It would probably be very cliché and stereotypical of me to claim that the French are cynical by nature, so I’ll just raise the question – are they?
I'm not, sure but a radio presenter in Hong Kong once described me as a cynic during a live interview.
Isn’t that just typical?
Hong Kong radio presenters are always like that!
Actually what they said as they introduced me and my partner Alex to whoever might have been listening was – “Chris, the more cynical of the two…”
“What!” I challenged, but you know how it is – once they’ve made up their minds you can’t argue otherwise.
The reason I ask about the French is because on thursday I was working late into the night with a couple of them and, you know how it is, we got onto the football world cup and we had a right old natter. I think negotiation was on their programme so we were more or less on subject.
They explained, very articulately, that it would be impossible (politically and economically) to have South Africa eliminated in the group stages and therefore there was effectively only one place for the other three teams to play for.
They went on to suggest that the referees would do what ever was necessary to ensure this, disallow goals award penalties – whatever.
They then backed up their argument with statistics showing that no host nation had been eliminated in the group stages, ever.
And clearly, because they are as pessimistic as they are cynical (stereotypically speaking), they believed that France would be the victim of this creative officiating considering the way they qualified.
And it serves then right!
It must be hard to win a world cup when the rest of the world is against you ….. though thinking about that, it’s the same for all the teams isn’t it?
It’s just that the French are playing against themselves as well.
For a nation of pessimistic cynical philosophers is must be terrible - playing to win a tournament they don’t believe they have the right to be at.
My French friends were full of interesting statistics the other night – including the apparent fact that although the French have one of the worst paid coaches among the finalists they have chosen the most expensive hotel.
Call me a cynic if you like but does this mean that a good meal is at the forefront of their thoughts?
Posts
17 comments:
From Anne
The French played cycnically yesterday. The only good moment was Ribery. I love that ugly man. He's come home to Bayern Munich, because Munich is a village no matter how much money is here. The French just don't get that.
From Janet
England 2, USA 0? What do you think?
Love the cherries, btw!
Janet, it's half time so i'm going 2 :1 England
Oh dear, we were both a bit inaccurate - final score 1-1! Never mind, we should do better against Algeria?
Well we should...but...maybe we should just eat those cherries!
Anne i think they should stick Ribery on the right and have Malouda on the left and just LIGHTEN up and enjoy themselves. what a bunch of misery!
beauty and the beast ;-)
anne - what about the game did you find cynical?
I walked out at about 70 minutes because they weren't playing as a team. I wasn't alone, either. Everyone in the beergarden was bored out of their minds.
Had a lot more fun watching the USA play foosball (standing where those poor Engelanders wanted to be) but especially at the moment, watching the young, experienced Germany team pound the Aussies. So happy for Miroslav Klose, whom I have deep respect for.
No i agree with you, they are not playing as a team but as a group of individuals, including Ribery, but i wonder why you described that as cynical - stupid yes, a big mistake yes but i'm not sure it's cynical - i think they are lost.
Which must come partly from the coach.
England also seem to have forgotten they are a team - the poor goalkeeper who made the error was ignored by EVERYone.
Germany meanwhile are looking good.
You know we say that football is a game played by 11 with a ball and in the end Germany win.
...which again is cynical, because Germany is a good runner-up. Good losers, too. Germany gets a seriously bad rap. Never mind. I hope the winner will be South American.
Did that sound grumpy? Unintended. Laughing here http://yfrog.com/2ozitj
and celebrating in the Tutu spirit.
Helpful: http://tinyurl.com/2v2uoxv
It was a tad grumpy, but it was probably just the ......'s.
I didn't mean to be cynical - i always saw that quote as a compliment to Germany, recognising that they are ALWAYS a good team.
There's another quote - 'to win the world cup you have to beat Germany" - i hope it's not cynical, i see it too as a compliment, they are always strong contenders.
Maybe i just don't understand the word cynical properly?
Anyway
Tooooooooot
Buzzzzzzzzz.
ps your answer to question 5, though brilliant ,was not what i was trying to drive at, it was meant to be about the cup.
Sorry, I don't remember the questions including said no. 5. Once you take the quiz you can't go back in.
Will you be posting them somewhere?
anne - probably
the question was what happened after Brazil's third star viz a viz the cup ?
And I got that wrong? The correct answer was probably that the Bazilians danced and sang and took the cup back home with them.
I've decided to post all future comments to this blog post.
;) just kidding.
no anne, your answer was good but this one is better and now the story to discover is - after the singing and dancing and taking the cup home, what happened to the cup?
Post a Comment