The ILB Euro 2004 Thread

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Hmm, this might not be a popular thread, but one must occasionally put aside one's book and watch MAJOR FOOTBALL TOURNAMENTS.

Give your predictions, review the games, sing "If it wasn't for the British you'd be Krauts" to your Swiss friends.

You may read at half time.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Friday, 11 June 2004 15:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Hah!

― Fred (Fred), Friday, 11 June 2004 15:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Unfortunately, there is no US coverage. Grrr. So I will drink a pint to the health of Euro 2004 and then go back to reading.

― Jocelyn (Jocelyn), Friday, 11 June 2004 20:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Apparently it's officially ok for us to support Engerland in their matches. A radio survey on RTE 1 found that 53% of people will be cheering for England in their matches.

So, come on the England say I. Obviously I won't be watching any actual football, but I will be passing the opinions of others off as my own at regular intervals.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Friday, 11 June 2004 21:46 (twenty-one years ago)

How about football books for half-times? There are some greats out there : starting with Eamon Dunphy's "Only A Game".
Plus:
Nick Hornby - "Fever Pitch"

― David N (David N.), Friday, 11 June 2004 23:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Monkey -- you should watch some footy with me!

― the junefox, Saturday, 12 June 2004 09:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I will, don't worry. There will be football.

Chris Horrie wrote a great book about football as well, more about the Premiership and how it works than anything else. It was great, Bill Bryson-esque anecdotes but with a hint of vitriol.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Saturday, 12 June 2004 09:51 (twenty-one years ago)

What's the title of Horrie's book?

Unfortunately, there is no US coverage.

What? It's on Pay-Per-View. The question for me is whether to indulge my francophile or my anglophile tendencies. I think I'll root for England as underdogs.

― Michael White (Hereward), Saturday, 12 June 2004 17:10 (twenty-one years ago)

More talk! I am in biased delight for Greece. Who would ILB prefer in Spain-Russia? Who has the better writers? Cervantes vs Tolstoy? I guess the Russians have a lot more depth in the squad.

― Gregory Henry (Gregory Henry), Saturday, 12 June 2004 18:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Why are we talking about this here? There is lots on ILE, which is the place for it on many levels!

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 12 June 2004 18:45 (twenty-one years ago)

that rte survey is fairly surprising
the influence of the premiership i suppose

― robin (robin), Saturday, 12 June 2004 23:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Doesn't this belong on ILCricket?

― SRH (Skrik), Sunday, 13 June 2004 11:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Curse you Zidane. And you Heskey. Giving away stupid free kicks on the edge of the box. And you, Mr Gerrard. What exactly were you trying to do?

What a sickening feeling.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Monday, 14 June 2004 07:37 (twenty-one years ago)

This was a nightmare :(

― Archel (Archel), Monday, 14 June 2004 08:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Sartre said it best, "Hell is Emile Heskey"

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Monday, 14 June 2004 10:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Or F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Beautiful and Zidane.

― Archelina, Monday, 14 June 2004 10:06 (twenty-one years ago)

not that i really care about it, but Italy - Danmark late in the afternoon today might be a good excuse enough to leave the office at 6 p.m. without ANYONE noticing (they all will have already gone home to watch the game).
p.s. I'll keep for Danmark out of spite, obviously, and have a nice walk home in a deserted Rome, eh eh eh

― misshajim (strand), Monday, 14 June 2004 10:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, thank you misshajim. I did se the yahoo.it!!! Why not Italy??? And I didn´t even know there was a footballmatch. Then again, when is there not a footballmatch in the tv???

― Jens Drejer (Jens Drejer), Monday, 14 June 2004 11:37 (twenty-one years ago)

always been partial to Danmark after living there for a year...and always hated Italian teams, 'cause have been living in Italy since ;)

― misshajim (strand), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:13 (twenty-one years ago)

LOL.
Enjoy the match.

― Jens Drejer (Jens Drejer), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:25 (twenty-one years ago)

More good football books:
Miracle of Castel di Sangro by Joe McGinniss
American journalist spends a year with the team of a tiny Italian town who have miraculously got promoted to Serie B.

