2010 England Football Sadness

I can empathize with the England fans and their disappointment in their football team.  Here you have a roster comprised of players arguably from the best professional football league in the world--the English Premiere League.  A benched player professionally earns what I could make in a year, but in two weeks.  These men are Gods, and yet they underperformed in so many ways imaginable to their countrymen.  The manager will inevitably be fired, and the players will probably lay blame on other factors rather than blaming themselves.

As an American, I truly can empathize, and you can too if you have ever been or are a fan of American basketball.  Remember the 2004 Dream Team in Athens???  Though youthful, here the US had a team made up of the best basketball players in the world.  They were top paid basketball players and came away with a bronze.  The Dream Team lacked the pride and real want to represent the USA and continue the tradition of dominance in Olympic basketball.  Though there are many factors that led to the disappointing result (e.g., the surge of International players in the NBA), I still wholeheartedly believe that these Americans had no sense of pride; they came to the tournament cocky and acted like ballers (and not skillful ballers, but money oriented ballers).

A part of me believes this is what England is experiencing right now with their football team.  Most of their players are in the tabloids, they get paid way too much to play a sport, and they live their lives like Gods with the added expectation to the win the cup.  They certainly had the talent to make it far in this tournament (not necessarily win, but advance further and perform better than they showed), but since June 12th they looked awful.  As cheesey and cliche as it may sound, they lack heart and to me showed they weren't that bothered by this tournament.

So now England is at a crossroads as they reevaluate their team.  Perhaps they'll pull a USA Basketball and put a fire under these pros.

"Back the Beard"

So this comedian of sorts (he reminds of a British Andy Richter, but not as funny) has his lame show after World Cup games for the day on ITV.  Anyhoo, he does a bit called "Back the Beard".  So watch the video.





When I first saw it, my immediate thought was, "This is totally American!"  It's the American football players (not soccer) who started wearing the playoff beard in the hopes they will continue to win through to the Super Bowl.  Am I correct?  The bit with Katy Perry is funny, but she comes off as a traitor anyways (she's American, but is married to British guy Russell Brand from Forgetting Sarah Marshall).

World Cup - USA v. England

Well, the USA v. England came and went, and I largely came away unscathed; though Dan did try to niggle me the entire game.  It was a good thing we weren't sitting next to each other, otherwise he would have gotten a bruised arm.  But it was a good time, though nobody else gave me much niggle.

I will say that England is a funny country around World Cup time.  Dan says it's the only time you will ever see the country act patriotic--there are England car flags and England flags hanging from houses all over the place!  Naturally everyone is wearing their England kit and playing the England World Cup song (which is fairly annoying).

Bars, or pubs, are pathetic for watching World Cup when you compare them to the USA.  I think any pub who has one TV the size of my flat screen back in the USA is hopeless.  If they have two TVs of the same size as my TV, they are pathetic.  I like watching games at a bar because the atmosphere is different, and beer and greasy food go hand in hand (which my hands prefer not to make).  Don't think I will get that experience here, unfortunately.  I'll be in Germany for a Germany game next week, so it'll be interesting to see how they watch World Cup.

But for those who want to know how the English felt at the end of the game, here are some pictures that encompasses England's feelings.