I'm talking about FIFA here ! Geez...
So the World Cup is the only thing that seems to matter these days. Though being predominantly a cricketing nation, Indians couldn't escape the FIFA fever. There are little colorful excel sheets flying around in emails or dumped on shares keeping track of IOUs, the conference calls are largely about the game last night, the meetings and project plans are rescheduled to avoid any interference with the World Cup. Clearly we are one organization with its priorities set.
But personally i think with a lot of people, its not really the love of the game that's got them hooked. There are multiple other reasons. For some its the 'cool' factor attached that leaves no option, for others its the love of betting and they don't care two hoots about what game it is, while there are still others who just want to be aggressive about 'something'.. anything.. that can keep them charged up, help them get into bickering sessions with colleagues. There is a bunch who just cannot handle being unaware, what with the whole damn world being involved, how can they not know. I think i'm the last category.
I do have other reasons too. I mean who doesn't want to watch hot 20 somethings in all varieties black,white, asian, english, spanish, french, italian .... running around in shorts just being themselves.... boys. Sigh ! Pretty sight.
So yes, i cannot handle being unaware, i have to know whats going on who is winning, who is playing who. And i cannot help having an opinion on each team, though it might be the first time im watching them play. It'll only take me one half of a game to form my opinion on the team and it'll stay until they do something stunning to change it. And any team having hot forwards just barges into that soft corner of my heart and i'm helpless.
I mean how can Messi not turn your heart into a marshmellow covered in liquid chocolate. $%$#%%#$)%*!#)%$*)% ... that's not abuses, its the gooey, mushy mess that Messi creates.
The last world cup i religiously followed was in 1994. THAT was when i was young and innocent. It was all about the love of the game. It was about players and teams and 'my team' and 'your team' and 'my team' with squash 'your team' like a bug on the windshield... and Baggio and Ronaldo and Pollock.. was that his name? or was it Ballack... or were they two different people?... well it was a long time ago.
After all these years, i was again inspired to follow the World Cup. Considering everyone around me was following it too, i could not NOT KNOW !! i mean thats horrible. But as i started following it, all that interest came back......and what with me earning now... ALL that money to bet ... yooo hoooo. Things were progressing pretty alright, with me feeling like i'm back in the FIFA circuit........
............... but last night finally did make me realize that im not really there like i was in 94. It was Paraguay Vs Spain starting late into the night, and texts were being exchanged. It was the first time i was watching Spain play in the FIFA. I had heard alot about them by now. But i couldn't help but be more impressed with the Paraguay team. I loved how they were so attacking and how they were holding up beautifully against the Spanish team. I kept raving about the PAR team in my texts, but my friends din't seem to be on the same page. It was finally in the 82nd minute that it all fell into place.... the first goal was scored and i called my friend and said.... "So, Spain is out".
It could very well go down as one of the legendary embarrassing moments, when i realized that all this while i had the teams mixed up and it was the Spanish team that had scored.
