Fun with history and politics at the World Cup

Full disclosure: I am not a "football" fan, never have been. I learned to play in high school, that is during the mezoic era, and i was always dismayed that you ran, ran and ran, making occasional contact with the ball, but hardly ever scored. if you are going to put out that much effort, you ought to get something for your trouble. American football might represent the worst in American life--violence punctuated by committee meetings--but at least you get some serious forward motion and touchdown action.

Nonetheless, most of the rest of the world is gaga for "football," and there's some pretty good entertainment to be had there, mostly in the realm of international relations:

England has so many out-of-control "football supporters" that certain of said "supporters"--some 3,000-- must turn in their passports during the World Cup. To prevent attempts to circumvent this requirements swim to Germany, these fellows have to check in with the local police just prior to the start of a given match. And you thought those NCAA revelers were beyond the pale! These guys have given England a new name: "Hooligans' Isle."

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is on hold, at least in some places, during the festivities. Israelis have bought millions of pricey cable packages for the Cup. Palestinians are eagerly accepting some under-the-table packages themselves--I think almost everything is illegal there after Hamas--and Gaza residents are promising a cease-fire so that everyone concerned can watch the matches in peace.

There always is the intriguing colony-colonizer/commonwealth angle: will England end up playing Trinidad-Tobago? Australia? How about South Africa? Will David slay Goliath, or will Goliath overcome History and Tradition and the Desire for a Good Story?

The United States, while much improved, is at best a marginal player in this competition. It's nice not to have to play the leading role for once. We usually tend to suck up all available oxygen in a given venue.

Then, finally, inevitably, we have Longstanding Animosities Creeping Back into the Picture: despite the Monty Python alumni's humorous advice for harmonious relations with Germans during the cup, i.e. "Don't Mention the War!" "Don't Mention the War!," there is this valedictory gem, delivered in l966 by the London Times on the eve of England v. Germany for the World Cup and unearthed by Dave Kindred in the Sporting News:

"Fret not, boys, if on the morrow we should lose to the Germans at our national game, for twice this century we have defeated them at theirs."

Uh, England won that one, 4-2.