The first time I saw it was a couple of years ago on Eurosport, they were showing the matches from the Euro tournament at the time (Forza Azzurri!) and a friend of mine was really into it so I started watching some too. Still, it seemed too different from the real thing to really be enjoyable.

But now the spirit has been rekindled, I was watching Iraq-Cuba from the ongoing World Cup in Taipei (that's Taiwan, kids) and I realized it's actually quite fun to watch. Unlike soccer, the end to end action is a lot more frequent and there aren't many long stops for free kicks and fouls. The game is still a lot different, but it's more exciting too.

I recall playing indoor, which I never liked. Too much friction off the floor, ball was uncomfortable on the parquet etc. But for watching it's nice..

Is confronting fear a good thing? Rarely do you get a better chance at
that than in a bad dream. Cause in a dream the stage is set, your
emotional state is defined a certain way, all is clear for you to
live the feelings that you're so afraid of. And it feels like you
have a choice, doesn't it? I always choose to go all out, somehow it
feels exciting enough to quench my fear. So then it comes, you find
yourself in that situation you fear so much, this is your moment. And
then you react more truthfully, more honestly than you would in real
life. In a dream there is nothing holding you back, the feeling of
shame towards the people that are there isn't there. Whatever other
factors exist that would hold you back from expressing exactly how
you feel, in a dream they don't seem to matter. I think it's fair to
say that a bad dream is like a trial run of a situation you fear, in
the specific setting you act out that scene as you would in real
life, only more candidly.

But is it a good thing? Now you know what it would be like, you know how
you would feel every step of the way, you would know everything. But
is that helpful? That you already go through this once (or so it
feels), you feel all the pain you expected and you wake up crying,
does that enable you to handle it better when it actually happens? I
suppose there's something to doing things that scare you over and
over, because with each iteration you get a little more used to it.
But is it helpful?

Following closely in the splendid footsteps of the eminent Andre, I was nothing short of astounded when Erik announced he might like to guest blog over here. Well on the upside noone's gonna read it, all that effort wasted.. Oh well :D

We go back a long time, Martin and I, though we didn't actually really meet until last summer. We planned a holiday in Stockholm, Sweden and all I really remember of that first day was how uncomfortable I was and how Martin wasn't helpful at all because he kept bitching about my British accent.

He is a must-have friend if you're into Seinfeld though, I swear, the man is like a walking database or something. You go to the supermarket to buy milk; he gives you some expiration date bit. You go to the beach and, like always,
you stick your wallet in your shoe and he'll give you a ridiculing look, saying "What criminal mind could penetrate *that* fortress of security?"

Which I didn't get back then but who am I. That's actually the way he likes the situation most though; if you don't know Seinfeld you'll think it's actually his own sense of humour that supplies him with these jokes.

But whatever you do, don't let him guide you through the city. If he insists on keeping the map, steal it from him in his sleep. I had a solid marathon training that week and though it's good for my already impressive physique it's not exactly what I want to be doing during my holidays.

It would prove to be useful exercise though; you need to be in the best shape of your life if you're going to digest his cooking.

If you can manage to get him on your side, however, he's the best friend you can have. Anyone that doesn't mind getting on a boat with me rules, whatever your perspective is. Wouldn't trade him for the world, though he might disagree with that after this guest blog(!)

Erik

It seems that Real Madrid president Florentino Perez (who was just re-elected with 95% of the votes) was on to something. Now Besiktas have adopted this "buy big" mentality. After spending a season on loan at Roma, unwanted by Valencia, he wasn't exactly a Galatico at €3.5m. Nevertheless, he was received like Zidane, a media frenzy at the airport and a mass audience following his every move. He was just officially presented today and he'll be getting a whopping €1.6m/year.

The question is, of course, what did this reasonably talented player, whose repertoire is fairly limited, do to deserve this royal treatment? Well it seems that Besiktas is set on the new "galactic" policy. They wish to sell no less than 150,000 of these shirts, no doubt to cover his wage expenses and then some. But is it going to work?

This whole situation naturally begs the question: what exactly do they expect from Carew? Is he the new Maradona? I conceed I don't know much about Besiktas but Del Bosque must have spoken very warmly about Carew to the fans, in order to make them receive him this way. And hell, he knows how it's done at Real Madrid so why not... apparently Besiktas think they have themselves a new Air Jordan but so far only the shirt numbers match up. That black and white shirt *does* look pretty good on him though..

What is with people dialing the wrong number? I don't understand this phenomenon, how hard is it to dial a number, how hard is it to correctly key an 8 digit sequence? This baffles me because approximately once a month or once in two months, I get a wrong number caller. Once I had a new cellphone, 3 people knew about the number and I got a wrong number call from Denmark. How the hell does that happen? They just dial the wrong prefix by mistake?

What is wrong with these people? I have dialed the wrong number maybe 3 times in my life. And that's a high estimate just to be on the safe side. Meanwhile I get these calls and it's always the same routine, first of all they never introduce themselves. It's always

"Is John there?"

"No, there is no John here."

And damn it, half the time they don't hear that and ask the same question one more time. There is always that element of surprise, like they can't figure out how the universe conspired against them to end up in this situation. You would think that with cellphones, where you have the digits on the display, it shouldn't be too hard for people to check that they have the right number before they start the call. I swear there is no hope.

Even worse are the people who demand to know who they are talking to. Of course, these never introduce themselves either.

"Is Mike there?"

"No, there is no Mike here."

"Then who am I talking to?"

That's right, and when you ask them who they are, they won't tell you, they simply reiterate their demand. Well I'll tell you one thing, you call me and refuse to tell me who you are, I'm returning the favor.