The World Cup continued to hold our attention this week, the dramas and sub plots off the pitch seemingly as attention grabbing as the events on the field. You know the wheels are coming off your bandwagon when the players are finding that it's easier to battle with the fans, or fight amongst themselves than to take a look at what you're doing wrong on the field.
Example A: England, where Wayne Rooney had a few choice words for the faithful after hearing the boos descend from on high after another lacklustre English effort, this time against Algeria where England couldn't muster up even one goal on the night. Rooney offered up the comment on his way off the field that "It's nice to get booed by your own fans. Very loyal.", an outburst not particularly appreciated it seems. Upon reflection he offered up his apologies to the fans both in South Africa and back home, though one imagines the fans would just as soon he do the remainder of his talking on the pitch. David Beckham also had a few rough moments with England's travelling class, as one fan managed to make it into the dressing room for some choice words with the English soccer star, you have to feel a bit of compassion for Beckham, he bore the brunt of the anger and he's not even in the line up due to injury, and folks wonder why athletes sometimes pass on the joys of competing for their nation.
Example B: France, where a completely disorganized French squad can add player coach turmoil to the stew of misfortune that has followed them to South Africa, Nicolas Anelka , apparently a tad hot headed got into a shouting match with French coach Raymond Domenech, offering up a few words more nasty than just sacre bleu, refusing to apologize for his outburst Anelka was kicked off the squad yesterday and sent home. It's just the latest bit of drama to arrive for Les Bleu's some kind of karmic reward no doubt for the way in which they qualified for their trip to South Africa. One imagines that in pubs across Ireland, all of their sideshow troubles only bring a smile and more than one or two raised pints of Guinness these days.
One of the intriguing aspects of the World Cup is the way that soccer's very passionate fans take to showing their colours with a fervour seldom seen, on any given day in some of Canada's larger cities, flags suddenly appear among masses of humanity celebrating or commiserating over the fates of the day. But not everyone it seems finds these display's of pan nationalism enjoyable, leaving out the real home side as they do. The Globe and Mail seeks out the Maple Leaf in among the crush of fandom and finds the pickings rather slim.
It's been another week of disappointing news for the American gulf states as the oil keeps pumping out and little that is attempted to slow it or stop it seems to work. For BP it was another week of public gaffes and stumbles, whether it was BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg losing something in the translation, or soon to be exiled CEO Tony Hayward once again finding the wrong chord to sound with his decision to "get his life back" and take in the yacht races off the coast of the Isle of Wight, this while the worst ecological damage in American history continues to wash up along the US southern coast. With such Public Relations decisions as those, it's no wonder that BP suddenly finds itself perhaps the most request YouTube moment and not for any of the right reasons. You know you're corporate image is lost when you suddenly become one of the most mocked enterprises in the world!
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What really is needed for this crisis is an old time hero type, and just in time it seems that Wyatt Earp is going to ride to the rescue. Kevin Costner has finally gotten through to BP, the long time environmental activist and the money man behind his brother's centrifuge oil separation machines will soon see the invention used in the Gulf to tackkle the spill. The Costener invention is expected to arrive on the southern coast shortly. BP has purchased 32 of the machines which can separate oil from water at the rate of some 600,000 gallons per day. Now if only BP could find a machine that enable its executives to stop coming across as total arses!
In the world of social networking there are winners and then there are losers. On the winning side of the ledger there's Facebook which announced this week that the service had achieved revenues of $900m for 2009, a solid performance by any yardstick but some 400,000 dollars more than even the most optimistic financial analyst had predicted for the six year strong site. While we're apparently busy linking up with friends and putting cash in the Facebook bank account, the one time hot thing Bebo has almost begun to border on total irrelevance, taking charge of the loser's category. Bebo's most recent owner AOL threw in the towel this week selling off the site for ten million dollars, a significant hair cut from the $850 million it paid for the site just two years ago. Lost in the flotsam of internet options, Bebo it seems has lost the core group of teenage and pre teen users that once made it popular, for AOL the Bebo purchase is best described as a clear boo boo.
In days of ancient lore, referring to the potential King of the Realm as a "morose bat-eared and chinless man, prematurely aged, and with the most abysmal taste in royal consorts" would most likely earn the author a trip to a Tower or a chopping block. But in these more enlightened times, it has earned Christopher Hitchen's a spot on the website Slate and a frequent spot on the best seller's lists. Hitchen's a word-smith who earns rave reviews and has recently penned his autobiography offers up his thoughts on the prospect of Prince Charles one day potential ascension to the Throne of England. Finding the most recent public ruminations of the Prince cause for concern and suitable for evisceration.
In honour of Father's Day we direct your attention onto the world wide web where a current favourite of the masses is a twitter site called Shit my Dad says, it's the Mark Twain experience for today's generation, you can check it out here. Such is the interest in the slightly different affirmations that a book and blog has been spawned and now Television has taken an interest with the prospect of a TV series currently in development (no doubt with a slight modification of the name) featuring William Shatner as the star, who we imagine will be the Dad with the sage advice. Here's a sample of what may be ahead as the Shat shoots the, well you know!
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We keep up with the laughs without Podcast selection of the week, where the Onion podcast offers up no shortage of merriment on a daily basis.
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And to wrap up our Father's Day edition of the Brunch, we turn to one of America's great storytellers, the late Harry Chapin. His tribute to life's journey best reflects these travels that Fathers and their children take together, Cat's in the Cradle, our Father's Day present for all today.
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Happy Father's Day.
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