watching the world cup...

...in the company of the rest of the world!
Well, at least the tweeting ones.
That's what I've been doing. I mean the world cup is a big thing. For me at least.
And, I think, a few million others around the world.*

For me, most of the watching is done at home. Just me and the telly. And sometimes G, although he only seems interested in the England matches. (Yesterday when we I was babysitting and we were watching Italy v Paraguay he announced he was going downstairs to watch "normal telly".) If you're on Twitter though, you can watch it with everyone else in the world (who uses that particular site)! And that, I've discovered, is fun!
I hadn't realised this was something people do. But then I realised that some people in my timeline were tweeting whilst watching the footie. So I tried it and it was strangely rewarding.
It's got this community vibe going on. Kinda like watching the match down the pub. But in the privacy of your own home.
And anyone who knows me and how I watch football, knows why I don't like doing it in public.

I'm pleased to announce that so far I've not lost my mind (or found anymore grey hairs). It's still early on in the tournament though and if Italy don't buck up I'm not so sure I'll come out the other end with my sanity intact.

I've been looking forward to this world cup for weeks now, with equal amounts of excitement and dread. And as I watch the matches I keep asking myself: why do I keep putting myself through this?

Someone, somewhere, probably on twitter, posted a link to this. They've compiled the tweets posted during the matches and illustrated with bubble looking things what was being said and at what point during the match.
I like this!
And if you watch the Italy one you'll see my tweets. Not my actual tweets of course. But for instance, me adding #ita to all my tweets for the duration of the match probably helped, in some small way, to keep the ita big throughout.

And another thing. G got a football magazine that had some face paints and world cup 2010 themed fake tattoos. After much negotiation I found myself the proud owner of two Italy tats and shared rights to the Green, white and red face paints. Now my only problem is, do I have faith that my darling Italy will go all the way and save it, but risk sitting there like and idiot with some unused fake tattoos when it's all over. Or do I use them in the group stages and risk watching the big you-know-what without tats? (also, feeling a bit of a traitor for not believing in gli azzuri)
It's a toughie!

sab x

* Fifa estimates an accumulative TV audience for the 2010 world cup of around 26 billion.