Here's an observation.
So over the last month or so there's understandably been a lot of talk around our team about soccer. When I got bitter about Australia's loss and then put off by the low scores, play-acting and overly significant contributions of referees in deciding matches, I waged something of a campaign arguing that soccer was a sport with deep flaws, and loudly proclaiming that it was dead to me. All this is very well.
What is interesting is that I have the luxury of doing so, but that my french colleagues do not. The difference in the proliferation of sports between the two countries is startling. Cricket and now aussie rules are easy to follow throughout Australia. Rugby league is easy in its home states of Qld and NSW, and rugby can be followed easily for internationals and on cable for Super-14 games. Soccer is a little trickier with its passing into cable exclusivity, but is still a candidate. There are others like tennis, golf, basketball and periodically swimming, but they're not really major sports.
In France its different. There's soccer, and its everywhere, but after that there's a big, big gap. Rugby is played only in the south, and is to a certain extent limited to the 6-nations and world cup tournaments - the domestic league is OK, but not comparable to Super-14 in strength or depth. Then there are minor sports like basketball, handball, cycling and tennis, the latter two of which have their broader appeal respectively limited to the Tour de France and Roland Garros.
Basically, if a frenchman wanted to abandon soccer, he would have little to turn to beyond perhaps rugby, and then only if he lived in the south. For the rest, there is no choice of national, continuing high-level professional sport, which is really very sad.
I guess the US also has a pretty wide platter, with baseball, gridiron, basketball, hockey and to a lesser extent nascar (though I don't understand the latter's appeal at all) all readily available. Canada has hockey and, I guess, the american sports. New Zealand has rugby, cricket and rugby league. England has soccer and to a lesser extent cricket and rugby. Ireland has soccer, rugby, hurling and gaelic football. By contrast, what I've seen of Italy suggests it has even less choice than France. I wonder what other countries are like. Keeping in mind that major sports tend to be a rich country's luxury, what is the norm on sporting diversity?
Ed: So how'd I go? Did I at least make a reasonable attempt at not being too anti-soccer there?
Update: Rugby is better served in France than I thought by TV coverage, with European cup games shown on free-to-air as well as national team games. Cycling is too, with the summer classics shown on TV as well as the tour de france.
Monday, 10 July 2006
regularly scheduled programming
I was feeling pretty tired Sunday evening, so it was with some reluctance that I strapped my camera to my belt and walked into town to observe the crowds watching the world cup soccer final. Maybe there were good reasons - I was pretty tired, and have become increasingly critical of soccer as a sporting spectacle recently - but I just didn't feel there was any real buzz amongst the masses. There were plenty of people gathered, probably more than the QF against Brazil, but it wasn't jumping like it was the previous week. It was probably more boring as a game, too, which might not have helped. In any case, at the end of regulation time, I was yawning so much (how does that happen?) that I jumped on a metro back to my place. On the walk from the metro I heard the cheers and groans inspired by the penalty shootout (if there is a more arbitrary way of deciding a sporting result, I haven't seen it), culminating in a loan drunken teen yelling in frustration when Barthez failed to stop the final Italian penalty. The streets were as empty as I've seen them during my time in Rennes, and the vibe of walking through deserted streets while one lone yobbo screamed from his balcony was somehow a cool vibe.
Wednesday, 5 July 2006
victoriot
This was some video I took with my phone (ergo crappy quality) of people shaking a car after the game on Saturday night. It wasn't the most excited point, and I need to learn to keep myself still when I film, but it may give some idea of what it was like. Warning: noisy.
shoccer
I know, I said I soccer was dead to me, but a very pretty girl invited me to go into town to watch the game against Brazil on Saturday night, which easily dismantled my resistance. The bars had turned televisions out onto the place des Lices, and a few had put stalls out to sell beer and gallettes saucisses. The square was packed with people, and the atmosphere was such that I was happy to momentarily suspend my concern's over the game's dismal aesthetics for the sake of sociological observation.
