Was it a Brazilian or a FIFA official who stole the budget for the opening ceremony? Over a billion people just watched that rubbish.
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Damn! Just missed it 🙂
You missed nothing..
Yes, I agree, it was a very mediocre display. Let’s hope the football is better. This article puts things into perspective for Brazilians.
http://newsjunkiepost.com/2014/06/11/world-cup-2014-beautiful-game-showcases-ugly-inequality/
wasn’t watching
Soccer** scoring is too low, basketball, aussie rules scoring too high
Rugby and NFL just right even though I’m always acused of being anti-american.
I was picked on im my “collective” for playing rugby but then I found out that Che was a mad rugby player and edited a rugby mag! rugby in Australia is slightly less ruling class than in England.
The beautiful game I don’t see it. still each to his own cheers
** yeah I know you demand that his is called football
NFL is a lot more interesting if you tally the sub-clinical traumatic brain injuries, then it’s like basketball scores.
Craig
I realise that you have left an escape door open by saying “or a FIFA official”, but do you realise that you’re living dangerously by suggesting that a BRIC might fuck up and/or be affected by even a single of the many vices usually so gleefully and exclusively set at the door of the evil West and USA?
You have moreover compounded your sin by picking on something rotten in the state of Brazil which cannot – with the worst will in the world – be blamed, in however tortuous and twisted a way, on the evil West/USA?
Shame on you, Craig, for trying to undermine the faith many of your admirers have in the BRICs as paradigms for a fairer, more just and more moral system of political, economic and social governance and organisation!!
I fear your second sentence will be just as relevant in four weeks time. Perhaps it is age but I am not even really interested in how England do anymore and probably won’t watch the matches. When the host nation is antagonistic towards the World Cup, you know something is amiss.
I used to love it with a passion…Half the kids in my class at school…wouldn’t support their local team Oldham Athletic….but instead went to see Georgie Best…but I was with the half that did support my local team….
Then it all changed…First it was violence in the 1980’s….and then it all got so Big….Yes its rather nice to arrive in the depths of India…and in Reception as you arrive it is Wigan Vs Chelsea live…and you think wow…how did that get here….but then the money flows in enormous amounts…straight to the top…and I actually start to feel sorry for REAL Manchester United supporters who live in Manchester and can no longer afford a ticket…And then The Total Corruption…Not Just Football but absolutely Everything…
I was explaining this to a lovely man in Grange-in-Borrowdale…He is from Huddersfield…and we keep renting his cottage…he lives next door
He was completely agreeing with me…and in his lovely Yorkshire accent explaining it all to me….He said There is Going To Be a RECKONING
I understood exactly what he meant…he did not have to explain a thing….
Maybe This is It….Far More Important Than The World Cup in Football…
More The World Cup of The Human Race…???
Are we going to learn to live together in this potential heaven on earth…or are we going to continue to turn it into hell…
Perhaps you should read this instead…because you will not see it on the telly or read it in the Telegraph…well you might…
Putin is playing a blinder – so far…He has been baited something rotten – but not fallen for the trap…and oh come on Craig…I like you…but I reckon you are still a bit of a spy…
Russia Is Doing It – Russia Is Actually Abandoning The Dollar
http://investmentwatchblog.com/russia-is-doing-it-russia-is-actually-abandoning-the-dollar/#Gbb2y9EIs5PWiz23.99
Tony
Currency wars: difficult to understand the objective. Sometimes the US aim is said to be to protect the dollar whilst at other times it is to undermine it and devalue it. I take your point though that in the past the US have not taken kindly to those who trade oil in any currency other than dollars.
Time for the football now though.
But you are not watching the football, you are replying to me.
My wife and I have been invited to a party on Saturday night – Cos absolutely EVERYTHING we are really interested in…Have Cancelled All The Bands For 10 Miles Around…except one – and they have changed the band…
I do have a box though that will record it though.
