic. I have little feeling of being German, and have never been there, despite the origin of half my genes. My Mum, on the other hand is French, and with trips to visit granparents in Paris and Macon, and my aunt and cousins in Lyon, I've always felt quite French. And of course I was born here, in England, and lived most of my life here, apart from a couple of years in Zimbabwe and another couple in Wales. So I feel very English.

Above all though, I strive to not find attachments in nationality, but to see myself, as cliched as it might sound to cynical ears, as a citizen of the world, as part of the human family, as much a brother to an Innuit as a son of the Green and Pleasant Land. But today that's going to be stretched a bit as the two teams I have supported all my life, who brought tears in 1986, ups and downs in 1990, inglorious anonimity in '94, glorious vibrant mulitcultural triumph in '98 and crushing disappointment in Saipan in 2002, take to the quarter final stage against two countries entwined by history and culture, and indeed a manager. By the end of today they could have set up the semi-final I couldn't have hoped for at the beginning of the tournament or they could have left me clutching at genetic straws and supporting Germany.

So allez Les Bleus, and Come On England, let joy be unabashed, but if it's not to be, at least have a proper go at it...And if it is not to be, at least let me remain fairly even keeled about it, remembering that it's only a game, and we're all only human beings and we belong to the earth more than any specific part of it...