The game was, in keeping with the nature of the sport, particularly boring from an objective perspective, but everyone went crazy when France scored, and again when the final whistle went. A series of cars tried to drive past in an effort to leave the area, but each was stopped and rocked by revellers. One had its roof jumped on by a particularly enthusiastic and shirtless supporter, a few flares found their way into the bottom of the square by the erstwhile market area. In general though, the crowd remained just narrowly on the safe side of a riot, jumping around to the strains of "on est en demi" (we're in the semi) and "qui ne saute pas n'est pas francais" (anyone not jumping isn't french).
The game was, in keeping with the nature of the sport, particularly boring from an objective perspective, but everyone went crazy when France scored, and again when the final whistle went. A series of cars tried to drive past in an effort to leave the area, but each was stopped and rocked by revellers. One had its roof jumped on by a particularly enthusiastic and shirtless supporter, a few flares found their way into the bottom of the square by the erstwhile market area. In general though, the crowd remained just narrowly on the safe side of a riot, jumping around to the strains of "on est en demi" (we're in the semi) and "qui ne saute pas n'est pas francais" (anyone not jumping isn't french).
Tuesday, 4 July 2006
Just to reiterate...
I stumbled across Afe's album reviews, and was happy to read that he, like me, was shockingly disappointed by Belle & Sebastian's The Boy With The Arab Strap, having had it consistently recommended by sources human and otherwise.
And for Mr Stein's benefit, I reiterate what I may or may not have sufficiently emphasized in previous posts here: The Lucksmiths are living gods of pop, and I am yet to hear their equal for song lyrics (with the possible exception of Mr Zimmerman). No easygoing summer is complete without them. And anyone who persists in mentioning that BS album in the same breath as them will be added, forthwith and courtesy of my good self, to the world encyclopedia of twentieth century murder.
Violently unhappy and happily violent. Sigh.
And for Mr Stein's benefit, I reiterate what I may or may not have sufficiently emphasized in previous posts here: The Lucksmiths are living gods of pop, and I am yet to hear their equal for song lyrics (with the possible exception of Mr Zimmerman). No easygoing summer is complete without them. And anyone who persists in mentioning that BS album in the same breath as them will be added, forthwith and courtesy of my good self, to the world encyclopedia of twentieth century murder.
Violently unhappy and happily violent. Sigh.
Tuesday, 27 June 2006
the roundball shame
Et c'est pour ca, mes chers amis, que le foot est, et va toujours être, de la merde. May as well toss a goddamn coin. Arbitrary referee decision, game over. And to think I overpaid for two pints during the match. Soccer is dead to me. C'arn the pies, up you Lions, and ooh-aah Glenn McGrath.
Really, though. What sort of sport allows a game like that? 90 minutes with basically nothing happening, then the referee gets thirsty and blows an arbitrary penalty to avoid going for another 30. Pish. Tosh.
Bitter? Yes please, and make it a pint.
Really, though. What sort of sport allows a game like that? 90 minutes with basically nothing happening, then the referee gets thirsty and blows an arbitrary penalty to avoid going for another 30. Pish. Tosh.
Bitter? Yes please, and make it a pint.
Monday, 26 June 2006
wheekend
A strange weekend, busy in a way, though hardly stressful.
Friday night was football, the "return" game - having gotten Australia through against Croatia, we then got France through against Togo. Like their previous games, France dominated general play but had real difficult getting shots, and fingernail were being bitten at half-time. In the second half, though, Vieira stepped up and the 2-0 result was merited and sufficient to get them through to play Spain. The evening was good fun, too, with Erwan & Manu, Arnaud, and Erwan's parents all in attendance.
On Saturday I trotted around to Avenir (how many times have I written that?) for their "fête du basket". From 10am, we played some inter-generational games, plus a whole bunch of little challenges like 3-point and free-throw contests, dunk contests (for all ages, including the little kiddies - poussins - on little plastic hoops) and dribbling challenges. I actually won myself a basketball on one of the latter, which surprised me. I was less successful in the real games, but it was fun to run up and down and try to get the little kids involved. In the evening we had a dinner, and I had a good chat with Ashu, Sandy, Arnaud, Soso, and others. Through the day I also met Jean-Paul and Maxine, whose daughter plays with the cadettes (or minimes, not sure), as well as a couple of other people from around the club.
