I stayed up late tonight watching the world cup live.
Yes, I'm indulging in the time benefits of being unemployed.
If you don't know the Cup is being played in Korea & Japan this year and so most of the games start at 2:30AM or 4:30AM. Tonight one started at 11:30pm (Mexico vs. Croatia), so I started watching it and kept on to the next game (Brazil vs. Turkey).

I have found BBC's coverage to be very helpful, where New York Times was, not surprisingly, a bit wanting. SO I went BBC which has a full profile on every player of every team. It would be nice if they listed the player's jersey numbers, so that I could look up who I was watching without waiting for them to turn around so that I can see their names. Oh, did I mention that the only channel I can watch the games on (since I don't have cable) is a Spanish language one? It's fun when someone scores a goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooal, but in general it's pretty uninformative for mono-lingual me.

Anyway, I wanted to talk about the Brazil vs. Turkey game which is on as I write. The Turks are really impressing me. Playing with a lot of heart against one of the most talented and high profile teams in the entire World Cup finals. The BBC coverage while the game is in progress makes it sound much more one-sided than it has been.. Turkey has played them eye-to-eye in a very rough and tumble game. They have not been intimidated and have had the stamina to play Brazil step-for-step, never letting up.

Their goal keeper's play in particular has been terrific--he is a solid unflinching competitor. What mistakes he has made, matters of instants and inches he has the benefit of a long frame and quick reflexes to recover from. A real pleasure to watch. The ref on the other hand has lost control of the game a bit--and Brazil is all too eager to tell him how he should call the game and subvert his authority when he doesn't strongly exert it.

*sigh*, case in point, just now, with a couple minutes left there was a red card and penalty in the box called on Turkey which was completley bunk--the ref just kinda took Brazil's word (and acting) for it. They scored and that's a shitty way for this game to be decided (it's now 2-1, Brazil will surely win).

O shit. And it just got even worse. with another red card. You will probably read about it. I'll link it tomorrow when there's a chance. Really not a classy way to win for Brazil against a worthy opponent.

Turkey will have a difficult time now making it to the next round (not sure how good China or Costa Rica are). They should protest the ref's calls, if they can, that was nonsense. I look forward to watching Turkey play again; they can play a tough game. Brazil has some great players who want to win at any cost, but I hope that they have referees with a bit more backbone and skepticism in the rest of the tournament. And I hope they get knocked out as soon as possible.

Meanwhile another game is about to start and I am NOT going to watch it. G'nite.