WORLD CUP 2010 – SOUTH AFRICA WARMS UP TO BRING THE HEAT!

About a year ago, maybe less, I declared that would post a soccer-related topic every month as a countdown celebration to South AFrica 2010.  I was more or less successful. Now that we are five days away from kickoff, I’m taking the liberty of cataloging all my posts that describe, complain about, ponder about, poke fun at, and otherwise show my love for this game – the only sport I care about.  The only sport that counts because it has a power the American triad of sports can’t fathom: the power to stop wars, the power to effect societal change, the power to equalize the playing field between the sexes. That is soccer.  Call it what you need to call it; it doesn’t matter. Just love it with all your heart. 

SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM TO SEE KAKA AND CRISTIANO RONALDO SELLING THE CHAMPION’S LEAGUE, AKA “UEFA Big Vase”.

 

Russell Brand – THE WRITER, THE PUNDIT, THE COMEDIAN. WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE? (HIS LACK OF FASHION SENSE?)

ARNS IN THE FAR: RUSSELL & HIS BRAND OF FOOTIE FANDOM (1)

I’ve been especially fond of Russell from the get-go.  Wouldn’t harm a fly – but he might try to chat it up. Steady, Russell.

   

LOOK WHAT I GOT FOR CHRISTMAS!

My little brother got me the “Big Book O’Soccer” for Christmas.  New computer dropped to second place.

THE MIRACLE OF CASTEL DI SANGRO: A REVIEW IN HAIKU VERSE

A journalist embeds himself with a third-rate soccer team in a no-rate town.  Let the insanity begin!

DA FIVER CODE

THE GUARDIAN’S FIVER-isms: A Glossary for Glazey-Eyed

Sheer Unadulterated Stupidity | News | guardian.co.uk Football

Some of the best humor writing in any topic!

Love & Blood: At The World Cup with The Footballers, Fans, and Freaks/Jamie Trecker 2007

THE THINKING FAN’S GUIDE TO THE WORLD CUP (2006) Matt Weiland & Sean Wilsey, eds.

Books about soccer-playing societies by soccer-loving sociologists masquerading as sports journalists.

Germans: Unspontaneous, micromanaging weirdos or gleefully chaotic?

A Man and His Ball–No Greater Love Pt. 1

Talking about A Man & His Ball: No Greater Love Pt. 2

Me manipulating double-entendres like they are taffy.   Damn, I’m good.

ODD BITS ON A TRIP TO BARNES & NOBLE

PRE-ORDERS: ACTION/ADVENTURE

These are mostly about shopping for books, but they have sections on soccer stuff.

Eur08 Without Pity

This one is an older post from the early days.  Most of the art is expired. Sorry about that. And it pretty much rehashes soccer posts up to that time.

      

 

• http://www.fifa.com/
• http://www.uefa.com/

 

Technorati Tags: soccer,World Cup 2010,Kaka,MLS,USMNT,UEFA,FIFA,Sepp Blatter,Michel Platini,Ray Hudson,Jamie Trecker,Fox Soccer Channel,Gazetta della Sport

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Russell Brand – THE WRITER, THE PUNDIT, THE COMEDIAN. WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE? (HIS LACK OF FASHION SENSE?)

 

   Russell Brand – read the article on his site

   Or read the original here at NEWS OF THE WORLD with a lovely pic of Russell — NOTW

RB is a fantastic writer of humor.  The thing is…he’s not writing humor…he’s writing about football.  And football – England’s Barclay’s Premier League – is very funny.  Ordinarily, it’s a comedy of errors , but in the last months, with horny satyr John Terry cutting a swathe through Wayne Bridge’s woman, it’s become a “comedy of eros”! And Wayne Bridge has taken offense to that, as he showed when he blanked England’s Brave John Terry during the handshake ritual at Chelsea vs. ManCity in February.  Don’t even get me started on the managers!  And so, this blog post by Russell Brand is hilarious and hysterically funny and rendered doubly funny by being bang-on true.  I don’t know if he’s ever met Nick Hornby, but I would love to have them both over to dinner one night to talk about our London teams – Arsenal for Nick, West Ham for Russell, and Fulham for me.  It would be pure football love.  With none of the barbaric hooliganism of the ignorant.  You might know everything about your team from day one, but if ripping someone’s face off because they’re for Charlton and you’re for Millwall is just retarded.  If you want to fight, just fight.  You don’t need to blame soccer for it, you nonce.