Sunday, by contrast, was consecrated to WoW. I had an epic day, with a bunch of SM runs in the morning which got me to lvl38, then a poorly organised but invigorating SS raid where I racked u 50HK to help my feeble PVP rating. In the evening, Ashu came round to borrow my internet connection, in order to finish his webpage assignment. He asked for help a few times, but I had little to add in a constructive sense to a project based on Dreamweaver and making liberal use of flash. So, in order not to interrupt his work, I kept playing with a long, long run at Uldaman with a bunch of hunters, by the end of which I hit 39. The Ulda run was particularly fun, even though we wiped a bunch of times. We came within a whisker of finishing the main boss, too, but the lack of a true tank to hold aggro really hurt us. At 38, I was a little underpowered, but I can punch well above my weight as a primary healer, so got a few compliments and a new guild for my troubles.
And that was the weekend that was. Today its off to test my knee with a little tennis (basketball on Saturday was touch and go), then hopefully to a bar somewhere in town to watch the Australia game.
Friday night was football, the "return" game - having gotten Australia through against Croatia, we then got France through against Togo. Like their previous games, France dominated general play but had real difficult getting shots, and fingernail were being bitten at half-time. In the second half, though, Vieira stepped up and the 2-0 result was merited and sufficient to get them through to play Spain. The evening was good fun, too, with Erwan & Manu, Arnaud, and Erwan's parents all in attendance.
On Saturday I trotted around to Avenir (how many times have I written that?) for their "fête du basket". From 10am, we played some inter-generational games, plus a whole bunch of little challenges like 3-point and free-throw contests, dunk contests (for all ages, including the little kiddies - poussins - on little plastic hoops) and dribbling challenges. I actually won myself a basketball on one of the latter, which surprised me. I was less successful in the real games, but it was fun to run up and down and try to get the little kids involved. In the evening we had a dinner, and I had a good chat with Ashu, Sandy, Arnaud, Soso, and others. Through the day I also met Jean-Paul and Maxine, whose daughter plays with the cadettes (or minimes, not sure), as well as a couple of other people from around the club.
Sunday, by contrast, was consecrated to WoW. I had an epic day, with a bunch of SM runs in the morning which got me to lvl38, then a poorly organised but invigorating SS raid where I racked u 50HK to help my feeble PVP rating. In the evening, Ashu came round to borrow my internet connection, in order to finish his webpage assignment. He asked for help a few times, but I had little to add in a constructive sense to a project based on Dreamweaver and making liberal use of flash. So, in order not to interrupt his work, I kept playing with a long, long run at Uldaman with a bunch of hunters, by the end of which I hit 39. The Ulda run was particularly fun, even though we wiped a bunch of times. We came within a whisker of finishing the main boss, too, but the lack of a true tank to hold aggro really hurt us. At 38, I was a little underpowered, but I can punch well above my weight as a primary healer, so got a few compliments and a new guild for my troubles.
And that was the weekend that was. Today its off to test my knee with a little tennis (basketball on Saturday was touch and go), then hopefully to a bar somewhere in town to watch the Australia game.
Friday, 23 June 2006
job market
It feels like I'm falling into the job market tous d'un coup. I got a request to send a CV off to someone last week, then an ad for a post-doc popped up the other day, and today I see that NICTA are looking for a researcher in SE. They all involve interesting topics in which I have a bit of experience, too, which is reassuring in terms of the job market not being as glum as I thought it might have been. At the same time, they probably need attention in the next few weeks which, from the perspective of both time preparing applications and mental energy expended, is not likely to help my PhD progress in the short term.
Crow-atcha
I last night donned my wallabies jersey (subtle comment on soccer's role in Australian sport) and one of the tattoos my sister sent me last year (where else am I going to use them?), and rocked around to Erwan & Manu's place with Arnaud and Nono to watch the Australia-Croatia derby (10 players with conflict of interest, I believe).
