Ever have trouble finding the first sentence for your blog post or some other piece of writing? I’m having this problem today, so I’ll cheat and start with a sentence right off a glossy tourist brochure: “Toronto is a very diverse and multicultural city.” Now let’s just hope they don’t nail me for plagiarism.
These brochures, by the way, typically contain nothing but most blatant sugar-coated lies. In fact, I’m convinced the tourism industry only survives because locals typically don’t read tourist-oriented stuff about their own region. Otherwise they’d end up so impressed with the place they live that they would really question the point of ever going anywhere else, especially in the wake of the oil prices, and hence travel costs, shooting through the roof lately.
But the statement I chose to start my today’s post with is, surprisingly, very true. I’d be hard-pressed to name an ethnicity that doesn’t have a few representatives living in our city. One (very welcome) side effect of this is the diversity of our local restaurant scene. Another is a huge fan base for the world and European soccer cups. Just wrap your head around this: when Toronto Raptors made the playoffs last year, I could barely find a pub that would show the series with sound on. But walk the downtown streets now that Euro 2008 is in progress, and every drinking establishment is packed with folks cheering for 22 guys from across the ocean chasing a round object across a lawn.
If you think that this post is about to spin into a rant about how North Americans should watch more basketball and less soccer, you guessed wrong. Cause I just happen to be a part of this huge fan base, rooting, of course, for the amazing Russian team. (Vperyod, Rossiya!!!) No, the rant is going to be about something completely different. Namely about what the fact that if you missed watching a game live, you have zero hope of remaining ignorant of the result. Which just ruins any attempt to enjoy watching the game recorded.
You see, I have to go to work. I don’t know what all those lazy underemployed bums are doing watching TV on a Saturday afternoon and why they’re not working like me. But twice already on the way from work I witnessed flocks of fans waving flags and cars with flags attached honking their horn, which spoiled all the suspense by making it quite clear who the winner was. So this Thursday I’m doing the only sensible thing – calling in sick and heading to a pub to watch Russia take on Spain in the semifinal. And if the Russians win, look for me on College Street – I’ll be waving the flag. Ole ole!
Tags: euro 2008, football, football fans, soccer, soccer fans, toronto
