Comments on: "It's like the Olympics plus the World Series plus the birth of your first child all multiplied by X, where X equals awesome"

"It's like the Olympics plus the World Series plus the birth of your first child all multiplied by X, where X equals awesome"

Kattullus — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 18:35:13 -0800

The London Review of Books has a World Cup blog. So has The New Republic and Tony Blair's spinmeister Alastair Campbell. WFMU tracks World Cup related fatalities on its World Cup Death Watch while Slate's William Saletan sends us Dispatches from the World Cup. And then there's the expected gaggle of World Cup blogs from the mainstream media (NYT, Sydney Morning Herald, Der Spiegel [in english], The Guardian, etc.)

And finally, the mother of all World Cup blogs, worldcupblog.org, with individual bloggers for each country, a main blog, and, my favorite section, a referee's blog.

By: meech

meech — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 19:57:15 -0800

I love the World Cup Death Watch...death toll of 18 already. And from the front page of worldcupblog.org: Today's games didn't look good on paper. Luckily for us they were played on grass Am I missing something?

By: dw

dw — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 20:14:04 -0800

I'm writing a blog for the mainstream media. But that's all I'll say for fear of Pepsi Blue.

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 20:29:46 -0800

meech: 25, actually. Though occasionally they lower their count, so you may yet turn out to be right :) dw: that reminds me, I forgot to link to the excellent World Cup blog of one of my favoritely* named newspapers, Seattle Post-Intelligencer ;)

By: silence

silence — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 01:55:11 -0800

http://www.spiritoffootball.com/ is lovely - every 4 years they carry a football from battersea park in London (where apparently the first "official" football game ever took place) to wherever the World Cup is being held (they carried it to Seoul in 2002, and they're in germany now) - and play football with the people they meet along the way, and they blog about it. With videos. very lovely. (disclosure: Christian Wach is a friend).

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 06:00:28 -0800

Here's that amazing Aussie goal they are all mentioning, in case you missed it.

By: MrMustard

MrMustard — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 06:50:17 -0800

CunningLinguist - Aussie goal? Are you sure you don't mean 'Argie'?

By: Sk4n

Sk4n — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 06:56:56 -0800

No self-respecting Aussie (yes, Harry Kewell, I mean you) would have hair like that. Nice to see the move in its entire brilliance. I'd previously only been able to see the Fox Soccer Channel highlights, which start at Crespo's back-heel. Cretins.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 10:00:39 -0800

Thanks, CL! That brought a tear of joy to my Argie-loving (and Univision-missing) eye.

By: vacapinta

vacapinta — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 13:58:03 -0800

I so adore Univision and its moments like that that makes me wish more people could understand the Spanish. Not just the enthusiasm but the commentary itself is intimate in a way the English broadcasters cannot seem to be - like being in someone's living room. They refer to players as "that short guy - whats his name??" and "Man, look at that scowl on that guy - I'd hate to see him coming at me..." Goals are accompanied with commentary such as "Oh such a beautiful beautiful thing. I want to cry with happiness" etc... That is, they do an amazing job of conveying the deep emotion most people around the world feel for this.

By: goodnewsfortheinsane

goodnewsfortheinsane — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 18:38:20 -0800

Great post, thanks.

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 08:11:48 -0800

(Argie, of course, sorry.)

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 08:15:36 -0800

Vacapinta, I watch the games on Univision even though I don't understand Spanish just for that emotion and excitement. From your description I wish even more now that I could understand what they're saying. Anyone else think Figo is completely dreamy? Go Portugal!

By: MrMustard

MrMustard — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 15:15:54 -0800

All the goals! Click on the result of the match you're interested in, then click the football symbol next to the name of the scorer of the goal you want to see. Et voila. May I recommend Joe Cole's goal for England against Sweden for starters?

By: languagehat

languagehat — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 15:53:48 -0800

Whoa! That's magnificent, MrMustard -- thanks!

By: MrMustard

MrMustard — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 10:24:27 -0800

It's so good it might deserve it's own post, but maybe at the end of the tournament, eh?

By: MrMustard

MrMustard — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 10:27:39 -0800

Erm, second 'it's' should be 'its'. Bollocks.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 15:08:19 -0800

It's so good it might deserve it's own post, but maybe at the end of the tournament, eh? Too late—it's Fermé/Closed. Merde!