主播大秀

Have already had 'something else on' when asked to give a talk at work during the WC. Thankfully, the IT staff had already installed the fixture list in my work calender so was able to rebuff at a moment's notice!

You always get the anti-football fascists who complain about nothing but bloody football on tv all summer and go on to whinge about having to pay the licence fee for this sort of stuff. There are quite a few tv programmes I don't particulrly like, which are on considerably moe often than every 4 years, but I don't complain, I just switch off! If they don't like football then don't watch it! Surely there are better things to do on nice summer evening anyway!

Now is the time of year (or should that be every fourth year?) that I have to refer to a wallchart before I make any plans.
I've already figured out every possible scenario and route that England might take, and made sure work, and nothing else, interferes with a possible England game.
So much for independence.

Having had a brief look at some of these guys, I doubt many of them are football fans !

Indeed, could any real football fans miss the world cup for any money ?

I am at a wedding ( my cousins ) when the first England game is on but I am sure we will be able to sneak into the Tv lounge.

two years ago England played Portugal on my birthday during Euro 2004 .. you're so involved in the tournament, as are your friends, that it being your birthday barely even registers !

Martin,
I'm actually struggling to come up with a viable excuse for a rather traumatic event. Can you help? I've just exchanged contracts on a house, and am moving on June 9th. My wife is also 6 months pregnant so can't really help. I can't get removals as all the guys have booked the day off. Help! I have to get it all done on the Friday as I'd rather dedicate all my attention to England's first game, rather than Germany's!

At least you can enjoy it on the 主播大秀....motty aside haha here in Barcelona I am still not sure if ALL the games are being shown on terrestrial if not the Liver could take a hammering

btw the images of posters don't show ;)

Kick-offs here in the US range from 10 AM to 3 PM, so it can be hard to get time off work to watch all the games. But ABC and ESPN/ESPN2 will be covering all the matches live and free-to-air, which is great. 'Soccer' is getting more popular year-on-year over here in the States, and there should be some big turn-outs at the local English bars. I'll be on my honeymoon for the first England game (bad planning, I know), but hopefully there'll be plenty more as we head towards the final :)

I will not be lying to my boss, I have already formally put in for leave for the USA matches against Czech Republic and Ghana.

USA being fourth in the FIFA rankings is a joke, but I still hope they can advance through the second hardest group. I will be watching every minute of the matches, work is just not as important. At least USA finally has complete coverage of all the matches. Viva Mexico, Go England, Go USA!

Matt, thanks for the update about US TV broadcasts...

I was beginning to fear for my liver too - having to hit bars at 9:30 a.m. just to watch a game. I had envisaged: a) getting fired from my job for the sake of England,
b) needing at least one trip to the hospital to have my liver detoxed, and
c) being called an 'English Hooligan' by all the local yanks in Pittsburgh just because I *had* to be in a bar in the morning, and therefore *had* to consume vast quantities of inferior quality American beer...

eeee... thank God for ESPN!

Ha! I live in Australia, so with the timeshift (we are 9 hours ahead of UK) I will be able to watch the games at night (well early in the morning) and then get in to work late and sleep at my desk or just ring in sick. Jealous? I know you are. GO ENGLAND!
PS I am an ex-pat Pommie

huh, GO England, of course, as long as the right words are used ... I guess (I wish) Spain would win it this year. For all the poor results. Spain vs England in the final, ok for me. (I'm from Poland, but ... oh, you know what it's like)

Would someone from the 主播大秀 explain:
a) The point of this blog?
b) Why you have Ian Wright as part of your television coverage for the World Cup?
c) Why the 主播大秀 feels the need to take over 300 people to Germany for the World Cup?
d) Will the total cost of the 主播大秀's World Cup coverage be published including Hansen and Linker's earned over the course of the World Cup?
An answer to any of these questions would be appreciated thank you.

You know, Nick, it's something of an oxymoron asking what the point of a blog is if you're leaving a comment...

The point is answered by your very own posing of a question :)

As for asking why the Beeb would send so many people - well, I for one am happy about it. I don't get to be at home in Blighty for this World Cup and so miss out on everything like that except via such fine online resources as this...

What I love about the World Cup is that people who don't usually support football join in - I remember my Grandma jumping up when England scored in the 1990 Italy World Cup.

It is true that the World Cup consumes a lot of time but its worth it.