BEST BITS FROM RUSSELL’S POST:

I missed Gazza’s yellow card against Germany in 1990 because I was in the loo.

— That is so my life!  I miss everything because my kidneys run my life and not me!

I didn’t say for example “Keep Wayne Bridge’s ex missus well away from Stamford Bridge”

–This one’s the money-shot, so to speak.  My kidneys really expressed their pleasure over this line. 

In history few men with great hair have been decent fighters and Mancini’s glorious silver summit looks like it could manage City without him and still find time to pick up chicks on it’s Vespa at the Trevi fountain. David Moyes on the other hand, comports himself as if he’s always on the precipice of nutting someone.

— I counted six in-joke wisecracks in this one sentence.  EPIC!  “Nutting”, by the way, means kicking someone in the …yeah, those. 

I for one hope that Wayne Bridge changes his mind and joins the squad. The World Cup is once every four years, during that cycle a half-decent Premiership player could go through nine marriages.

— OMG!  This is one of the truest statements ever uttered about sports ever! 

Wenger with his intellectual continental airs and graces (by which I mean glasses)

— That is so me!! I write sarcastic remarks like that! This is so exciting!

1. Wayne Bridge refuses John Terry handshake
2. Cold, Sweet Revenge:  Chelsea 2 Manchester City 4: match report

 

  OY! READ THIS EFFING BOOK!

  ROIT!  GE’IT, YEAH! IT’S WELL FUNNY.

LOOK WHAT I GOT FOR CHRISTMAS!

 

WOW! I’m getting verklempt!  I just need a minute…here, I’ll give you a topic: the World Cup sponsors are going to make sure the refs make sure that Italy and Brazil get to the finals.  Discuss amongst yourself…

This was a present from my little brother S.  This is, what is known in the vernacular as, a "BIG-ASS BOOK".  So sayeth the title.  A thick, vinyl cover — like a college textbook.  400 pages of basics and insider knowledge.  Nice illustrations of the most popular faces in the sport.  Words of wisdom and also slightly less elegant utterings and mutterings from current and former managers. 

All the names that matter. 

There’s a chapter for everything: records, all the continental tournament winners, Ballon D’Or (p. 374) winners, etc.  The blurb at the back of the book is actually much better than this.

• Visit planet soccer — all you need to know on the clubs, the fans, the rituals, the stats, and the results worldwide
• Find out about the laws, the tactics, the science, and the art of the beautiful game…

I like how the bullets in the bullet list are little soccer balls.  Too bad I can’t do that here.  This Windows Live Writer program really needs to upgrade its graphics integration and offer more design choices.

Guess what I spent the morning doing after opening my presents.

SOME HIGHLIGHTS:

Easily one of the best bits of the book, as I’m not a stats "anorak", is "Soccer Technologies".  THAT I’m interested in.  I don’t care who won the Under-21 Scottish Cup in 1894.  What IS interesting is this:

 

  A microchip embedded in the soccer ball that sends out one hundred thousand (100,000) measurements per second, plus the framework of struts that keep it centered. PHWOAR! That’s fascinating to me.  iPods are even being used to scout games and give opposition instant access to strategies. 

In the gap between the end of extra time and the start of the penalty shootout at the end of the 2009 English League Cup final, Manchester Utd’s goalkeeper Ben Foster watched footage of his opponents taking penalties on a coach’s iPod.  It seemed to help…

P. 56.  Oh my God.  THE OFFICIALS. They picked the perfect example to illustrate this chapter: PIERLUIGI COLLINA! Yeah!!  He’s — again with the pimply, adolescent vernacular — da bomb!  He’s got a serious reputation for fairness and you just don’t f**k widdat.  It’s particularly interesting that officiating is a second job for a lot of these guys.

PP. 62-3.  THE RULES.  17 mostly immutable "Laws of The Game".  After reading each rule, I was all like, "yeah, but…", as in The ball must be touched by a second player before the first player can touch it again.  "Yeah, but…".  More reading fun.

PP. 67.  THE OFFSIDE RULE.  Pippo Inzaghi pointing at a set of diagrams.  7 of them and I still haven’t a clue what the point is. 

PP. 76-77.  Balls. All about balls. Different sizes, different colors, different textures.  Look it up yourself if you don’t believe me.

PP. 110-111.  P.E. Coach stuff — anatomy of a player, training, warming up.