If you don’t know the result…you can fast forward through all the boring bits…
A bit like watching a band…and when they play something that has been done to death…you go outside for a bit of fresh air and a chat and a fag…
Tony
Ridiculous penalty – why bother with the charade? they could just hand Brazil the cup now.
Corruption is the most popular human sport.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-27813605
“Fifa’s decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar is under scrutiny as the world awaits the findings of its investigation into allegations of corruption.
Qatar denies any wrongdoing, but the Fifa report will be of particular interest to sponsors of the tournament, who would not wish their brands to be associated with a tainted organisation.”
Qatar is also coveting the most corrupt in Iraq, especially since Baghdad was recently found to be the worst city in the World.
FIFA gets a piece of that action?
Oldham Athletic were one of the very first to recruit a player from Brazil…when I was still living in Oldham just over 36 years ago…
He was incredible…Not only did we beat Manchester United..He also played for Brazil in The World Cup…shortly afterwards…
Personally during the last World Cup – when England were denied what to Everyone of hundred of Millions of People watching – apart from the Referee – was a Completely Legitimate Goal….
Well If I had been The England Captain…I would have said this to all my team mates….
You guys do what you want to…It is entirely your own decision…But I am walking off the Field…and I am not coming back…
If they are Cheating… There is absolutely No Point…and I am not Playing.
Fair Game – or No Game
Tony
I like it live…which as Peter Sellers explained in Great Detail…means “Being There”…I am not a musician…but you simply can’t really be a part of it…unless you are there…It could be a football match – ever really wondered why the home team usually gets better results at home…rather than playing away…
The audience communicates live in real time with the players…its just a little bit more than an inspirational thing….shouting for more – and giving real live encouragement…you can’t alter history…
Even when I was a kid…we had the TV cameras – and I have seen myself in the audience on Match of The Day…several hours later…
But Live is Something Else…
Analogue TV was different…cos the Broadcast arrived on your TV screen…at the speed of light…there was no delay in signal compression…
Then Our Neighbour’s Got SKY…
We were still watching on analogue….
Sunny Afternoon…
We saw England Score The Goal Live
You Cheered A Few Seconds Later…
It Had Already Happened…
And You weren’t There…You Had Absolutely No Influence On Events…
You Just Saw The Result Some time after it happened…
Ask The Whales How They Do It…
Get Your Head Down There…Or Up in The Sky…
Mine was a Polish Pirat..and my Teacher is Still Alive and Still Doing It at The Age of 91…Its Something Else…
“Someone or something that cannot be described in words. It’s not a good thing, but a great one.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Piggott
He took me to the limit… He taught me to survive
Lovely Guy.
Tony
Ahhh, the Circus.
But where’s the Bread.
Circus Maximus, the path to an anesthetized populace. Give them bread and entertainment, and peace will preval.
The bread is in Blatter’s pocket.
Same as always.
A few of his fixers get some crumbs.
Craig,
You say:-
” Ridiculous penalty – why bother with the charade? they could just hand Brazil the cup now.”
Do you now also say that the other two goals were contrived?
Brazil won!
PEAK CEREMONY
I think the bubble has burst. It had to happen. Bubbles don’t last for ever. And someone, some poor sucker, had to be the first to fail. That sucker is Brazil.
After decades of unstinting growth in opening ceremony extravagance as countries tried to out do each other, I think I can safely say that the China opening ceremony for the 2008 Olympic Games marked the peak. History will record that moment as a one-off event, never to be repeated.
We are now in for a long haul of downmarket showpieces as economic priorities start to bite and flamboyant distractions from the functional deficiencies of government start migrating South on the ledger’s front page.
But there might be some good to come out of this crash. With so many slums having million dollar views going wanting for development, the bursting bubble might sprinkle some coins their way. The only problem then is what to do with the poor who live there.
Being There – great film.
Indeed ^.
“There will be growth in the spring..”. Lol