It's not only the players on the pitch who have to do a bit of 'ducking and diving'. Dodging other commitments in order to watch all of the matches is one of the most important traditions in World Cup history - I've been doing it since '82. This year has a bit of extra spice - I'm due to attend a religious convention on the same day as the final. Although it's scheduled to end shortly before the match starts, I booked an extra night in the hotel so that I'll definitely see it. My wife was most cooperative - after I bribed her with the promise of a day's shopping the next day! It's all about strategy and tactics. Here's to a great tournament!

Nice comments. It's true to say its not just about dodging work commitments. Getting round commitments with your nearest and dearest can also be testing for us loyal supporters. For instance, persuading your loved one that a second round match is more important than the steak dinner you promised weeks ago. With a lot of evening matches, I began testing out excuses long ago....

In reply to Simon H above I may have a soultion on my blog I have printed rules
for Wives, Girlfriends, Mothers Daughters etc etc, take a look and print it off for then you can put it on the Fridge!

In reply to Nick,
As the blog editor, I will answer your questions where I can.
a. the point of this blog is to engage with readers around the biggest sporting event in the world. we're experimenting with blogs as we want to find out exactly what the 主播大秀 can bring to this medium and not simply jump on the latest internet bandwagon.
personally i feel we can bring a lot; insight into what it takes for us, the 主播大秀, to cover the tournament; a better way to talk with our audience not just about the football but our coverage (as jonathan said in his reply (thanks jonathan, you look great in the costume by the way ;0) ); a different kind of journalism that allows us to report things in a more open, sourced fashion that we might otherwise not have been able (did you see Nigel Adderley's post from the England camp in Faro? - we will be having lots more titbits like that hopefully from all our contributors); a forum for fans writing their own blogs to share what they do (we get about 1.5m readers every day so we feel that at the very least we can help drive traffic to what others are doing; and then there's Fletch and Martin who we are sending to Germany to 'live the tournament' for all those fans unable to go, and write about it here. Without passing the buck - I will have to get back to you on questions b. c. and d. once I have spoken to our boss, Roger Mosey. If it's ok with you, I shall ask him to reply on our editors' blog which is where we prefer to answer questions about accountability etc.
/blogs/sporteditors/

In reply to Claire above.
Thank you very much for responding to my post above.

too kind, Claire. you should have seen me after taking the costume off - disgustingly sweaty...

:)

I have got to say that all of the people that have gone into the big brother 7 do not look like they are football fans. Bar one or two I would not even say that most of them no that it is the world cup this year
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martin

In further response to Nick's questions, please refer to answers from Roger Mosey, Director of 主播大秀 Sport.

/blogs/worldcup/2006/05/in_answer_to_your_questions.html

well, i`m in canada and it was 3.30am when michael owen sent the brazilian goalie the wrong way four years ago and i woke the whole house up and the niegbours too! thankfuly the games will be on at a little more reasonable time here this time. come on england.........COME ON ENGLAND!
and bye the way, i don`t care who scores for england.......walcott, gerrard, owen, rooney, campbell or lampard. this is the best looking lot i`ve seen in many years and who`s better?

I work on Flexi, so I would be able to see all the matches. Remember they are 5.30 and 7pm kick offs, with a few 2pm kick offs.

And for all those who'd similarly like to have World Cup fixtures installed on their work calendar, go to

There, you can download a tool that populates Outlook with every World Cup game, so that you never miss out! You can use this on the move, too, if you have a PDA.

I am yet to take a sickie this year at work so it might be an option. However, i may not have to resort to such despirate measures as i have recently bought my family a new LCD Televion and a HDD/DVD recorder. As such, i will just record those matches that i will be missing. Hopefully it will not be too many!!

I'm one of those few women who has a boyfriend who isn't transfixed by the football (part time supporter of wolves!). However I'm surprised my colleagues didn't think that I was going ointo BB house bearing in mind I quit my job 6 weeks before it started. Safe to say I'm not in the BB house and am having a career break with the added bonus of it being during the world cup. Of course I'll be really busy between matches doing work on the house and trying to be a little woman at home *cough* but safe to say I will be watching the matches.

As for the guy who organised a house move on the day of a game, that was just a school boy error.

So Martin, when are you off to Germany and when can I visit? :o)

I live in Australia too - why would anyone be jealous of having to get up at 4 in the morning for all the knockout stages? It's a nightmare - you might be able to go to work but walking around the office like a zombie for four weeks has more chance of getting me fired than knicking off early now and then.

If you're an England fan living in Australia, like me, the best thing to do to keep you awake is to have a look at this:

i want to watch the matches

ringtones free