There’s sections for individual skills such as running with the ball and shooting.  Quotes are sprinkled everywhere.  In addition to the technical information, there’s trivia about just everybody who’s anybody.  About the only thing this book lacks is coverage of women’s soccer.  But that’s probably another book.  Most of the anoraking stuff is at the back — all the records and tournament winners. 

If you know the soccer world, then pp. 94-5 should come as no surprise: (my hand to God, this is what’s on it) criminals, directors, gamblers, methods, and "people to influence".

L-R/Top Row: Michel Platini, Ronaldinho, Zinedine Zidane. 

L-R/Middle Row: George Best, {FIFA 1903–no clue, sorry.} Franz Beckenbauer?

L-R/Bottom Row: Paolo Maldini, Ronaldo, a Real Madrid player/not Ferenc Puskas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

L-R/Top Row: Ireland? Danny Blanchflower?, Johan Cruyf, Andrey Shevchenko.

L-R/Middle Row: Roy Keane, Samuel E’to?, Cristiano Ronaldo.

L-R/Bottom Row: Kenny Dalglish?, Lionel Messi, Pele.

 

 

 

 

 

**All of the players mentioned have their own websites or Wikipedia pages.

*My spelling might be a bit off on some of the names.

 

___________________________________________________________________

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www.european-football-statistics.co.uk  Unleash your inner "Anorak"!

www.fifa.com (World Cup 2010 — South Africa)

www.rssf.com

www.theglobalgame.com

www.uefa.com (European Champions League — the most important tournament after the World Cup)

www.worldstadiums.com

THE MIRACLE OF CASTEL DI SANGRO: A REVIEW IN HAIKU VERSE

►www.haikusociety.com

**Thanks to Sandra and Jorge for helping me with stanza six.

The Miracle of Castel di Sangro is a story about a low-level soccer team in a low-level town in a depressed part of Italy that enjoyed "15 minutes of fame".  I’m about 3/4 done with the book, but I’ve got a good inkling of what’s coming.  La Societa, Gravina, Rezza — all real people.  The book started out so happy and hopeful.  Now, in the middle, the honeymoon’s over.  The shine’s worn off.  The scum is rising to the surface.  So I’ve been angry and indignant and disgusted for about four chapters now.

I don’t know why I’m suddenly fixated on haiku, but such is the nature of creativity.  So, here’s my review of Joe McGinnis’s year of living dangerously! (Hey! That would make a great title for a movie…)◄

Amazon’s Joe McGinnis Page

books

 

 

McGinnis journeys

to Italy for soccer.

Same ol’ politics.

 

Alluring lira —

Mystery money all gone.

Gravina’s Rezza.

 

Wins, loses, bruises:

"Wizard of Oz" sounds from the

cell phone of Rezza.

 

Marcella — mother

Superior.  Vanessa —

not so much, that one.

 

Blind eyes, heavy hearts;

Their pitch a bed of barbed wire.

Forget "win" — SURVIVE!

 

One goal.  Two goals.  Three…

Theirs.  Not ours.  As usual.

DIE, JACONI!  DIE!

 

Beautiful game — brings

out the worst in brothers, yet

makes brothers-in-arms.

 

 

THE THINKING FAN’S GUIDE TO THE WORLD CUP (2006) Matt Weiland & Sean Wilsey, eds.

 IN my continuing series on soccer books that I am blogging to celebrate the countdown to South Africa 2010, I’m thrilled to present this compendium of the genre’s sincerely passionate advocates of "the beautiful game".  I first heard about this book on World Soccer Daily — a podcast hosted by Steven Cohen and Kenny Hassan.  They recommended it, and since I trust their judgement, there I go — type, type, typing —  to impulsebuyer.com! I really liked the writing right away.  This is how I want my students to write someday: passionately, thoughtfully, reflectively, analytically.  It doesn’t matter what the topic is.  Love your topic and your readers will love your topic!

There’s a lot of buildup to the actual heart of the book.  First of all, the book is a compilation of professional writers writing about a particular country, ostensibly one they are intimate with for whatever reason.  If you follow this blog, you know that I’m not a fan of prefaces and introductions. They tend to be a bit windy, word-wise.  But I genuinely enjoyed Matt Weiland’s (not that Weiland; that’s Scott.) Preface for a few earthy reasons. Firstly, he starts with a quote by Martin Amis, one of my fav writers.  I love when a writer I like quotes another writer I like because they too like that writer.  I was so captivated by MW’s definition of "abroad" because I found myself living that definition when I came back from England the first time.  It was so obnoxious! You would think I was the only person who had ever been there.  So…yeah.  Amis and the whole "abroad" thing. 