The star of the show was obviously the pillock of a referee, but generally highlights included:
- Joe Simunic showing his Australian upbringing by executing a textbook rugby tackle on Mark Viduka, yet somehow not being penalised
- A croation defender executing a textbook aussie rules spoiling punch in the area yet not being penalised
- Tugging and general buffoonery all night long in both penalty areas, almost totally ignored by aforementioned pillock and his buddies on the sidelines
- Zeljko Kalac playing out his worst nightmare by almost throwing the ball in his own goal off a corner then finishing the job off a tame shot in the second half
- Joe Simunic getting a second yellow card, but deciding that it was a fun game anyway, and continuing to play until getting a third yellow and belated red after the final whistle, in turn brought about by
- Pillock looking Joe in the eyes and saying to himself, "Hang on, I've been booking this guy all night long, what's he still doing here? Crap, I'd better blow full time, even if the Aussies are about to score and settle this thing beyond doubt"
Englishmen should not be given whistles anywhere outside of a dance party.
I'm not sure I've seen a more chaotic game in any sport. On the balance of possession and chances, I'd say Australia certainly deserved to qualify and probably should have won the match, but you have to wonder how that sort of bordelle can happen at this level.
Tonight its back to the scene of the crime to watch France vs Togo, featuring the much anticipated battle between a french attack featuring Henry (Arsenal) & Trezeguet (Juventus) against 4 blokes who play respectively in the french 6th league, the cypriot league, the belgian second division, and without a club.
The star of the show was obviously the pillock of a referee, but generally highlights included:
- Joe Simunic showing his Australian upbringing by executing a textbook rugby tackle on Mark Viduka, yet somehow not being penalised
- A croation defender executing a textbook aussie rules spoiling punch in the area yet not being penalised
- Tugging and general buffoonery all night long in both penalty areas, almost totally ignored by aforementioned pillock and his buddies on the sidelines
- Zeljko Kalac playing out his worst nightmare by almost throwing the ball in his own goal off a corner then finishing the job off a tame shot in the second half
- Joe Simunic getting a second yellow card, but deciding that it was a fun game anyway, and continuing to play until getting a third yellow and belated red after the final whistle, in turn brought about by
- Pillock looking Joe in the eyes and saying to himself, "Hang on, I've been booking this guy all night long, what's he still doing here? Crap, I'd better blow full time, even if the Aussies are about to score and settle this thing beyond doubt"
Englishmen should not be given whistles anywhere outside of a dance party.
I'm not sure I've seen a more chaotic game in any sport. On the balance of possession and chances, I'd say Australia certainly deserved to qualify and probably should have won the match, but you have to wonder how that sort of bordelle can happen at this level.
Tonight its back to the scene of the crime to watch France vs Togo, featuring the much anticipated battle between a french attack featuring Henry (Arsenal) & Trezeguet (Juventus) against 4 blokes who play respectively in the french 6th league, the cypriot league, the belgian second division, and without a club.
Wednesday, 21 June 2006
wet de la musique
Today is the solstice, which here means the fête de la musique, wherein street performers flock to street corners to beat on drums, strum guitars and generally make noise. I missed the first year I was here, but last year had a pretty good time wandering around Toulouse with Juan, Chris and Mick watching groups of varying styles and abilities beat out their tunes. I'm pretty keen to do the same here in Rennes tonight, but for the moment its looking miserable outside, which makes a foot-tour of the centre-ville pretty unappealing. I'll have to see if I can rustle up some company...
Tuesday, 20 June 2006
here come the blow-ins again ...
We had the first wave of visitors a couple of weeks ago. Robert France, Sudipto Ghosh and Trung Dink Trung from Colorado State spent a week here and there were numerous meetings talking about all manner of things, both research and administration (plotting for grant monies).
The second wave arrives today. A chap called Diego from Spain arrives for a couple of months, to be joined by his boss in a couple of weeks. Then we have Iman coming over from London for week or so, as well as a new Indian Masters student, a new engineer from England, and a visit from an Aussie, Greg O'Keefe, for a couple of weeks in August.
Busy, busy, busy.
The second wave arrives today. A chap called Diego from Spain arrives for a couple of months, to be joined by his boss in a couple of weeks. Then we have Iman coming over from London for week or so, as well as a new Indian Masters student, a new engineer from England, and a visit from an Aussie, Greg O'Keefe, for a couple of weeks in August.
Busy, busy, busy.
Monday, 19 June 2006
round and round
So on Thursday night there was a dinner at the foyer. It was the usual crowd, a propos a few - the basketball chicks, Erwan & Manu, Katrin, who I hadn't seen in a while, and most importantly Ashu as cook. We had some bbq'd tandoori chicken and another chicken curry, which was all pretty good. It was also kind of farewell for Liz before heading over to Vancouver for summer. Good craic.
