Sport: Does he finally get it?

Been following the World Cup lately. I've never really been a fan of football (Soccer for any American viewers), but when it's put in your face as much as the World Cup has been, sometimes you just get converted. Have to admit I've loved every match so far. I've even thoroughly enjoyed being exactly the type of person I usually avoid - a cheering, lager-swilling bloke staring at a screen in a pub. It's not attractive, but boy is it fun.

Absorbing the culture and the atmosphere seems to be what does it. I find myself knocking back the English rubbish that calls itself "Carling" in place of my usual tipple, the finer cuisine of Real Ales. I will chant away to the likes of "Football's Coming Home" without a second thought.

I thought it was the alcohol and pub atmosphere that did it, but I watched yesterday's match from home with only a non-alcoholic beverage to hand and was still glued so I guess patriotism and wanting my country to win are a big part of it.

As usual with me, I've been partly inspired by the productions of Square-Enix (although the World Cup was the main factor). Final Fantasy X featured "Blitzball", roughly like an underwater football, as a major part of its game and storyline. It's always taken fiction/stories to teach me about the real world, it's just my particular learning style. Anyway, the story behind Blitzball taught me the importance of such games - how they bring people (even different cultures) together, provide a welcome distraction from the worries and stresses of reality etc. In a world that seems to be falling apart and everything going wrong, you can forget about it all as you get immersed in these sporting performances. You can follow the elite, or the underdogs, and be assured that whoever you follow, it's worthwhile and exciting. Sharing a common interest with the majority of the civilised world also gives you a lot more to talk about and makes it much more fulfilling. Did I mention it brings people together?

I spent my first game ignoring Blitzball and 'filtering out' all the characters' discussions about it. I spent the second game getting involved with it (because I like to cover everything in FF games) - surprise, the second game was much more fulfilling.

I know if I get stuck in a lift with some random person, I'd rather be able to strike up a conversation about football or some other sport than "the weather" or "the inconvenience of the present situation"

Perhaps I'll make time to try and learn the game properly, and even some others. I need to properly pick a team to support, too, apart from "England". Then it'll make it worthwhile. Man. United seems a bit cliche to me, but they're probably the closest half-decent team to home, and it's who most of my mates support (and therefore I've rooted for them in the past) so it seems likely that they're the ones to go for. I never used to understand the attraction of "supporting"* a particular team, but I get it now - without someone to root for, it's little more than 22 grown men kicking a pig's internal organs around a field. When you're following one particular team, it's a whole different ball game...

* As a sidenote, when I was a youngster I used to think "supporting a team" meant you had to contribute money towards it! I had no money, and my parents weren't about to pay for something like football, so I didn't bother trying. What a muppet (hysterics)