Then, as he went on to describe his indoctrination into the cult of soccer, again, it was like reading about myself — where emotions were concerned.  I didn’t have an uncle to take me to a soccer shop and get me a kit.  I had to do that myself.  After France 98, I bought a Michael Owen Liverpool home game jersey.  After Arsenal’s undefeated season, I bought their blue away shirt.  After Germany 06, I bought a Miroslav Klose national team jersey because he scored 5 goals — the highest scorer of the tournament. 

Some of the funny bits were the anecdotes about writers they couldn’t get!  Here’s an excerpt from the part about who got in and who didn’t:

We asked some of the writers, like (Eduardo) Galeano, to write about their own country.  Others we assigned to countries based on an experience there, and some we sent to a country of their choosing.  For a month, we made lists and contacted writers, and by the last stage of qualification, we had assigned each nation that looked likely to qualify.  Then we sat back to watch and wait.

What an awesome job these guys made for themselves!  When all was said and done, Roddy Doyle was too depressed over Ireland’s flame-out and didn’t want to write about football.  Rattawut Lapcharoensap didn’t get in because Thailand didn’t get in to Germany.  Nick Hornby wrote about England.  OF COURSE!!!  Dave Eggers wrote about the US. Cheeky!  (Eggers and Hornby both used to write for McSweeneys, btw.)

 Some of the authors from the book: (the ones I’m familiar with, anyhoo):

• Matt Weiland
• Sean Wilsey
• Dave Eggers
• Nick Hornby
• Martin Amis
• Tim Parks
• Franklin Foer

Sean Wilsey wrote a wonderfully witty and clued-up Introduction.  Again — it’s a bit long as introductions go and should have been titled something else, but it’s a good read.  He has a handle on the insider expressions such as Gli Azzurri (Italy; the sky blues), Les Bleus ("the blues"; the French national team), catenaccio (Italian for "make 1 goal then defend for the rest of the game yawnfest") and an adrenalized uppercase reproduction of GOOOOOOOO…well, you get the idea.  I love Sean’s description of rambling, rickety Roger Milla, the star of Cameroon in Italia ’90. 

You will probably go straight to the countries you like, but take some time to read about the Ghanas, the Trinidad/Tobagos, the Angolas — the obscure countries that won’t make it out of the group stages but who provide the most gripping, exciting, heartbreaking underdog action you will ever see.  Remember Croatia in France ’98?  South Korea in Korea/Japan 02?  Cote d’Ivoire in Germany 06?

Whew!  Wait — there’s more!  This book is great for "anoraking" (an "anorak" is someone who is fixated on stats).  An anorak’s almanac, if you will.  Forgive me, Nick Hornby for that awkward almost-alliteration.  Every article comes with demographics and FIFA stats.  At the end of the book, there’s a section called "The World Cup in Numbers" which serves up juicy dets like "Most Goals in A World Cup", "Most Appearances", and "Penalty Shootouts".  After that there’s a section called "The 32 Nations in Numbers" and Holee Abacus, Batman! does it ever dish dets on the price of living in each country: Median Age, Birth Rate, Annual GDP, Unemployment Rate, Exports, Tourism, Internet Users…Damn!

Such an amalgamation of information on the state of the nation is not just there for filler.  When you read about the haves and have-nots of soccer countries, you start to understand what’s at stake for them if they succeed or if they don’t.  Wars have started and stopped because of soccer.  If your a 10 year-old boy in Sierra Leone or Somalia or the Congo, would you rather be a half-starved soldier or a soccer player with a salary and a pair of shoes?  That is a real career choice in those countries.  I love how the demographics come from the CIA World Factbook.  Not an atlas.  Not Encyclopedia Britannica.  Not the internet. The Freaking CIA World Factbook!  This book is soaking in a brine of testosterone.  It even has a good blurb at the back — and you know how I am about blurbs.

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Other posts in this series: Irons in The Fire, Love & Blood

FOX FOOTBALL FONE-IN [companion to World Soccer Daily podcast available on iTunes or live on Sirius Ch. 125(?)]

