[World Cup 2006 Singapore versus Malaysia]
You mean you don't watch soccer?

I was stumped when I was asked this question.

I mean who gets the kick watching 22 men run and kick after one ball?

A survey I conducted among my friends shows that there is a small percentage of the guys that do not watch soccer.

So you got it. You won't catch me in the office surfing for live scores or better still, I won't be watching the match "live" from the office on the super bandwidth internet access (actually I tried it once when some of the guys were around). But after they left, it was back to serious stuff.

So when boss creeps behind my shoulders to spy on me, I will have a piece of mind because (I repeat) I don't and if yes, seldom, watch soccer - unless I have a good reason to.

I am beginning to think that I have affinity with mangoes. Okay, so this is not related to the topic but worth mentioning. For the last three to four days, I've been relaxing a lot. And so you ask, what has this got to do with mangoes. Well, plenty.

On Thursday, I had a cup of mango frappachino ice blended tea with a shot of raspberry.
On Friday, I ordered a glass of mango milk tea while KTV-ing at Party World.
And today, to quench my thirst, I downed a cup of mango ice blended from Mc Cafe.

So back to soccer.

For the last two days (again), I have been observing the coffee shops and pubs and clubs and nightspots. And I don't understand why there has to be a huge crowd when a game is being screened. Okay, I won't understand, really.

Perhaps it is because since young it never occured to me that playing ball games was cool.

And whether in Singapore or Malaysia, the situation is the same when it comes to playing ball.



In Malaysia, the lounge at the resort where I stayed, it was packed to the brim during the match. Not surprising, my group was the only one around after the game had ended.



In Singapore, men (and some women) even risk getting a summons by parking at the roadside. You know, it's part of the game. Lucky thing, no parking wardens or traffic policemen were around to give out their 'discount vouchers'.

Even just now walking down Orchard Road was slightly difficult as most soccer crazy fans stood outside the pubs for their daily dosage of this adrenaline rush. Or maybe because they betted on the game and were eager to know how much they would be winning (well, sadly, money makes the world go round).

To prove the fact that I am not into soccer, I blog during the Portugal and Iran match (or did I not understand the acronyms of the countries). I sort of know that CRO stands for Croatia and FRA stands for France. Well, it don't matter to me anyway.

However, one thig for sure I cannot agree more that the World Cup would boost the economy.

Perhaps when the competition heats up, I would stay up to watch how they kick and get a kick out of kicking. But not at this stage. Not just yet.