Friday, July 14, 2006
I'm back from world cup hiatus
What a world cup it was. Bought a world cup t-shirt prior to the campaign at an outlet mall, and it was Italy. Good thing i'm never a betting person on football.
Enjoyed the games that Ivory Coast, Ecuador, Ghana and Paraguay played, as i always rooted for the underdogs.
Throughout the campaign, i was emailing my buddies and talking about watching Zidane's final game.. and final game.. and final game.. and he went and became a head-butter, probably due to racial insults as it seems.
It was quite an experience to be watching the world cup in the land of football noobies. It was also quite an amazing experience to watch the TV commentators actually thinking that USA had a chance of winning the world cup.
Some of the things that are different in watching the games in USA vs in Singapore
- Football vs Soccer. nuff said
- Extra Time vs Overtime
- Diving vs Diving.. wait.. it's still the same !!
- Pronuciations of some of the players' names... irritating to hear the difference
- A scottish commentator that was on ESPN, probably a former player, but i cant figure out a single word he said
- Overwhelming coverage vs Almost ZERO coverage in the papers
Since i didnt have full cable, and hence no ESPN channel, i watched some of the matches that were streamed online within the company, and in the latter stages, took time off to watch them at Moodyone's new apartment.
For the Brazil vs France quarter-final match, which i think was one of the best matches i ever watched in the world cup, i actually stayed over at her house in preparation for the early match. Of course, this was with Sharon's green light!
Wee Teck and family came over and joined me in watching the second half of the final, which luckily was on one of the channels in the free-to-air space. At that point, it was between the team that i picked vs my fave player's (Zidane) team. Whichever team won would be fine for me, and it was.
What a world cup. Looking forward to the next one in South Africa.
And i'll be posting regularly again 8).
edit: Just found this funny blog post... More headbutts than you'll ever need.
Enjoyed the games that Ivory Coast, Ecuador, Ghana and Paraguay played, as i always rooted for the underdogs.
Throughout the campaign, i was emailing my buddies and talking about watching Zidane's final game.. and final game.. and final game.. and he went and became a head-butter, probably due to racial insults as it seems.
It was quite an experience to be watching the world cup in the land of football noobies. It was also quite an amazing experience to watch the TV commentators actually thinking that USA had a chance of winning the world cup.
Some of the things that are different in watching the games in USA vs in Singapore
- Football vs Soccer. nuff said
- Extra Time vs Overtime
- Diving vs Diving.. wait.. it's still the same !!
- Pronuciations of some of the players' names... irritating to hear the difference
- A scottish commentator that was on ESPN, probably a former player, but i cant figure out a single word he said
- Overwhelming coverage vs Almost ZERO coverage in the papers
Since i didnt have full cable, and hence no ESPN channel, i watched some of the matches that were streamed online within the company, and in the latter stages, took time off to watch them at Moodyone's new apartment.
For the Brazil vs France quarter-final match, which i think was one of the best matches i ever watched in the world cup, i actually stayed over at her house in preparation for the early match. Of course, this was with Sharon's green light!
Wee Teck and family came over and joined me in watching the second half of the final, which luckily was on one of the channels in the free-to-air space. At that point, it was between the team that i picked vs my fave player's (Zidane) team. Whichever team won would be fine for me, and it was.
What a world cup. Looking forward to the next one in South Africa.
And i'll be posting regularly again 8).
edit: Just found this funny blog post... More headbutts than you'll ever need.
posted by Jonathan at 11:33 AM | Permalink | 
2 Comments:
At 2:22 AM, 
Hi Jameson,
i remembered this Dave O'Brien .. whenever Beckham touched the ball.. all he can say was Posh!
Also dont even get me going on the overload of stupid data which again these commentators are trying to apply the standard US sports template onto football.
The other funny thing is the whole concept of "world". NBA/NFL/Baseball finals are at times called the world championships of their sports.. excuse me, but since when did a league within a country represent the world? haha
I'm hooked to your blog! Being a fellow Singaporean living in the US, I can feel your emotional coastal ride of living in the US. Any way, back to football. Yes indeed. American broadcasters have no clue in football. They don't realize that play calling for football is different from the NFL, NBA and baseball. Talk, talk, talk, but no substance. It is very painful to listen to the American commentators. ESPN's Dave O'Brien, in particular, likes to listen to himself. He can't stop talking and enjoys talking about Victoria Posh, the Spice Girls and other non-related World Cup issues. His partner, Marcello Balbao, calls Beckham as "Michael" Beckham! Since when is a penalty called a "PK?"