A Lot of Beliefs in One Magazine

I'm kinda in the midst of jury duty now. After being selected on Tuesday, I went to court on Wednesday without much reading, expecting to be in court all day. I was wrong and without much reading until my lunch break when I picked up the latest issue of Believer. There's a lot of pieces in this issue that I connect with of late.

First of all, I owe it to Scott for bringing it to my attention a couple weeks ago. His partner Peter Bebergal has a review. Peter is also the close childhood friend of Jason, who just moved to Providence to teach at Roger Williams.

Jason got me back into comics this spring. The cover artist is Charles Burns, who did the beautifully creepy Black Hole, which I read early in the summer. Great intro, but not so satisfying ending in my esteem, nonetheless, the art is killer.

This issue is on games, which I love. The lead article is Paul LaFarge's profile on Dungeons and Dragons, and meeting one of the creators E. Gary Gygax. This closes out my LaFarge obsession, having read three of his novels in 3 months. The piece has a lot of good nuggets for novices and playas. I've been pushing LaFarge's The Facts of Winter to all my bilingual friends. Including my 18-year old cousin Max who is staying with me this month. He's got a one way ticket to Paris. Until then, he's exploring the City as a bike messenger.

Nick Hornby has an essay. I read his Fever Pitch before going to London and World Cup madness. Then Brian McMullen has a piece on how Zidane's headbutt was wikied in wikipedia.

Lastly, Georges Perec writes on crosswords and other word games, which I've been doing more since the spring, including seeing Wordplay with Joe's dad.

Of course there's more in the magazine, and there are other interests going on in my head, but this was a lot of overlap.

My trial doesn't start until Monday, and who knows how long it will last. But two days in, I got a lot of reading in and not much court time.

Tragic Ending to 25 Matches [Update]

In the past month, I saw the better part of an astonishing 25 World Cup games. Like Nick Hornby's admission in Fever Pitch, I spent starling amounts of time as an idiot. And I'm sure I'll do it again.

In the end, I was for France, drawn in by not only the story of their older (as in my age) squad, but by beautiful and tenacious playing by Zizou and Ribery in particular. And so their loss wasn't so crushing as seeing Zidane's thuggish head butt. An unsettling reversal to Italy's early thugghishness against the US. Moreover, the loss was hardly convincing. Though Italy dominated the first half, France dominated the rest, having the best scoring chances and the more beautiful play.

Sport, as much of our lives is unpredicatable and confusing. How can we love players who mar themselves and their sport with brutal violence or distasteful cunning? Poor judgement driven by emotions also struck Rooney, Figo, C.Ronaldo, Frings, Ballack. Is it any consolation that Mazeratti is a known thug? Little. Zidane scripted his mixed legacy of the Best Player of this Cup and the most regrettable exit. Pundits were calling for opera and we were given a grand tragedy.

[Update]- Robert Weintraub offers an interesting perspective in Slate.

London: The Cup Runneth Over

While in London, I watched a slew of matches. Before seeing Titus, I saw the US look hapless against Croatia (3-0), and France and the Swiss frustrating draw before catching Enemies.

I got sucked into the Rooney watch as England stumbled its way out of the first round. Judy led us to the Korean dominated Nags Head tavern where Korea beat Togo. Only when we stepped out did we realize that the Korean over took all of Covent Garden as they took to the streets to celebrate. (Jason later told me of the corresponding chaos in LA). And then there were the amazing nail biters of Germany over Poland and Sweden over Paraguay, each victorious 1-0 in the final minutes.

My enthusiasm was stoked by print media adverstings and of course all the #7 & #9 jerseys.

So on returning I've continued to follow games, dispite the dearth of Cup coverage here. On top of that, my faithfulness is often met with frustration. My teams keep going down: the US, Korea didn't advance, Mexico dropped by Argentina, Australia falling to Italy, the Dutch to Portugul. On top of that, key players are sitting on the wings hardly controling games, Henry, Zidane, C. Ronaldo, Ronaldhino, Beckham, Rooney, the only stars who seem to shine are Germany's Klose and Ballack.

Perhaps the most formidable and frustrating team to watch has been the officials, doling out record numbers of bookings. They gave Ghana a win over the US with an awful PK at the close first half (it should have been a tie); Italy's PK-win in the extra time (90+) against Australia (it should have gone into over time); just now padded Brazil's win over Ghana, failing to call a clear offsides. Ghana, whom I was still upset by their US game, won me over by dominating the midfield and short game against Brazil. If only they had someone who could finish.

The other annoying persistant team is ESPN who have dominated english language broadcasts to no one's benefit. The commentary is inane and the their spastic graphics usually cover the ball the action on field. It's enough to learn Spanish.