Publisher: www.harperperennial.com

http://www.harpercollins.com/members/authortracker/default.aspx

The British site for this book  (The link to the American publishers site didn’t work for me.  Maybe it’s out of date or sumfin or nuffin…)

The CIA World Factbook online

 

Technorati Tags: soccer,UEFA,FIFA,World Cup,politics,sports writing,CIA,Dave Eggers,Nick Hornby,Matt Weiland,Sean Wilsey,Franklin Foer,Tim Parks,Russell Brand,books,publishing,Roger Milla,Little Britain,Italy,France,England,Robert Coover

Love & Blood: At The World Cup with The Footballers, Fans, and Freaks/Jamie Trecker 2007

 

In the months leading up to World Cup 2010/South Africa, I will be commenting on my collection of soccer books, thus combining two of my greatest loves. LOVE&BLOOD is available through major online retailers, i.e. Amazon, Borders, etc.  

This book has a blurb that’s actually useful. The idea of the micromanaging German establishment trying to keep things sane during the Big Show is laughable. During the summer of 2006, we could laugh at the Germans for good reasons. Jamie Trecker, the author, is an insider. He works for Fox Sports; his specialty being soccer. He’s been in the press trenches for two world cups (02, 06), and will most probably be in them again for 2010 in South Africa. His experiences are made more dramatic by the fact that he suffers from severe epilepsy and had to take copious amounts of medication. I don’t know how he survived. Sheer force of will, I guess.

When it comes to soccer, the only sport I care deeply about, I’m more of a “people person”. I love learning about the players, the managers, the politics. The gossip! Soccer gossip is way better than Hollywood gossip. Way, way better! The money is unreal! Grown men who own multinational whatsits bow down to lick the Diadoras (who have gone broke, btw.), Adidas, and Nikes of players like Christiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Zidane, and Ronaldinho (who’s on his last legs, having eaten all the pies!).

Soccer commercials during the World Cup season are hilarious and brilliant. Remember 2006? Eric Cantona, who once “autographed the face of a fan with his studs”, bursts into a German tv studio to take it over and spread the word about JOGA BONITO! Genius!!! Ronaldinho as a little boy, playing with a passion and love you NEVER see in NFL these days. (College games, maybe. But in NFL, it’s all about sniffing the oxygen. Wimps.) Adidas’s IMPOSSIBLE TEAM! With the real players!! Beat that, NBA. One of the absolute best, and probably most expensive, has to be the 2002 Nike SECRET TOURNAMENT. Cantona was in that one, too. For soccer lovers, that commercial was a dream come true. Seven years later, I still watch it a couple of times a month.

Downloadable soccer commercials

A lot of the book is about South Korea/Japan 2002. That might seem a waste of space, but Trekker goes on to compare and contrast 02 and 06, which for a reader/writer like me, is just perfect. The whole book is very personal. No Baedeker this, neither Fodor’s. I hate to use the word “cool”, but this is just a freaking cool memoir. And I don’t even like memoirs.  Also, it has a 20-page introduction, which is mostly the South Korea 2002 experience.  Dude, if it’s running to 20 pages, just title it already and call it Chapter One. We won’t mind.  Really.

I really like that the back of the book contains a summary of the 06 World Cup with comments. Love that!  There’s also a nicely detailed index.  It’s a very fan-friendly book, written by a fan of the game.   

I don’t just love soccer. I love it with the enthusiasm of a girl’s first crush. I love it like the promotion you never saw coming, then suddenly it’s yours. Like when you’re going to your first “grownups” party. That fresh, sunny, jubilant, PURE passion. Myopic, consuming, teeth-gnashing, endorphin-releasing, jingoistic soccer.

LOVE & BLOOD gives you sackfulls of gory details. The crappy weather in South Korea: Trekker describes the air as “stew”. Oy! The frantic efforts of the Germans to live in the “here and now”. Drinking. Shantytowns set up for the press. More drinking. Dodgy access to electronics. Impregnable press conferences. Reticent managers. Drink. Hype. Above all things, hype.

Next year, we get to do it all again in South Africa! Break out your vuvuzelas and take a deep breath…

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Related Posts:

· ONE YEAR TO THE WORLD CUP: LEGENDS FORMED & DEFORMED

· ARNS IN THE FAR: RUSSELL & HIS BRAND OF FOOTIE FANDOM (1)

· Germans: Unspontaneous, micromanaging weirdos or gleefully chaotic?

· THE GUARDIAN’S FIVER-isms: A Glossary for Glazey-Eyed

 

Support WORLD FOOTBALL DAILY and their advertisers.