Goalkeepers are Different by Brian Glanville
It's a childrens novel, written in the seventies, about a young lad who begins his career playing for a First Division team called Borough(Chelsea really). When I read it as a kid, it seemed wonderfully realistic. I read it again last year, and I still like it, partly because it describes a football world so different from today's.

― Joe Kay (feethurt), Monday, 14 June 2004 13:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Good football book: Pop by Kitty Aldridge (not completely about football, admittedly)

Bad football book: Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby

― Archel (Archel), Monday, 14 June 2004 13:14 (twenty-one years ago)

How many of the competing countries have you read books by authors from that country?
I score 7.
Yes to Russia (Nabakov), England (Dickens), France (Flaubert), Italy(Moravia), Holland (Anne Frank), Germany (Schink), and Czech Republic(Kafka)

No to Portugal, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Switzerland, Denmark , Sweden, Bulgaria, Latvia.

― Joe Kay (feethurt), Monday, 14 June 2004 13:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Have read: England, France, Russia, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Sweden, Portugal, Denmark

Can't remember/not sure: Spain, Greece, Switzerland

Haven't read: Croatia, Bulgaria, Latvia

― Archel (Archel), Monday, 14 June 2004 13:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Why does ILX hate Nick Hornby so much? I merely ask out of curiosity. I read Fever Pitch some years ago. I quite enjoyed bits of it, other bits I was kind of bored by. I thought it neither amazing nor terrible. So, what is the big problem with it?

I want to restate that I am not defending Nick Hornby or saying he's great, I just want to know why exactly everyone hates him quite so much.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Monday, 14 June 2004 13:47 (twenty-one years ago)

"Goalkeepers are Different by Brian Glanville
It's a childrens novel, written in the seventies, about a young lad who begins his career playing for a First Division team called Borough(Chelsea really)."

I read this when I was a goalkeeping kid. I had no idea it was by Brian Glanville. I remember the first post match interview he gives on the tv and how nervous he was etc. Great kid's book.

Brian Glanville wrote a really great history of the World Cup too. For adults this time.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Monday, 14 June 2004 14:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Don't know about the rest of ILx but I found Fever Pitch to be a boring, self-regarding, unimaginative, unappealing account of football fandom.

― Archel (Archel), Monday, 14 June 2004 14:02 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought Fever Pitch to be a well enough written roman confessionel. If I objected to anything in it, it would have to be with the man himself- his writing was fine.

― Michael White (Hereward), Monday, 14 June 2004 14:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I liked Fever Pitch. I read it very soon after it came out and it seemed to say a lot about being a football fan that I hadn't read up until then. It got copied so much that reading it more recently would probably make you less impressed. Also, it's always described as a book where a football fan explains his passion to non-believers, but I think the book works better if you're a fan already. For instance,
my favorite section of the book is the one about Charlie George, not for any insights into life it makes, but for its insights into Charlie George. Similarly for the Malcolm MacDonald section. If you had no views on these characters already, those sections were probably fairly boring.

As far as I can gather, the ILX hate towards Hornby is more based on his music books and music journalism, especially his idea that as you get older it's silly to try to keep up with new music, and you should basically stick with the music you liked when young, or slight modern variations on it.

― Joe Kay (feethurt), Monday, 14 June 2004 14:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Everyone seems to have polarised opinions on Hornby. To me, he's OK, that's it. His books seem to have got steadily worse, but I appreciate the fact that he articulated the drama and pathetic superstitions involved in being a football fan. You have to look at the context of football books around at the time. It was so much better.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Monday, 14 June 2004 15:27 (twenty-one years ago)

There's a Pinefox in my house watching footie on the telly this very evening! Sometimes we talk about books too! It's bizarrely close to Mikey's suggestion.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Monday, 14 June 2004 17:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Hornby = gooner.

I don't think I have an alternative to what Joe Kay describes as Hornby's position.

To clarify, I hate Hornby.

― the finefox, Tuesday, 15 June 2004 07:47 (twenty-one years ago)

On the other hand...Famous Writers who are Spurs fans: Salman Rushdie. He wrote a story in a football compendium about supporting Tottenham. Contrary to popular belief, it was this that led directly to the fatwa.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Tuesday, 15 June 2004 07:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I liked Fever Pitch, but the best football stories are the ones where a tramp turns out to be a superstar striker once he's had a bit of a wash and brush-up.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Tuesday, 15 June 2004 09:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Germany vs Holland tonight!

