Saturday, July 3, 2010
First game I watched and Brazil lost!
Assalamu ‘Alaikum,
First game I watched and Brazil lost!
I’ve always had a soft spot for Holland and would support them against any team. But like most respectable football citizen of the world I have an even softer spot for Brazil and would support them against any team except of course Malaysia. However I don’t think that would be an impending dilemma anytime soon.
I’ve never bothered about the TV ever since we returned from overseas as I was too busy doing Coursework or designing new Islamic Finance courses. So when wife said TV1 is not reachable from our house that fact never really registered in my head till I decided to watch some World Cup matches recently. I stumbled upon a new definition of frustration when I discovered to my horror all channels were crisp and clear ‘cept for TV1 and it was only Germany vs Ghana or something like that behind all that grainy screen. Hanging the internal aerial over my left ear, standing one legged on my right foot, with the clothe hanger positioned deftly under my armpit, did not do it either; the big aerial on the roof top and the small aerial in the house were all determined not to give me any World Cup this time. That was when we decided to renew Astro, much to the joy of the serious cartoon lovers in my house. We saw how Hannah Montana was getting to the girls when we had satellite TV overseas so we reckoned a forced separation with their near idol might do some good for the girls. But now Papa is suffering from acute worldcupitis so a little bit of retraction of parental positions and a little bit of child negotiation with the kids seems to be in order. We paid our dues to Astro and they said they will come and fix it and give us satellite TV anytime between 1 to 14 days. Yes you’ve guessed it they were part of the conspiracy with TV1 and took the whole 14 days to deliver; some lame excuse about there not being enough decoder was the spin they gave me.
I’ve never bothered about the TV ever since we returned from overseas as I was too busy doing Coursework or designing new Islamic Finance courses. So when wife said TV1 is not reachable from our house that fact never really registered in my head till I decided to watch some World Cup matches recently. I stumbled upon a new definition of frustration when I discovered to my horror all channels were crisp and clear ‘cept for TV1 and it was only Germany vs Ghana or something like that behind all that grainy screen. Hanging the internal aerial over my left ear, standing one legged on my right foot, with the clothe hanger positioned deftly under my armpit, did not do it either; the big aerial on the roof top and the small aerial in the house were all determined not to give me any World Cup this time. That was when we decided to renew Astro, much to the joy of the serious cartoon lovers in my house. We saw how Hannah Montana was getting to the girls when we had satellite TV overseas so we reckoned a forced separation with their near idol might do some good for the girls. But now Papa is suffering from acute worldcupitis so a little bit of retraction of parental positions and a little bit of child negotiation with the kids seems to be in order. We paid our dues to Astro and they said they will come and fix it and give us satellite TV anytime between 1 to 14 days. Yes you’ve guessed it they were part of the conspiracy with TV1 and took the whole 14 days to deliver; some lame excuse about there not being enough decoder was the spin they gave me.
Anyway praised be to Allah tonight I got to watch my first World Cup match and that’s between the Leonardo da Vinci’s of football, Brazil and the perennial World Runners up, Holland. When Brazil scored in the first 10 minutes, like that glimpse into the future TV drama, I saw a flash of Dunga clutching the World Cup the after this 2010 Final. Loved these Brazilian one namers, Kaka, Zico, Socrates and of course Pele. If ever Malaysia reaches such galactical heights of football I think we should emulate this Brazilian tradition and let the world curl their lips on Sudin, Atan, Mat, Ahchai and Viji. Of course we’re not quite there yet, well alright, we’re very much not there. Anyway Holland came from behind and curled the ball twice into the Brazilian net. These Rubin or Robin and Schneider guys of Holland are really good. Maybe we could offer them citizenship or datukship or something. Anyway I digress again but you’d understand there is this sadness inside now that Brazil’s gone, a feeling I think only true blue soccer guys will understand. Perhaps if Ghana beats Uruguay or is it Paraguay; sorry I’ve only just joined the World Cup and still need to grasp the details so far. A far cry from younger days when I would watch every single match, record those I can’t see and choose Metrobus to go to work cause they have TV screens showing matches in the morning. Still supporting foreign teams even back then. But I do recall in days gone by when Malaysia used to trashed South Korea and Japan in the Merdeka Cup; so historically we were good ; that means something right? No? Ok let’s root for Ghana.
Wassalam,
Zahid
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