Hot, humid, exhausting -- plus, thoughts on the World Cup, the British Monarchy, and a few other things

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Toronto is an unpleasant place to be when it's this hot and this humid, and I'm sure it's the same for many of you suffering through this heatwave in the U.S. northeast and central Canada.

I'll be back to blogging tomorrow... er, later today, as it's already past 1 am. I'm just too tired to write anything.

So stay tuned for more from me and the team.

But first, a few thoughts:

-- I'm really looking forward to Germany-Spain tomorrow. That, to me, is the final. (Sorry, Holland.) And I, who has long rooted against our two-time World War enemy of the last century, can hardly believe that I'm rooting for Germany. What an exciting team. And it helps that it's a genuinely multicultural team that reflects the new Germany and that has incurred the wrathful opposition of the neo-Nazi far right. For some reason I can really get behind a German team filled with Turks, Poles, and Brazilians.

-- The Queen (Elizabeth II, that is) was in Toronto yesterday, at Queen's Park of all places. I'm a Democrat in U.S. politics, but I'm definitely a republican up here. I'd like to see the monarchy abolished in Canada. It's pathetic to see so many Canadians on their knees, so grateful that she came to visit us on our birthday, so thankful that she seems to care about us, as if she blesses us with her presence, as if her very appearance here proves our worthiness. Sorry, but I don't care to be her "subject," and I think this country needs its own head of state, and not just a governor general who acts as the Queen's representative. If Britain wants to keep the monarchy, fine, and, as a British citizen as well as a Canadian one, I suppose I support keeping the monarchy there, but we need to move on. (Yes, the Queen is deeply popular with many Canadians, and it's not clear what could replace the monarchy (an elected "president," as in Germany?), but today's Canada -- diverse, cosmopolitan -- doesn't need her anymore, if it ever really did, and much of the popularity is directed at her personally, not at the institution.)

-- How hilarious, in a sad sort of way, is this? A BP offshore oil drilling board game from the '70s, featuring "hazard cards" that read, "Blow-out! Rig damaged. Oil slick clean-up costs. Pay $1million." Really, you can't make this shit up. (I wonder if Dr. Evil came up with the $1 million figure.)

-- John McCain, you have clearly become a hollow shell of a human being. And that's putting it nicely. Have you absolutely no self-respect left at all?

-- Washingon v. Arizona over the latter's draconian anti-immigrant law? Arizona will lose. And rightly so.

-- Sign already, LeBron. Somewhere. Please.

-- Just got my seat assignment for Roger Waters' The Wall in Buffalo in October. Thirteenth row! Awesome. I can't even begin to express my excitement. (Yes, I'm seeing him here in Toronto, too.)

Alright, enough. Good night.

Why I hate the World Cup

By Capt. Fogg

For the same reason I dislike the Olympics, of course and I dislike the Olympics for the same reasons I dislike McDonalds and Coca Cola and Nike and all the other rapacious multinational corporations that milk humanity like a herd of cattle while pretending it's a noble endeavour. Hosting this event costs huge amounts of money and it doesn't necessarily repay the investment, at least not to those out of whose hide it comes. With the hordes of foreign visitors being herded away from local vendors selling local food and African products; with long-time venues for those vendors being reserved for large, foreign sponsors, McDonalds and Coke will get the lion's share and the locals will have to forage like jackals for the leavings.

Will South Africa be a better place for South Africans after the noise stops and the clean-up begins? Does history hinge on whether or not a bunch of ball kickers from the Netherlands beat their counterparts from Uruguay and will international relations be more peaceful or tolerant because of anything that happens here? Will any of it matter ten minutes after it's all over? I have a hard time believing that the health or the wealth or the education of South Africans will see a benefit commensurate with all the noise and expense. Even the infernal Vuvuzelas are made in China.

It's true, I have little taste for watching men running around kicking things or for the feral screams of crazed viewers blowing into noisemakers as though anything happening in the arena was of any consequence whatever unless it was to the already huge profits of Nike or the sellers of beer and cigarettes -- or plastic horns. I have a greater distaste for the mass purveyors of opiates, even the real and quiet ones.

Panis et circenses, bread and circuses; it's a tried and true way to calm the animals in the feed lots and holding pens; to pacify the proletarii and the slaves while the emperors and the senators grew fatter. Gooooooooooooooal!

(Cross posted from Human voices)

We will not be the champions: The bitter disappointment of England at the World Cup

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Given that Canada didn't make the World Cup finals, and given that Canada isn't all that good at international soccer, I'm rooting for England. In fact, I've always rooted for England in international competition, going back to the first World Cup I remember, Spain 1982. I was in England at the time and remember England tying both its second-round games, against West Germany and Spain, and failing to make the semis. I remember Italy winning it all, 3-1 over West Germany. I remember being incredibly disappointed.

And that's generally been the story with England in major international competition since it won the World Cup at home in 1966: far too much hype, excessively high expectations, appalling mediocrity, bitter disappointment.

And it's the same this year, with England tying its first two matches, 1-1 against the U.S. thanks to a horrible goaltending blunder on a weak American shot, and 0-0 against Algeria, a truly pathetic performance against a feisty but underwhelming opponent. A win over Slovenia next week would put them on top of the group, but it's been bitterly disappointing so far, that's for sure, and they certainly don't look like a side that can get very far.

I actually thought England had a chance to win it all, or at least to make it pretty far, with what looked its its strongest team in a good long time, a team coached by a world-class manager, Fabio Capello, and led by some of the world's greatest club players, stars in England's Premiership, the strongest national club league in the world: Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard, etc. A lot of the top teams looked vulnerable, even Brazil (young and un-Brazilian) and Argentina (great playmakers up front, bad defence, a crazy manager in Maradona). Even Spain lost its first game. And then Germany lost. And Italy only tied. So why not England?

Well, because it's England. And I know you know what I mean, if you follow England, and if you're a fan of England yourself. The names on the backs of the jerseys change, but some things remain pathetically the same.

As if to drive home the point, I found this fantastic tweet earlier this evening by xpre552 (re-tweeted by someone I follow):

The England team visited an orphanage in Cape Town today. "It's heartbreaking to see their sad little faces with no hope" said Jamal aged 6.

Brilliant. And hilarious. And, given what England is going through, absolutely perfect.

Allow me to deal with all the bitter disappointment with a bit of irony. Here's Green Day performing Queen's "We Are the Champions" at the 2004 Reading Festival.

I have no confidence at this point that England will keep on fighting till the end. But, come the next match, I'll be cheering the boys on anyway, hoping against hope, or at least against history (since '66), that all the bitter disappointment will wash away in a sea of glory.

Because that, too, is part of being an England fan.