A dedicated follower of football

Well, I used to be. Not an obnoxious obsessive. Not a chauvinistic supporter of one particular club. But I do love the game. And I like to watch the big matches in the latter stages of the season. This is a busy couple of months we've just entered, with the knockout phase of the Champions League, the climax of the English league season, and the FA Cup coming up.

It's hard to keep up my enthusiasm and maintain my interest in the sport out here, though. Coverage on the local TV is erratic, and the presentation abysmal. {This probably merits a 'Where in the world am I?' post over on Froogville some time. [DONE!]) I don't have satellite TV. And the foreign sports bars where I could watch games (perhaps even with commentary in English!) are not at all my cup of tea. (Affluent expattery is not, in general, my cup of tea. Drunk, boisterous, partisan expats are espcially not.)

And worst of all, of course, the games are all on in the wee small hours of the morning local time. I almost killed myself trying to watch the European Championships in '04. (It didn't help that, hours after we had thrown away our game with France by letting Zidane score twice in the last few minutes, I had to endure a long cab ride out to the University district with a driver who had evidently been up all night watching the games also - and delighted in taunting me for the whole 30 minutes: "France, very strong, yes? Zidane, great player, yes?" I consoled myself that this teasing was the only thing keeping him awake, and me alive.) Last summer, I arranged to go for a holiday in the States during the second half of the World Cup. The first two weeks of trying to watch it out here had turned me into a zombie.

Amid the tribulations of these crazy viewing times and the attendant sleep-deprivation, I seem to have developed an unfortunate aversion to my national team. I noticed last summer that I had become incapable of staying awake during England games, though I could usually manage it without too much difficulty for France, Brazil, the Czech Republic, etc. I briefly tried to convince myself that this was actually a good thing because: a) we were playing appallingly, and were very boring to watch; and b) we seemed to score on the rare occasions when I woke up!

It seems that this habit still persists. Last night, after a heavy evening of beer & pool with Big Chris and The Chairman, I returned to Froog Towers to watch our European qualifier against Israel - and fell asleep on my infamous Man-Eating Sofa within seconds of switching the TV on. The Chairman tells me I didn't miss anything.

I hope I can keep my brain switched on long enough to enjoy at least a few of the late-night matches ahead.