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[Odler]

For eight hours every day, starting in the middle of the night, from 2:00 a.m. till 10:00 a.m., I have been watching World Cup games.

I have watched all the 34 games already played in this tournament, including the Denmark-France that just sent Les Bleus crashing out of the Cup. I have to watch them on Univision, a Spanish channel (since I can?t afford cable and ESPN). I have learned to scream ?golazooooo!!!?. One night, my neighbors will call police. I will plead no contest.

My TV suffers from color blindness, meaning blue shirts, for example, come as red on the periphery of the screen and turn green when the player moves to the middle of the set. Illustration: I never knew that England was playing in red until I saw the replay at work. My TV gives me whatever color she thinks fit. But I don?t care.

I have not missed one minute of playtime. Whatever is missed is on video anyway. It is watched right after.

After the games, I drive to work where I earn my bread (and bananas) from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. to cover my minimal 12-hour a day workload. By the time I get home at 12:00 a.m., it is already time to watch the Cup again.

In such dire circumstances, I can?t help thinking of those who complain about working while copping with parenting. Why don?t they try working while copping with WorldCupping?

The only good thing is that the Cup comes only once every four years?

Okay, no time for philosophy. Next game is in half-an-hour: Germany plays Cameroon, or a variation thereof. I have watched so many games that it is difficult for me to keep track of these 32 teams. Who cares? As long as it is the Cup.

Let?s see 34 derbies down, 30 more to go. And the party is on until June 30.

I hope you feel sorry for me?

http://www.jeanlouie.com

(OdlerRobert Jeanlouie, Tuesday, June 11, 2002)