I think Goethe said it best, "beware the orange horse"

2-1 to the Dutch says the Mikey G Predictor

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Tuesday, 15 June 2004 14:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Wrong!

― the junefox, Tuesday, 15 June 2004 20:03 (twenty-one years ago)

...depressing...
i hope you'll believe I don't think there's much to be said about the Italian football team play AND fairplay
(and then you wonder I don't care about football)

― misshajim (strand), Thursday, 17 June 2004 06:09 (twenty-one years ago)

3-1 to the Engurland, reckons I.

And Scholes back on the scoresheet!

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Thursday, 17 June 2004 12:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh Mikey G your optimism is like a daffodil-scented balm. Fingers xed!

― Archel (Archel), Thursday, 17 June 2004 13:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Even better than predicted, 3-0 to the Engurland. Scholes still missing his shooting boots, mind.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Friday, 18 June 2004 08:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes indeed. The optimism was not misplaced :)

The Swiss teams had some crazy names going on. I approve.

― Archel (Archel), Friday, 18 June 2004 09:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I know I speak for everyone on ILB when I say we've all got butterflies in our stomach over tonights game.

Prediction:

2-1 to England. Plucky Croats on the way home with their silly checked shirts.

And France to beat Switzerland 1-0.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Monday, 21 June 2004 15:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh yeah, you've got a match tonight. Well, 53% of me will be supporting you. The rest will be indifferent to the outcome.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Monday, 21 June 2004 15:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, gosh, that was exciting, wasn't it?

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Monday, 21 June 2004 20:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, it was. Much more of this and I'll have to get a flag.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Monday, 21 June 2004 20:05 (twenty-one years ago)

England in not being embarrassingly mediocre shocker! Roll on Portugal (or was it Greece? I can't let down the bookish side by knowing TOO much about it, after all.)

Mind you without thuglet Rooney would we still have much to celebrate?

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 07:04 (twenty-one years ago)

He's no looker, that's for sure. But I can't help feeling bad about him in some ways. He's only 18, and I fear that he'll be on the receiving end of some awful tackle when he's 20 that will render him unable to play for the rest of his life, and he doesn't even seem to have the flair to make it as a pundit. I always worry about these young chaps.

Say what you like about writing, it's not a very dangerous profession. Unless you choose to make it one.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 08:41 (twenty-one years ago)

It's Portugal on Thursday night. Rooney reminds me of the young Hemmingway. With a Scouse accent. And intelligence at the other end of his body.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 10:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Hey Mikey, aren't you going to Transylvania tomorrow? Will you send me a postcard? Come on, do, I'll be your best friend.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 10:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I am indeed. Lock up your undead daughters. I'm not sure how they deal with vegetarians in Transylvania. Probably with a punch.

I've got your e-mail address noted. Do you want a real card? If so, you can pick up my real e-mail address from Freaky Trigger or (I think) from here. I don't want to publicise it as it is my work one. And ILX (excepting ILB) is full of weirdos.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 10:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I can't pick up your email address, it seems. Mail me, mail me!

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 14:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I've e-mailed you, your monkeyness

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 14:20 (twenty-one years ago)

And that e-mail has just been bounced back. Mail me at mikeygregory@hotmail.com

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 14:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Quick everyone! Spam Mikey!!!

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 14:48 (twenty-one years ago)

oh no. Please do not do that. Archel, you're for it!

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 15:01 (twenty-one years ago)

We promise we won't if you post pics of your Trip to Draculand.

― Jocelyn (Jocelyn), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 15:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Hellfire, why does my mail keep bouncing? I can find nothing wrong with it. Stupid Yahoo.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 15:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Right off to Romania. Contactable on the above e-mail. Providing it's not full of spam.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 15:38 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

Boing! Next major football tournament on the horizon.

Time for tabloid xenophobia, tv adverts of Brazilians kicking a ball around an airport, food cleared from the fridge and replaced by lager, Panini albums, dark horses, cliches, bizarre opening ceremonies and FOOTBALL.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Thursday, 13 April 2006 13:49 (nineteen years ago)

Two years!

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 14 April 2006 11:06 (nineteen years ago)

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