On Friday I had lunch with Tortue and Liz in town, which was nice. Later in the afternoon I went for my second (and first proper) pyhsio appointment. He put me through a bunch of exercises designed to make my knee work under some static pressure, which also put my lower calf and quad muscles to good work. He seems pretty confident I'll be back running around in short time, which is good.
I had grand plans to do, like, "stuff", on Saturday, but mice, men, and all that. Mostly I just bummed around, watched football, played FIFA. And sweated. It has turned hot all of a sudden here, and even sitting around in a singlet, I was in stuck-pig mode for not insignificant intervals. On Sunday I got off my bum a bit, did some shopping, had some lunch and headed out on the bike (having received the OK from the physio on Friday) with my iPod. I rode up to Betton and back along the canal, by pedometer 33-odd km, by bike computer about 35. Interestingly, its my hip flexors that get tired/sore with cycling, not my quads as it probably should be.
After my ride I wandered by the braderie (giant communal garage sale) around the corner and caught up with Erwan, who was manning a stall with his brother-in-law Bernard and father-in-law Thierry. After a brief family meeting, we headed over to Bertrand's (brother-in-law) place, just 100m or so from mine, to meet Arnaud and watch the Australia-Brazil game. Australia played OK, and probably didn't deserve to lose by 2 goals, but could not claim to have earned a win. Brazil were underwhelming. After that we headed back to Manu's parents place, 200m from mine in the other direction (small world), for an apero before the france game. To recap, participants included: myself, Manu & Erwan, Arnaud, Manu's sister and husband, Manu's mum & dad, grandma, and 3 little ones asleep upstairs. We had dinner, a summery help-yourself type thing with salad and cold meats, and watched the france game, with Erwan, Arnaud and Bernard particularly on edge. France were unlucky to draw, but were nonetheless unconvincing in attack, and fatigued noticably towards the end of the match. Why Domenech waited until the 90th minute to put in subs for a tired Zidane and an ineffective Henry, is beyond me.
On Friday I had lunch with Tortue and Liz in town, which was nice. Later in the afternoon I went for my second (and first proper) pyhsio appointment. He put me through a bunch of exercises designed to make my knee work under some static pressure, which also put my lower calf and quad muscles to good work. He seems pretty confident I'll be back running around in short time, which is good.
I had grand plans to do, like, "stuff", on Saturday, but mice, men, and all that. Mostly I just bummed around, watched football, played FIFA. And sweated. It has turned hot all of a sudden here, and even sitting around in a singlet, I was in stuck-pig mode for not insignificant intervals. On Sunday I got off my bum a bit, did some shopping, had some lunch and headed out on the bike (having received the OK from the physio on Friday) with my iPod. I rode up to Betton and back along the canal, by pedometer 33-odd km, by bike computer about 35. Interestingly, its my hip flexors that get tired/sore with cycling, not my quads as it probably should be.
After my ride I wandered by the braderie (giant communal garage sale) around the corner and caught up with Erwan, who was manning a stall with his brother-in-law Bernard and father-in-law Thierry. After a brief family meeting, we headed over to Bertrand's (brother-in-law) place, just 100m or so from mine, to meet Arnaud and watch the Australia-Brazil game. Australia played OK, and probably didn't deserve to lose by 2 goals, but could not claim to have earned a win. Brazil were underwhelming. After that we headed back to Manu's parents place, 200m from mine in the other direction (small world), for an apero before the france game. To recap, participants included: myself, Manu & Erwan, Arnaud, Manu's sister and husband, Manu's mum & dad, grandma, and 3 little ones asleep upstairs. We had dinner, a summery help-yourself type thing with salad and cold meats, and watched the france game, with Erwan, Arnaud and Bernard particularly on edge. France were unlucky to draw, but were nonetheless unconvincing in attack, and fatigued noticably towards the end of the match. Why Domenech waited until the 90th minute to put in subs for a tired Zidane and an ineffective Henry, is beyond me.
Thursday, 15 June 2006
Wednesday, 14 June 2006
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