 

The Powers That Be: Continental federations

• · UEFA>Union of European Football Association
• · FIFA>Fedédération Internationale de Football Association
• CONMEBOL>Confederación Sudamérica de Fútbol
• · CONCACAF>Confederation of North, Central American, and Caribbean Association Football. USMNT made it to the semifinals of this one, which is currently being played in various venues in the US. As of this posting, games can be seen on ESPN, Fox Soccer Channel and Mexican stations. If the USMNT makes it to the finals, this will officially be the most epic year in the history of men’s soccer since the year Pelé played for the New York Cosmos.

 

Technorati Tags: soccer,Carlos Bocanegra,David Beckham,Bruce Arena,USMNT,Confederations Cup,CONCACAF,UEFA,FIFA,World Cup 2010,South Africa,Jamie Trecker,World Soccer Daily,The guardian,Russell Brand,Grant Wahl

THE GUARDIAN’S FIVER-isms: A Glossary for Glazey-Eyed

London’s THE GUARDIAN online newspaper has a magnificently acerbic column by Barrry Glendenning, Sean Ingle, Paul Doyle, Tom Bryant, Scott Murray and Tom Lutz called “The Fiver”. A fiver usually refers to a five-pound note, but this fiver is probably called that as it is e-mailed to subscribers every day at 5 p.m. Nice.

I typed this up in MSWord and the auto-editor went crazy filling in red and green wavy lines everywhere. Ha! Auto-editor, you suck. At the end of the day, there’s nothing like the human eye to discern right and wrong. Auto-editor and spellcheck have no intuition. Even grammar-check is the equivalent of a 1^st year English teacher who goes by the textbook and nowt else. (There are way too many of those out there.)

 

“Mr. 15%” – a player’s manager. Rarely spoken of with a positive connotation.

EXAMPLE: Christiano Ronaldo’s Mr. 15% assures Sir Alex that “the gelled one” is happy to graze at ManUre for another year.

Big Vase – The UEFA Champion’s League trophy which looks essentially like a …

Big Paper – THE GUARDIAN itself, I think. Usually referred to in contrast to its subsidiaries or departments.

Big Cup – THE UEFA Champion’s League final. Takes place in late May after 9 months of World Cup-style elimination play. Sometimes not even the best game. In the last 4 years or so, the quarters and semis have been more exciting than the heavily risk-aversive finals.

Big Cup Big Day – the day of the Champion’s League final. The most important game after the World Cup final, but that’s up for debate these days. For the last two years, I would have it on in my classroom tv and tape it at home. Next year, I’m taking that day off to watch it at home from beginning to end. ESPN needs to get their shit together and show the entire post-game festivities, thank you very much!

Fiver Lawyers – in essence, the censors. They make their presence felt: SEE "snip-snip-snip"

Snip-snip-snip – Fiver Lawyers: censored information; usually something very personal or obscene or something that is being swept under the carpet so as not to be libelous even though it’s true.

Knack — injury

Knack-prone – injury-prone

Toe-knack/knee-knack: i.e. David Beckham and Michael Owen; possibly Rooney, too.

Knacked up (make sure it’s got an “a” in it!) – injured

EXAMPLE: Petr Cech suffered a horrendous head-knack!

“bits and bobs” – alliterative cuteness indicating small chunks of information like gossip, rumors, comments, etc.

“on a free” – a free transfer. Refers to the Bosman Ruling where if a player has finished his contract with a team, he can go to another team and they don’t have to pay any transfer money for him. Synonym: “on a Bosman”.  This phrase not exclusive to the column; sort of common.

EXAMPLE: “Michael Owen has gone to Manchester United on a free now that his contract with Newcastle has expired.”

“a medical” – a medical exam on a player done by the organization he’s about to join.  Mandatory prior to finalizing contracts.

pundit – sports critic/writer, perhaps even a broadcaster; often with a sarcastic, demeaning, or otherwise negative connotation.

hack – a lousy pundit

“to neck” – to swallow something; literally or metaphorically

"He" with a capital “H” – Christiano Ronaldo (for now)

EXAMPLE:  Such was the hoop-la generated by His unveiling at the Bernabéu. (Fiver, 7 July)

"At [His] request – who has again expressed [His] desire to leave – and after discussion with [His] representatives, United have agreed to give [Them] permission to talk to [Him],"

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World Soccer Daily

The Guardian>Football>The Fiver

Fox Sports/Soccer

ESPN Soccernet

Previous mention of The Fiver